XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 143

LAMPREY

1.  H. Rainger: I like a stone to lick, but split up to lick a whole quarry! (lam prey).

2.  E. S. Ainley: Fifty-one, m’sieur, impair means a sucker on the rocks! (L a M. prey; ref. roulette).

3=  P. M. Coombs: Strike at the quarry, so I stick to stones from the river (lam prey).

3=  Mrs N. Fisher: I’m not the hag of my family, and my pearl becomes me (anag.; hagfish).

3=  Mrs L. Jarman: Here’s an oil-burning vessel, truly all out to get fish (lamp re(all)y).

3=  C. Koop: One reading of Mr. Paley’s evidences was too much for Henry! (anag.; ref. William P., theologian, and death of Hen. I).

3=  I. J. Nicholas: The abused Pym real regicide? At any rate the poor fish did kill the king (anag.; ref. John P., Parliamentarian, deaths of Charles I and Henry I).

3=  H. S. Tribe: Mortally upset the king, the sucker—might have become Earl Pym otherwise (anag.; ref. John P., Parliamentarian, deaths of Charles I and Henry I).

H.C.

J. H. Dingwall: Am always ready to give rocks a licking—but quarry has strike on! (lam + prey).

Brig W. E. Duncan: Thirty-six, combined with Pym (and perhaps dozens more!), brought about a tragic end to King’s Party (anag. of Lear Pym; ref. John P., Parliamentarian, deaths of Charles I and Henry I; 36 ac. = Lear).

L. E. Eyres: Set light to King of Spain; finally extinguished King of England (lamp rey (= king, Sp.); ref. death of Henry I).

S. B. Green: Early afternoon scramble for fish! (anag. incl. p.m.).

C. H. Hudson: The wave breaks into song—and even the fish is light-headed (anag. of perm. in lay, starts with lamp).

G. G. Lawrance: One might have been ample for Henry IV and V: Henry I had more than enough (anag. + ry (4th and 5th letters of Henry); ref. ‘surfeit of l.s’).

E. L. Mellersh: Strike victim found on the rocks—only reply—Am Broke (lam prey, anag.).

J. G. Milner: If you cast softly into the rough water of the R. Yealm, you might catch this fish (p in anag.; river in Devon).

F. E. Newlove: This throws some light on Godfrey’s end as well as Henry’s! (lamp + (Godf)rey; ref. G. of Bouillon, crusader, d. 1100, and death of Hen. I).

E. R. Prentice: Second note to M.P.—make a song about it—can’t say I’m not a sticker! (re MP in lay; re 2nd tonic note).

G. A. Wain: My pearl-powder always sticks just by the mouth! (anag.).

J. B. Widdowson: Having got hit on the head, the victim may perhaps be caught in the gully, though not by the spinner (lam prey; spinner = angler’s fly).

COMMENTS—247 correct, and the biggest crop of incorrect solutions for a very long time. The commonest mistake was “soulaine”: I see the point, but unhappily the word seems not to exist, while POULAINE is in Chambers. Among other scattered mistakes “shallows” comes nearest to justification (Mr. Justice Shallow?), but I can’t pass “shows” = “stores.” The most unfortunate solver to make a mistake (“soulaine”) was Mr. Slimmings, who would have won a prize for “Strike victim seen in Billingsgate getting army ’elp!” There were some others too who were knocked out of my short list because of errors. I thought the entry slightly below standard. The champion piece of obscurity was “Tommy is in charge again and under escort too”: I shall be impressed if anyone other than its author can explain it to me. Some experienced wolves let unsoundness creep in: we cannot have redundant pronouns, e.g. “I certainly beat up my victim.” And I am suffering from a surfeit of “it’s very fishy!” which I regard as a banality. Two warnings:—Mr. Hudson’s indirect mixture of the letters of “perm.” is too hard, and Mr. Wain’s “powder” to indicate an anag. is rather questionable: both clues are of prize standard otherwise.
 
I must point out that the best authorities, including the immortal S. and Y. attribute the surfeit to Henry I, not John: the cause of the latter’s death was surely laundry trouble, wasn’t It? But luckily for several competitors John appeared in explanatory notes, not in the clue itself; and there I felt justified in overlooking the error. In any case I rather favour the “palfrey” tradition, personally! One solver sends the following from John Capgrave, an Augustine friar and chronicler:—“[Henry I] desired gretely to ete a lamprey; for that mete loved he wel, and evir it did him harme. This mete caused him a fevyr, of which he deied.” Note “a lamprey”: I feel sure that one couldn’t have been fatal, and this I take as strong evidence in favour of the emendation “palfrey”! But enough!
 
RUNNERS-UP:—C. A. Baker, Mrs Begg, A. M. Bernard, M. L. Booker, F. A. Clark, H. Ebden, Mrs J. O. Fuller, D. Godden, R. G. Gordon, G. M. Gwynn, D. Hawson, J. J. Holloway, F. Jackson, L. W. Jenkinson, A. F. Lerrigo, J. P. Lloyd, T. W. Melluish, A. E. North, J. T. Oliver, J. D. P. O’Leary, Rev E. B. Peel, R. Postill, E. J. Rackham, E. W. Richart, T. E. Sanders, A. J. C. Saunders, A. E. Smith, O. Carlton Smith, A. H. Taylor, L. E. Thomas, J. Thompson, H. D. Wakely, J. Walton.