The Stickler Weekly 171 Solution

Back in 2001 I was asked to adjudicate a competition where multiple people or groups supplied clues for a set grid, the resultant combined effort destined to be published in The Daily Telegraph. I received the go ahead from the powers that be in News Ltd and agreed to be involved and get the collaborative cryptic crossword, once adjudicated and polished, submitted in The Daily Telegraph. It took a while from inception to finishing, and during that time things changed. The prize was the actual publishing of the crossword and some kind of acknowledgement, but the people in charge of the paper decided it could only be published as a Stickler, and no space for a blurb was available either. This didn’t work for anyone, and the finished crossword never saw the light of day and I had to break my promise and disappoint a lot of people.
As adjudicator, I was asked to lay down some basic “rules” to guide those who wanted to participate. Among the suggestions of what should be included was whether the use of noun anagram indicators was acceptable. Obviously using nouns as anagram indicators (eg XXXX arrangement or YYYYYY organisation) is seen as a preference of the setter, and not one that everyone subscribes to. I think it was one of the first times I had to ponder this issue as up to then I hadn’t really thought about it and just mimicked what I’d seen used in other crosswords. At the time I saw no problem with it, and that view hasn’t changed much accept I only use it when I feel I have to, and there aren’t any other options. So, a “flower arrangement” can be seen as the same as an “arrangement of flower” and a “huge organisation” can be seen as an “organisation of huge”. Note, however, the position of the nounal anagram indicator must work: a “organisation huge” simply doesn’t work for me and not all nouns that have anagram word-form cousins will work either.

I’m happy to hear what you think…