◀  No. 152 Clue list 12 Nov 1950 Slip image No. 154  ▶

XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 153

SAMISENS

1.  S. B. Green (NW10): A flat be obtained from us if you want it without being broke by the expenditure! (mise in sans; flat = note).

2.  F. E. Newlove (SE9): Gutlessness (or lack of pluck) makes us ineffective: all our players are yellow! (cryptic def.; i.e. gut strings, yellow-skinned).

3.  Mrs L. Jarman (Brough): We make Japanese pling-plong racket, unsuitable for English ball (cryptic def.; cf. ping pong).

H.C.

F. E. Chappell (Brackley): These oriental instruments are hardly used “in masses” and seldom in “fugues and ops.” (anag.; ref. Mikado’s song).

J. C. Chavasse (Exeter): Getting the wind up won’t evoke any response from these highly-strung Asiatics—but pluck will! (cryptic def.).

G. N. Collins (Ipswich): We are suppliers of oriental music. French buyers may write without enclosing a deposit (mise in sans (Fr.)).

F. L. Constable (Ludlow): Wanting to take in a present to the Superior, did the three little maids from school pluck these? (mise in sans; ref. The Mikado).

Mrs D. M. D’Eath (Haywards Heath): Friends in a way to our near allies, but Japanese are heard to be in touch with them (amis in sens (Fr.)).

M. G. Ellis (Mundesley): The string section for the “Mikado” is in the same new style (is in same + NS).

Mrs N. Fisher (Stroud): The “It” girl held most of the men, but Bow wouldn’t touch our chords! (SA + (m)en in miss; ref. Clara Bow, film star).

Maj A. H. Giles (Leamington): String ’em up! Get ’em by the neck! A sharp twist and the Japs may change their tune! (cryptic def.).

Dr D. S. M. Imrie (Edinburgh): They’re good plucked ’uns to play without outside-half, injured (anag. of semi in sans).

C. Koop (Ferring): Messina’s tremors shown by recording instruments in Tokyo (anag.; ref. Sicilian city destroyed by earthquake in 1908).

G. M. Mercer (Blackburn): Yum-Yum thought these were Marine Parades—strange confusion for otherwise sane miss (anag.;. ref. The Mikado, Act I).

C. J. Morse (Oxford): The Japanese enjoy their music without limiting expenditure (mise in sans).

Mrs M. G. Porter (SW13): Nips give them guts and they are consequently well plucked (cryptic def.; Nips (offensive) = Japanese; gut strings).

R. Postill (Jersey): Cultivated in masses—and plucked with “The flowers that bloom in the Spring”? (anag.; ref. song in The Mikado).

Mrs E. Richards (W5): These little men play with pluck (cryptic def.; Japanese thought of as small).

J. S. Young (Beckenham): They might go for a song if you know how to pull the strings—without involving expenditure (mise in sans).

 

COMMENTS—393 Correct and a number of scattered mistakes. Some solvers failed to fathom COATI: coat (vb.) = “pull the wool over” and I = “one of one’s eyes to the ear” (the sound of “eye”). A much easier puzzle following the stiffness of No. 152 attracted many “maiden speeches”: let their makers riot be discouraged if they weren’t successful the first time, for the standard of clues sent in was very good. Many competitors failed through not indicating the plural word clearly enough. The use of “Massine” and “Messina” as anags. involved difficulty because both are proper names and cannot be pluralised, while the apostrophe s is hard to manage. No one entirely succeeded with it, but I have included among the H.C.s the effort I thought best and several others are among the runners-up.
 
I have few criticisms to make on the H.C.s, the general standard being such that hardly any clues got in which included even one feature that I felt inclined to question. They were defeated by the prizewinners mostly through being less attractive, not through any unsoundness. I would put F. L. C. fourth and J. S. Y. fifth; the former especially was unlucky not to get a prize. N. F.—“Bow” with capital and no article is a little clumsy for musical sense: the capital was essential for soundness, but “the” might have been included. Idea cleverly worked out. D. S. M. I.—Better without the hyphen: not essential for football sense and harmful to concealed sense. C. K.—Syntax of “M.’s tremors” questionable. R. P.—Is “cultivated” a sound indication of “anag.”? Chamb. gives “devote attention to” and “refine,” but neither quite satisfies me. Very good otherwise.
 
RUNNERS-UP—C. A. Baker, Maj H. L. Carter, Rev B. Chapman, P. M. Coombs, H. F. Dixon, T. N. Dowse, J. Duffill, T. Dwyer, H. H. Elliott, L. E. Eyres, Rev B. Foley, C. E. Gates, Dr G. P. Hartigan, A. R. M. Hooper, T. O. Hughes, B. J. Iliffe, W. Islip, R. D. Jones, B. M. Legg, R. H. Lemon, Mrs Magruder, B. J. McCann, E. L. Mellersh, T. W. Melluish, W. L. Miron, R. O’Donoghue, W. B. O’Hanlon, G. Perry, H. Perry, E. J. Rackham, H. B. Ridley, A. Rivlin, A. J. C. Saunders, E. O. Seymour, Mrs E. S. G. Sheehan, E. T. Smith, O. Carlton Smith, Mrs E. B. Stevens, R. I. Sutherland, Miss A. C. Tatham, D. R. Taunt, A. H. Taylor, Rev P. G. Woodcock.
 

 
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