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H Honours

22 May, 2015

Holy hell, how hard and harrowing was our H hoedown this week? Not too hectic, but we did haul in some highly handsome handiwork. 

To cut to the chase, and hoick those H-words, I will offer a handful of musings, and then declare the book-winning pair.

Firstly, a warning from Rupert I enjoyed:

IRIS - Inside stir isn't the place to eye muscle

Then the devilry of jpr's CAMBER/well, clued as Rush home. That makes my Friday skulduggery seem like Cluedo.

Further credit to Rupert for his Arepo reference for SOWER - a meta-allusion for all genuine crossword geeks, as well as his lingerie comedy:

THONGS - Nothing's tangled in discarded underwear

I thrilled to SK's innovation, using 'quick' in the sense of essence:

Crossword (Quick) appear in Sunday Express initally = SORE

Genius idea, and an Anaxesque execution. Equally good was the CS double - with two smile-triggering clues, both original in their approach:

FARTHING - Coin 'black stump', say?

FARTING - Some of art in Guggenheim causing a stink

Very close to seizing the prize, but for sheer outrage and originality, I could not ignore Jon's deja-vu two that used without in contrary ways to present the epitome of ambiguity:

SAVING - Cutting excess without hard scraping

SHAVING - Cutting excess without hard scraping

Stunning deception, and a classy response to a dual clue challenge. Congratz to that hero, and hail all hands who had a whirl. (Jon, if you can let me know your best snail, I will send H Factor your way.) Thanks everyone for the hoot.

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Text-speak is creeping into Scrabble. Where do you sit?
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