◀ No. 1028 | Clue list | 3 Nov 1968 | Slip image | No. 1036 ▶ |
XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 1032
TENONER (Printer’s Devilry)
1. Mrs B. Lewis: Fleeing from an amorous début, An/-an? Faster than the confirmed bachelor! (ref. London Zoo’s panda).
2. N. C. Dexter: Of pyromaniacs was Guy Fawkes worthiest of no/ose? This whole city ablaze! (Nero).
3. Mrs S. Hewitt: Child playing with kit/e winds the string after it.
V.H.C.
R. H. Adey: The choice before us:—wash, or none is bea/u—lest he roost for four years (ref. US election 1968, Humphrey, Nixon).
M. J. Balfour: What Claudius did in his last years, Ma/o did (Nero, Agrippina).
E. Chalkley: Who was the most o’ f/un out at Lord’s? Denis Compton?
Cdr H. H. L. Dickson: My good resolution was ale, n/ightly approved by the vicar.
J. D. Ede: If bedmakers bet, O pra/ise be for every last chance.
H. R. Game: Youngsters’ bea/ring might show some improvement.
F. G. Illingworth: Unfortunately continued sober—so f/un was just not possible (Gary Sobers).
A. F. Lerrigo: Having a child-bea/ring too frequently suggests wrong control methods.
F. D. Marshall: British Railways may run la/undry.
D. P. M. Michael: Does, not ro/es, train in sects of course (rotenone).
H. Rutley: Ximenes solvers won’t be bea/rable if English barrel smashed—“Possibly wrong” is the clue (‘errable’; ref. to clue).
Mrs E. Shackleton: Help? For a favour, i./e., I’d assist editing Ray’s poem (nereid; ref. Gray, “Ode on a favourite cat drowned…”).
T. A. Stout: Nixon and Humphrey have “Go t/o U.S.” duties during the election (1968 election).
D. G. Thomas: Chocolate! Will fat/e press that urge to eat it?
D. J. Thorpe: We can’t have a rot/ating top.
A. D. Walker: On dogs, perhaps, but no-one sees the fleas of a t/iger on (erigeron, flea-bane).
J. D. Walsh: Nixon’s go—t/o U.S. top job (1968 election).
W. Carter Wigg: The delinquent girl may be bea/ring.
H.C.
Miss V. K. Abrahams, Dr R. E. Adam, J. Alderson, C. J. Anderson, P. F. Bauchop, N. Bickerdike, C. I. Bullock, C. O. Butcher, J. Caulfield, R. N. Chignell, D. L. L. Clarke, V. A. R. Cooper, R. M. S. Cork, Mrs M. P. Craine, A. J. Crow, H. F. Dixon, L. L. Dixon, J. E. Dorrington, J. Duffill, W. J. Duffin, Sister Evangelist, Mrs N. Fisher, R. P. C. Forman, L. H. Garrett, I. C. Gilchrist, S. C. Gilchrist, J. Gill, S. Goldie, R. A. Harvey, J. E. Hobson, E. M. Hornby, R. E. Kimmons, Dr P. D. King, J. R. Kirby, Col E. F. Le Quesne, J. H. C. Leach, A. D. Legge, Mrs J. Mackie, J. D. H. Mackintosh, B. Manvell, Mrs E. McFee, W. L. Miron, P. Moreland, C. J. Morse, B. G. Palmer, Miss M. J. Patrick, C. Quin, E. J. Rackham, Mr & Mrs A. Rivlin, W. Rodgers, Dr W. I. D. Scott, Sir W. Slimmings, J. Sparrow, A. J. Stapleton, F. B. Stubbs, Rev L. M. Styler, M. J. Suckling, A. Sudbery, Dr W. G. A. Swan, J. Treleaven, C. W. Willink, Mrs M. R. Wishart, P. Young.
COMMENTS:—About 450 entries, not many mistakes, mostly guesses of “guylers” for GEYSERS, whose clue was a very tough one and probably reduced the entry by 100 or so. Many admitted guessing and guessed right; it is a weakness of “PD.” that guesses, especially at the longer words, are apt to succeed. Adige, Yser, Stour are European rivers; my authorities for Yser are the Everyman’s Encyclopaedia’s World Atlas section, the gazetteer in Webster (1934), and Nuttall’s Encyclopaedia. It is a river in Belgium; much fighting took place near it in World War I. Campbell’s Iser in “Hohenlinden” is an entirely different river, in Bavaria.
The entry was excellent, and I think the first two prize clues deserve to rank high among the best ever; the third is very neat but only just defeated several of the V.H.C.s. The only much overworked idea was “Sten one round.” A possible third prize winner, ruled out, alas, by a mistake in solution, was Mr. J. Donaldson’s “Dr said ‘Careful, nurse! Wash negative.’” (Rh-negative.) There was unfortunately the usual crop of clues which disregarded the instruction that the sense of the final version is more vital than that of the devilled one, e.g. “One can haver for ever.” “One can hate no nerver for ever” means very little, even if one admits the existence of “nerver.” One clue ignored both this point and the preference for the gap not coming between words:—“Youngsters climb sofas. O.S. covers prevent damage.” “Eros” covers, a dragged in name anyway, is pointless as soon as the sofas disappear. It should be noted too that too much messing about with word-division merely points too obviously to the gap, e.g. “Wit has a lad! I don’t have any on! I on sofa—dish I sample!” Apart from the nonsense, this screams “With a salad I don’t have any onions, and the solution becomes too easy.
The change of address did help to defeat the vagaries of the G.P.O., but you might like to know how much these still inter fered. Less than half the total entry reached me before Saturday; over 70 entries (some posted on Thursday and some on Friday) arrived on Monday, several of them with 5d. stamps; one posted on Friday in Cheshire with a 5d. stamp arrived on Tuesday, with a Rochester & Chatham post-mark on the back of the envelope. (All these, of course, qualified by rule for the competition). If you can get your entries off early (I know that the Yser clue held many people up this time), it would certainly be wise to do so. Finally many thanks for appreciative notes; I’ll remember the popularity of “P.D.” and produce another in 7 or 8 months’ time.