2653: Order! Order! – solution

The twelve symmetrically placed unclued entries NATURAL, MAIL, MONASTIC, STANDING, PECK, LOGICAL, BATTING, APPLE-PIE, OPEN, EVICTION, BANKERS and SIDE can precede the word ORDER, and the title alluded to an ‘A to Z’. Thus unclued entries had to be entered in alphabetical order.

First prize Seonaid Chapman, Brampton, Cumberland

Runners-up Peter Lawrence, Durham; Julie Sanders, Bishop’s Waltham, Southampton