XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 109

PERI

1.  J. Talman (Glasgow): Sindbad had one in every pier (anag.; ref. “girl in every port”).

2.  W. O. Robertson (Marlow): The hob is back in the fireplace (hob²; hidden rev.).

3.  A. C. Norfolk (Ely): Little blighter ripe for reforming (anag.).

H.C.

E. S. Ainley (S. Harrow): When a soft answer has turned away wrath, the spirit is composed (p + ire (rev.); Proverbs 15:1).

E. J. Bell (Sheffield): A sprite, ripe for mischief (anag.).

Rev B. Chapman (Wisbech): Imagine her charming the heart of a Titan! (hidden in Hyperion; i.e. she is imaginary).

D. H. Clayton (Aberdeen): Having more than three feet, this fairy can certainly get around! (i.e. peri with meter = perimeter).

C. B. Joyner (Ringwood): Imagine being caught from a swipe right on the edge of the boundary! (hidden; peri-meter; i.e. being you imagine).

G. G. Lawrance (Harrow): She stood at the gate but wasn’t given an opportunity to see over it (peri(scope); ref. Thos. Moore, ‘Paradise and the P.’).

A. R. McInroy (Edinburgh): Is this a spirit that turneth away wrath softly? (ire p (rev.); Proverbs 15:1).

D. P. M. Michael (Newport): Experience includes being seen with Peer at Savoy (hidden; ‘Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the P.’, Savoy opera by G & S).

R. Mills (SW12): Do you want some delicious spirit? Answer softly and turn the wrath to come! (p + ire (rev.); Proverbs 15:1).

D. G. C. Mockridge (NW3): She was created by Persians not lacking in imagination (Persians less sans).

P. M. Newey (Reading): Fay lacks the opportunity to get an Observer over the sea (peri(scope)).

R. C. Payn (Irvine): She might be seen with a Peer at the Savoy or with me disguised at the Empire (anag. of (Em)pire; ‘Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the P.’, Savoy opera by G & S).

Rev E. B. Peel (Fleetwood): My parents came down in the world, but I was once seen with a peer at the Savoy (‘Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the P.’, Savoy opera by G & S; “begotten of fallen spirits” (Brewer)).

H. Rainger (SW6): Angelic child gives the right answer—soft, and turning away wrath (p + ire, (rev.); ref. Thos. Moore, ‘Paradise and the P.’; Proverbs 15:1).

Mrs E. Shackleton (W. Wickham): About ripe at the bottom of our garden (anag.; “There are fairies …”).

Miss D. W. Taylor (Sidcup): Ladies’ cricket team in Germany? Comes from Persia, but no sex appeal! (Persia less SA; elf (Ger.) = eleven).

Comments—228 correct in a fair-sized entry. “Syran” for TYRAN was a very common mistake. The correct answer, an old form of “tyrant,” is in Chambers: “Syran” was evidently based on S-Y as “the fringe of Society”; but surely the fringe of anything cannot be both ends of it—S-Y would call for the plural “fringes.” TY, one end, is a true “fringe.” Nor does “Syran,” as far as I know, exist. ARDSTRAW also caused some trouble: I cannot remember, away from my books, whether I got it from Phillips’s Atlas or from the Everyman Encyclopaedia Atlas, but it was certainly one or the other.
 
Many thanks for all the good wishes for my holiday from solvers who penetrated the opening “clue.” Also many thanks for the response to that appeal—more than two-thirds of the entry arrived by Thursday. Finally, I would assure the remainder, who couldn’t manage it, that their clues were not hastily thrown in the sea: I really have taken time off from ploughing the fields of Sandwich and scattering its sand to give them due consideration!
 
Runners-up:—Maj P. S. Baines, C. Allen Baker, W. H. Ballantyne, E. P. Barrett, Dr A. H. Baynes, J. Buist, E. F. Clayton, Miss C. Coen, H. J. Connell, H. D. Cowan, Cdr H. H. L. Dickson, G. D. Dunlop, Miss R. Le S. Filleul, Mrs N. Fisher, Miss J. M. Forsyth, S. R. Gibbs, C. C. M. Giffin, S. B. Green, Miss I. M. Hauber, H. C. Hills, C. H. Hudson, D. S. Johnson, J. Jones, J. Standard Jones, C. Koop, Mrs F. Laing, A. F. Lerrigo, R. W. Lerrigo, J. P. Lloyd, C. J. Morse, J. D. P. O’Leary, G. H. Podmore, R. Postill, D. W. Reed, A. Robins, F. Rose, W. K. M. Slimmings, O. Carlton Smith, W. C. Tame, Miss A. C. Tatham, A. H. Taylor, H. L. Tinkler, D. L. Tuckett, Sqn Ldr G. Wright.