Finding the mot juste
Tom Johnson
CHAMBERS CROSSWORD MANUAL by Don Manley Chambers, £6.99, pp. 329, ISBN 0550120068 CHAMBERS CONCISE CROSSWORD DICTIONARY Chambers, £9.99, pp. 889, ISBN 0550120122 CHAMBERS CROSSWORD COMPLETER Chambers, £9.99, pp. 855, ISBN 0550120130 CHAMBERS CROSSWORD DICTIONARY Chambers, .£25, pp. 889, ISBN 0550100067 Chambers Crossword Manual has been updated and edited for its third edition. Don Manley writes from many years' experience as a crossword compiler, editor and competitor. The first edition (1986) of the Manual soon established itself as an authoritative work. This third edition reflects developments in the past decade and has been fully revised with more up-todate puzzles included.
Manley traces the development of British crosswords from purely definitional to cryptic, citing examples of the pioneers, such as Torquemada, Afrit and Ximenes. He shows how grid construction evolved from open grids, in which many, if not all, of their letters crosschecked across and down, to blocked grids and barred grids which are familiar to Spectator solvers. He
explains all the clue-types found in cryptic puzzles, with many examples accompanying the text. At the end of each section, 'test' puzzles provide the reader with an opportunity to try his skill. Manley explains what constitutes good cluemanship and grid construction, based on the principles drawn up by Ximenes in his series of crosswords for the Observer. Manley is an avowed 'Ximenean who judges a good clue on its fairness and sound grammar. Manley devotes a lengthy chapter to explain the Ximenean style, and acknowledges that others may differ from him. He admits that 'some nonXimenean practices are not necessarily all bad'. Emphasis is placed on the cryptic puzzles of the Observer in the lengthy 15th chapter. Here, our Spectator series is mentioned, with a comment that our grids do not follow Ximenean traditions — something which our series has never claimed to do, anyway.
Chapters have been revised, particularly Chapter 16 on Crossword Competitions where Manley pays homage to one of today's leading clue writers. C. R. Gumbrell, better known to Spectator solvers as Columba. The Complete Cruciverbalist: Solver, Setter, Editor' has been expanded, and Manley offers advice on how aspiring compilers' work can he published. A new chapter on the advance of computer technology and its influence on crossword compiling and solving finds Manley hoping that solvers will still want to sit down with paper and pencil and reference books in years to come.
The final section, 'A Crossword Romp', offers over 60 puzzles for readers to attempt. More than 20 different publications are represented, including a batch of typical US puzzles which offer their own challenges. There are blocked grids, and barred grids, with contributions from Araucaria of the Guardian and Azed of the Observer, many from Manley himself and even one from The Spectator.
Chambers Concise Crossword Dictionary is a handy volume — the baby sister to the larger hardback version published a year ago. Two valuable introductory articles — one by Jonathan Crowther (Azed of the Observer) and the other by Don Manley on crossword setting and 'crossword English', together with an extensive list of 'accepted' anagram indicators — precede the main text of the book. An alphabetical list of headwords is presented, each with its own list of synonyms, graded according to letter length. But the book comes into its own as a work of reference, as many of the headwords are further expanded with 'reference lists' derived from other of Chambers' publications. Lists of gemstones, islands, Nobel prize-winners, philosophers, seaweed, sweets and places of worship, for instance are treated similarly. About 60,000 definitions have been omitted to form the Concise version. Whilst the headwords remain the same, individual synonyms within the lists have been omitted. Take 'spectator', where the eight-letter synonyms 'looker-on' and 'passer-by' do not appear. Both versions of this dictionary have their place, depending on the crossword solver's preference. The hardback version remains the more useful reference tool for solvers of the more challenging puzzles associated with The Spectator, Observer and Listener series.
Chambers Crossword Completer is an alternate letter dictionary' which lists words according to their length alphabetically, starting with four-letter words spelt -A-A, then -A-B, etc up to 15-letter words finishing with -Y-T-M-T-Z-T-0(systematization). Thereafter, the system is repeated with odd letters A-Ato Z-G-O-M-U-T-I-S (Zagros Mountains). The Completer is, however, a curate's egg. It is a new edition of the 1987 version, but has been downgraded in its scope to suit 'the standard crossword in daily newspapers' with black and white blocked grids. The lists are based on Chambers Dictionary; however, in a brief foreword, Don Manley admits that 'some words that are more likely to appear only in more difficult puzzles on barred grids have been omitted'. True, this new edition includes a wealth of proper nouns, abbreviations, phrases and some plurals which the earlier editions did not carry. For The Spectator solver requiring access to more arcane vocabulary, it is of limited use. Amongst words in the solution of the 'Wild-cards' puzzle (The Spectator, 24 November), pentathlete, dyester, etagere and nimious are not listed, for example. Yet, as a contemporary reference book, it has its advantages, including Spice Girls, David Beckham, Michael Buerk and Harry Potter, for instance. As an additional reference book, alongside the original edition, this new version works well; alone it is only of limited use to solvers of The Spectator puzzles. I, for one, will not be discarding my earlier edition.
Tom Johnson, aka Doc, is The Spectator crossword editor.
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