XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 157

ORANGE

1.  A. E. Clayton: In case it is packed at Covent Garden, try the stalls at “Carousel” (cryptic def.; ref. fruit market, opera house and nearby Drury Lane Theatre, where ‘orange-girl’ Nell Gwyn worked, and ‘Carousel’ played in 1950).

2.  E. O. Seymour: Wild is a goner! Peel has constituted a force perilous to footpads (anag.; ref. Jonathan W., 18c. criminal, Sir Robert P., and slipping on o. peel).

3.  H. Ingram Rees: “Revelry by night” is all about an eighteenth-century party (an in anag. of orge; ref. Orange Order, founded 1795).

H.C.

J. W. Bates: Change gear on seeing this! (anag. & lit.; see = bring about result; traffic lights).

Rev B. Chapman: About ten divisions ambushed here! The outcome could be very bitter, and possibly bloody! (cryptic def.; segments, bitter and blood o.).

Mrs N. Fisher: Has a tangy centre and its skin may be gold ((t)ang(y) in ore, & lit.).

S. Goldie: Capacity second to none is pressed into service for the under-fives (0 + range; ref. free o.-juice through Welfare Food Scheme).

W. E. Green (Beverley): Peeled in polite usage, but pealed in Old English (rang in OE; ref. table etiquette).

A. R. M. Hooper: Point-blank, as it were, and pretty well pipped (i.e. 0 range).

Mrs L. Jarman: See the globe with zest: frequent trips from Peel (cryptic def.; ref. Isle of Man port, and slipping on peel; zest = orange flavour).

C. B. Joyner: Coming back, I dashed inside for a drink. Otherwise I might have been a goner! (ran in ego (rev.), anag.).

C. Koop: “With how depraved a quality—O Regan!” (This fruity line is nothing to the row that follows!) (anag., 0 range; ref. King Lear II.4).

J. P. Lloyd: O for a row between Red and Yellow! (O range; ref. Cold War, i.e. Russia, China).

T. E. Sanders: Cross these lights and I’m a goner maybe (anag. & lit.; lights in sense of letters of answer).

A. E. Smith: Love is given to rove: the fruit is often bitter (0 range).

L. E. Thomas: Formation of several divisions picked to serve in the dessert! (cryptic def.; segments; cf. desert).

J. Thompson: Pithy address to a fuel consumer (i.e. O range!).

RUNNERS-UP

C. A. Baker, T. Bilsborough, M. L. Booker, G. Bowness, Miss E. C. Chapman, H. Chown, A. N. Clark, F. A. Clark, G. H. Clarke, G. N. Collins, A. V. Crannigan, Cdr H. H. L. Dickson, R. Donoghue, Rev B. Foley, A. B. Gardner, C. C. M. Giffin, P. Glennie-Smith, S. B. Green, F. H. W. Hawes, D. Hawson, G. Hopkins, Dr T. O. Hughes, B. J. Iliffe, M. B. Jones, G. G. Lawrance, B. M. Legg, A. F. Lerrigo, R. Lumley, E. L. Mellersh, A. E. North, Mrs A. M. Osmond, Rev E. B. Peel, E. R. Prentice, E. J. Rackham, J. S. W. Reid, M. C. T. Reilly, H. B. Ridley, A. Robins, A. W. Saxby, Mrs E. S. G. Sheehan, W. K. M. Slimmings, O. Carlton Smith, Mrs A. L. Stevenson, R. G. Tate, H. S. Tribe, W. H. Victory, G. A. Wain, H. D. Wakely, J. F. N. Wedge, C. E. Williams, Maj J. J. Wise.
 

COMMENTS.—245 correct and an awful lot of mistakes! “Are not Ahana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the rivers of Israel?” And isn’t A.B.-ana (= sailor-talk) better than “aband”? The solver wouldn’t think of Naaman at once, but “A.B.” is hackneyed and “ana = a collection of table-talk” (Chamb.) is far from new in crosswords: in any case a glance at the AN-s in Chamb. would not have taken long, after the sailor had been spotted, and then Naaman might have dawned. I have far more sympathy with those (far fewer) who wrote “hanch” for HUNCH. But one can hardly “feel in one’s bones” (pl.) an arc, even when it is an arc “of smatter radius,” whereas “to have a hunch” that something is so is common slang.
 
The long list of runners-up accurately reflects the many good clues sent in, while few were really outstanding. So simple a word calls rather for simple treatment and gives a chance for the straight clue: some otherwise excellent clues, like Mr. Koop’s with its clever use of a genuine quotation, gave the solver too much help with an easy word. Some criticisms:—A. E. C.—First-class straight clue. E. O. S.—Not too much help: brilliantly worked out, in spite of the anachronism, which personally I can swallow as humorous. H. I. R.—Neatest of the other, not-too-easy ones. J. W. B. & A. E. S.—Both clever “portmanteau” clues, but one doesn’t quite think of the amber light as orange. The latter and more brilliant of the two also assumes that a letter can be a light: I should have said that the whole word is the light. N. F.—Another good “portmanteau,” but the “skin” containing half the letters and thicker at one end is not ideal. L. J.—Peel is rather a small port for a world trip to start from: otherwise extremely good. J. P. L.—A little too easy, but very neat. Others don’t quite equal those mentioned in interest: two of their ideas might have been nicely combined into “Ten divisions meet here point-blank,” or the like.
 
Apologies for my density over the first rejected clue criticised last time! Sweet = rock, of course: perhaps the moral is that it is wise to write obvious notes for a judge reading many varying clues in succession. It would have made no difference to the result, though: “L = many” would have ruled it out. I’ll criticise some more rejects another time.