XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 1110

IMPERSONATE

1.  N. C. Dexter: It’s tricky to do this, says Danny, without me bra or me panties—very tricky (anag. & lit.; D. la Rue).

2.  Mrs E. McFee: Primate with nose that’s peculiar to ape (anag.).

3.  C. J. Morse: Pose as ordered naughtily by some painter (anag.).

V.H.C.

C. Allen Baker: One must get into step in Rome being moved to do as the Romans do (a in anag.).

C. O. Butcher: Take off raiment and pose undressed—all actors appear to (anag.; 2 defs.).

J. Crowther: See me strip naughtily with one end of bra to take off (anag. incl. a).

Cdr H. H. L. Dickson: In a different way permeations get into the skin of the subject (anag.).

E. G. Jones: Actors may do this at some rep in play (anag.; play = move about freely, intrans.).

R. E. Kimmons: Wrongly ape is no term for this (anag. & lit.).

J. R. Kirby: Dramatically disposed men aspire to (anag. & lit.).

Mrs B. Lewis: I’m to take off raiment and pose? Really! (anag.; really, vb. = form anew).

J. C. Leyland: Moonstruck men aspire to take off (anag.).

Lt Col D. Macfie: “Maelstrom” of Mr. E. A. Poe isn’t in character (anag., short story title; impersonate, adj.).

H. W. Massingham: Moonstruck men aspire to take off (anag.).

F. E. Newlove: Little mischief, ’er boy—Mischief personified—I mean that (imp ’er son Ate; impersonate, adj.).

Mrs E. M. Pardo: Moon-crazy men aspire to takeoff (anag.).

E. J. Rackham: Be Hamlet, perhaps, declaiming time as prone to be out of joint (anag.; ref. Hamlet I.4.188).

Mrs M. P. Webber: Permeation’s a certain way to get into the skin of a character (anag.).

M. Woolf: Try to take off more—a step-in will fit if you reduce (anag.).

H.C.

W. G. Arnott, M. J. Balfour, J. W. Bates, E. C. Bingham, Maj A. S. Birt, J. A. Blair, Mrs A. Boyes, Mrs M. B. Carter, E. Chalkley, Grp Capt G. H. DuBoulay, H. W. Evans, Mrs N. Fisher, A. L. Freeman, P. D. Gaffey, Dr E. Gallagher, S. Goldie, A. H. Harker, E. M. Hornby, J. G. Hull, E. G. Illingworth, C. Jones, Sir S. Kaye, M. A. Lassman, A. Lawrie, A. F. Lerrigo, Mrs J. Mackie, J. L. Mackie, J. D. H. Mackintosh, Mrs S. M. Macpherson, D. F. Manley, S. M. Mansell, B. Manvell, C. G. Millin, W. L. Miron, D. G. C. Mockridge, P. H. Morgan, V. R. S. Mott, F. R. Palmer, L. S. Pearce, W. H. Pegram, Mrs N. Perry, Mrs E. M. Phair, R. Postill, Mrs G. Rajkowska, L. G. D. Sanders, T. E. Sanders, V. Seth, E. O. Seymour, Sir W. Slimmings, C. H. Smith, M. C. Souster, J. Sparrow, Rev L. M. Styler, M. H. E. Watson, G. H. Willett, D. C. Williamson.
 

COMMENTS:—Just under 350 entries, very few mistakes, nearly all due to not verifying the 5th letter of MEERKATS. The size of the entry, and a few comments, show that this was harder than the average Plain. There was an embarras de taking off of panties, too many to get further than the H. C. list. I was interested at the appearance of a whole-word anagram, rare with such a long word; two of its three users are V. H. C.s, and Cdr. Dickson came near to a prize. The winner is, I think, most amusing and ingenious, though on the long side; but it wouldn’t go beyond two lines of print, and it would be very hard to shorten it without spoiling it. I was very dubious about the use of “play” as a transitive verb to indicate an anagram; I don’t think C. quite justifies this.
 
There was some unsoundness. “Disguise” and “rendering of stage part” are inaccurate definitions. “Little effort”, “an easy start” and “early election” cannot, syntactically, indicate E. “Some prate in an uproarious manner” assumes that “in” can do double duty, but it can’t. And, in spite of my very often repeated protests, people will keep using a noun side by side with an anagram as an indication, thus:—”Painter with some distortion”, “Take off panties—more debauchery”, and even “In rep at some performances”. “Painter with some distortion” cannot possibly mean “Painter with some distorted” or “Distortion of painter with some”; the same principle applies equally forcibly to the others. I do hope everyone will grasp this point now; such clues will never get any mention in the lists, and I really have written about it often enough, I think! But unsoundness is still, happily, on the wane; there were hardly any indirect anagrams this time; and the entry as a whole gave me much enjoyment as well as some difficulty in sorting out the best clues.