◀  No. 1158 Clue list 2 May 1971 Slip image No. 1167  ▶

XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 1162

BEAM-ENDS

1.  N. C. Dexter: You may see ’em rise vertically and send A.B. reeling around (’em (rev.) in anag., & lit.).

2.  Mrs S. M. Macpherson: Rolls, submerging us, boded disaster—closes down after summer (beam + end; summer2; ref. break-up of Rolls Royce Ltd.).

3.  F. E. Newlove: Last shift dispersing means bed (anag.; l.s., def. in Brewer).

V.H.C.

W. G. Arnott: Close follows Ray—Somerset’s first to make terms for the deal (beam + end + S; ref. cricket, Brian C., R. Illingworth).

D. L. L. Clarke: On which a crew might resort to prayer, or they might make a bedesman? (anag.).

P. M. Coombs: They are in distress on this airline and repairs are needed (BEA mends).

Mrs W. Fearon: Board finishes, the outcome of the extremes of cross members (beam ends).

A. H. Harker: On hers, she’s well heeled; on one’s own, one’s quite the opposite (2 mngs.; heeled (naut.) = leaning).

D. Hawson: Blokes in hippy gear go to pot on them (men in beads).

J. P. H. Hirst: Last word in resting places—for bankrupts? (amen in beds).

G. M. Hornby: Shine finishes uppers (beam ends).

R. S. Hunt: Bedesman’s roll is what you find the poor on (anag.).

A. Lawrie: Husbands ensnared by the old entreaties—ribs keep them in their place (men in beads; rib = wife).

L. F. Leason: Supporters of destitute folk include workers in prayers no longer (men in beads).

T. A. Martin: Liverpool finish on these—and B. Mee’s delirious (anag.; ref. Bertie M., Arsenal manager).

C. G. Millin: It must make men sad to be on them (be + anag. & lit.).

C. J. Morse: Radio failures are a feature of ships in distress—airline does better (beam ends, BEA mends: radio, beam, vbs.).

T. E. Sanders: Airline revises summer terms on which it would be bankrupt (BEA mends, beam ends).

E. O. Seymour: One may see chaps wearing necklaces, but one shouldn’t be down on them (men in beads).

J. Walton: It isn’t the pitch that affects us. Ray’s over exposes us (beam ends; R. Illingworth, cricketer).

Rev C. D. Westbrook: Fleet would be sure after a smash to contain some on these (double mng.; ref. debtors’ prison).

H.C.

C. J. Anderson, Col P. S. Baines, C. Allen Baker, R. S. Caffyn, E. Chalkley, Mrs M. P. Craine, J. Crowther, C. R. Dean, Cdr H. H. L. Dickson, J. H. Dingwall, H. F. Dixon, P. S. Elliott, E. R. Evans, W. P. M. Field, Mrs R. Harvey, Mrs S. Hewitt, P. Hurst, Mrs D. B. Jenkinson, G. Johnstone, A. H. Jones, J. H. C. Leach, A. D. Legge, Mrs B. Lewis, A. A. Malcolm, Mrs E. McFee, R. A. Mostyn, W. H. Pegram, T. C. Perks, R. Postill, P. G. Purtell, E. J. Rackham, Mrs S. Rees, E. W. Richart, A. Rivlin, N. Roles, Dr W. I. D. Scott, Mrs E. M. Simmonds, Sir W. Slimmings, Brig R. F. E. Stoney, F. B. Stubbs, J. B. Sweeting, J. W. Taylor, D. J. Thorpe, Mrs M. P. Webber, J. Webster, J. F. N. Wedge, B. C. Wilcox, C. E. Williams.
 

ANNUAL HONOURS LIST FOR 13 COMPETITIONS:—1. N. C. Dexter (4 prizes, 7 V.H.Cs.); 2. C. Allen Baker (3—7); 3. C. J. Morse (2—8); 4. Mrs. B. Lewis (2—7); 5. L. F. Leason (1—5); 6. Rev. C. D. Westbrook (1—4); J. Crowther, J. R. Kirby (0—6); 9. E. M. Hornby (2—l), C. O. Butcher (l—3), A. Lawrie, R. Postill (0—5); 13. J. B. Sweeting (2—0), J. A. Fincken, Sir S. Kaye, Mrs. E. McFee, F. E. Newlove (1—2), E. Chalkley, R. E. Kimmons (0—4).
 
Consolation Prizes:—J. Crowther, J. R. Kirby, A. Lawrie, R. Postill.
 
Total different prizewinners to date:—463.
 
Total different prizewinners and/or V.H.C’s.:—1,617.
 
COMMENTS:—About 450 entries, nearly all correct. The last word in beds, couches, naughty debs, and even bottoms, appeared so often as to spoil the competition a bit; I have given a few mentions to those with the best wording. Unsoundness continues to decrease, but I think I should again give a few examples as a guide to newcomers (though even veterans are occasionally guilty). Indirect anagrams are now very rare, but there was one very bad one:—‘Eminent lady besotted with wealth’, hoping to indicate an anagram of D.B.E. and means. This is totally useless to a solver with so many possible alternatives; a few that occur to me without much thought are:—E.R. or V.R. with riches (or wealth itself), dame, rani or Anne with cash, weal or pelf, D.B.E. with money or dough. No doubt there are many more, but those alone give, I think, 16 possibilities. A subsidiary part of a clue is meant to help. Then there still persists the ungrammatical use of a noun to indicate an anagram, put side by side with the vital word, e.g. mean disposition, sad distress. I deny strongly that these can indicate ‘disposition of mean’, ‘distress of sad’, any more than Peter disposition, Peter distress can, in normal English, mean ‘Peter’s disposition’, ‘Peter’s distress’. There are occasional possible exceptions like plane crash, which does mean ‘crash of a plane’; but these are rare exceptions. I do hope this point is now really clear. Then I think the simple word ‘hippies’ to indicate men in beads is hardly sound, being in effect a clue to a clue, not itself a clue. The addition of the words ‘it appears’ might just make it pass muster. Then ‘Mab needs a shift’ makes the word ‘needs’ do double duty; the writer means ‘Mab needs needs a shift’; this is quite unjustifiable. Finally in spite of Chambers I couldn’t accept that ‘man’ = ‘ship’; this is surely never used except in ‘man-of-war’; C. doesn’t really make this clear, but I’m sure it is so.
 
Congratulations to Mr. Dexter on retaining his championship with an all-time record score—and all his four prizes were firsts. But lest anyone should lose heart and think we are a closed shop, look at the latest totals given above—prizewinners approaching 500 and V.H.C. winners over 1,600—they are impressive.
 

 
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