◀  No. 158 Clue list 4 Feb 1951 Slip image No. 160  ▶

XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 159

SPANIEL

1.  D. P. M. Michael: Lies curled up taking nap—let him sleep (anag. of lies, nap; “let sleeping dogs lie”).

2.  E. R. Prentice: Resort to kennel without the house. I may be seen within (spa + I in (ken)nel & lit.; ken2).

3.  C. Koop: Due to spring perhaps, he’ll soon find some flapper falling for his fetching ways! (cryptic def.; springer s.; flapper = game bird; s. may be gun dog or retriever [see comments]).

H.C.

E. S. Ainley: A pleasin’ creature—to shootin’ types (anag., creature = something created; spaniel = fawning person/gun dog).

C. A. Baker: As a dog lies taking a nap all curled up, let it be! (anag. of lies, nap; “let sleeping dogs lie”).

R. W. H. Brunswick: May be in lapse, tailed or tailed (anag.: tailed = with tail or without tail; in laps(e) = lap dog).

Maj A. H. Giles: He may be taken and tried for shooting—wholly the fault of Trygve (span + anag. of Lie; span = wholly; ref. T. Lie, UNO Sec. Gen.; gun dog).

S. B. Green: Not a shaggy dog, but an American story about one (an in spiel; “s.d.” stories).

C. J. Morse: No mean springer? On the contrary. Springs about an inch in an upward direction (in. in leaps (all rev.); springer spaniel).

A. E. North: Up and about in leaps and bounds at prospect of game (in, in leaps (all rev.)).

Mrs A. M. Osmond: Alpines maybe—but not flora. Should it be fawna? (anag.; ‘fawner’).

E. G. Phillips: He comes up with leaps, bounding in, always ready for game (in, in leaps (all rev.); see bound3).

E. J. Rackham: “Uneasy lies. . .” Gets in some sort of nap, however! This may be King Charles (anag. of nap in anag. of lies; King Charles spaniel; ref. Hen IV Pt.2 III.1).

T. E. Sanders: An example of one that has naps being allowed to lie perhaps (anag. of nap, lies;“let sleeping dogs lie”).

W. K. M. Slimmings: “Sunday piper! Uno boss murdered!” … A shot aide is expected to recover (S.+ Pan + anag. of Lie; ref. Trygve Lie, UNO Sec. Gen.; s. may be gun dog or retriever).

O. Carlton Smith: After the revolution in Spain the Spanish could not be surprised at leading a dog’s life (anag. of Spain + el (Sp.)).

J. F. N. Wedge: Is penal reform likely to work with gunmen? (anag.; s. may be a gun dog).

RUNNERS-UP

Mrs M. Anderson, F. R. Ball, J. W. Bates, Rev B. Chapman, H. P. Chubb, W. J. Couper, F. E. Dixon, T. N. Dowse, M. G. Ellis, Miss R. LeS. Filleul, C. E. Gates, C. C. M. Giffin, P. G. W. Glare, Rev J. G. Graham, Lady Harington, P. T. Heath, H. C. Hills, R. D. Jones, G. G. Lawrance, F. E. Newlove, Rev E. B. Peel, A. R. Read, W. Rennie, S. G. Rose, R. G. Tate, J. Thompson, Mrs K. A. Whaley, S. Young.
 

COMMENTS—255 correct and not many mistakes, considering the difficulty. The entry was about the same as that for the previous “Plain” without anagrams—No. 102—but the number correct was far higher. On reading through the old clues I don’t think they were harder, nor was “Archimedes” a harder word to clue than “spaniel”: so we progress! History did repeat itself, in that there were again many comments on the unusual difficulty, but very few, apparently, realised why it was so: only one competitor mentioned anagrams, and even he was a little wide of the mark. He says “Possibly it was the scarcity of direct anagrams and hidden clues that caused the trouble.” In fact anagrams—direct or indirect—were entirely absent instead of the usual four to six, while there was one hidden clue—the usual ration, seldom exceeded. You probably rely on a few anagrams far more than you realise: even with plenty of references to parts of words it is hard to start without them. One solver—a devotee of the cryptic straight clue—asked me recently for a puzzle consisting entirely of such clues, and he wouldn’t believe me when I said it would be insoluble. Normally there aren’t more than three or four such clues, and how often are any of these solved from scratch, I wonder? I don’t believe anyone would get far, if all the clues were of that sort. Even the lack of a few anagrams evidently makes things hard enough, without the elimination of all other subsidiary aids. So I doubt if 1 shall try that experiment, much as I like that kind of clue; nor shall I repeat this one till you’ve forgotten about it—though I might try others!
 
I’ve left little room for comments on the competition clues. The various attempts at a “portmanteau” clue based on “Let sleeping dogs lie” were interesting: I think Mr Michael’s much the neatest and least strained. It went against the grain to give a prize to Mr Koop, because he used my pet aversion (very commonly used) in English syntax—“due to” = “because of.” But it’s an excellent straight clue and the monstrosity (which its author probably dislikes as much as I do!) only applies to the misleading sense, not to the true sense. So I relented, due to my innate sense of fairness!
 

 
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