| ◀ No. 193 | Clue list | 8 Jun 1952 | Slip image | No. 195 ▶ |
XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 194
KNOWLEDGE BOX
1. C. J. Morse (Oxford): It takes skill to hit the coconut (knowledge box2; coconut (19C sl.) = head).
2. Mrs E. Shackleton (W. Wickham): Naturally the scholarship holder is at the top of the form (knowledge + box1).
3. Capt J. Burton-Page (WC1): Learning to mill will enable you to make a loaf! (knowledge box2; mill1 (vb.); loaf 1 (sl.)).
H.C.
C. A. Baker (Wishaw): The sconce yields its light to a blow (knowledge + box2; sconce4).
R. J. Bowen (Hull): Indulge in fisticuffs after learning leads to the head (knowledge + box2; leads, n. & vb.).
R. N. Chignell (Bexhill): Information on the case is found at the top of the column (knowledge + box1; spinal column).
W. J. Duffin (Hull): Keep it under your hat—a suitable catchword for an Information Bureau? (knowledge box1).
Mrs N. Fisher (Stroud): It’s a case for Intelligence, so keep it under your hat (i.e. knowledge box1).
C. E. Gates (Kettering): A bowler often disguises it—Knox, for example, bowled deceptively (anag. of Knox, e.g., bowled; ref. Neville A. K., Surrey fast bowler, ret. 1910).
S. B. Green (NW10): There’s a block along here, but if it is crammed by coaches, we may be able to get through (cryptic def.).
P. W. W. Leach (Fareham): Lively case with the crown involved! (nowl in kedge2 + box, & lit.).
G. A. Linsley (Newcastle): The principles of Bede glow dimly in the bosom of the Scottish reformer, but what a store of learning! (anag. of Bede glow in Knox; ref. Bede, English monk and John K., Scottish reformer).
T. W. Melluish (SE24): Chump, you must observe the 50 limit in the middle of Ken Wood (L edge in know box3).
M. Newman (Hove): Small house found, following information—Chez Nous, central for main arterial routes. (Good for home if vacant!) (knowledge + box1, cryptic def.; nous = intelligence; i.e. needing a care home).
E. J. Rackham (Totton): Though sometimes made to look uncomfortable by bowlers, may yet be capped for the country (cryptic def.).
C. P. Rea (E11): The distracted globe we’d expect to find in the great reformer (anag. in Knox, & lit.; cf. Hamlet I.5; ref. John K. Scottish reformer).
A. Robins (Manchester): A tree ultimately assumes the ancestral tree’s power, and a nut appears (knowledge + box3; see “Tree of Knowledge” in C.).
W. K. M. Slimmings (New Malden): Ken Wood? There’s a part that’s badly used by ramblers! (knowledge + box3).
F. B. Stubbs (Marple): Small tree, after application of Golden Kew Compound, is above shoulder height (anag. + box3).
Miss A. C. Tatham (W8): Where the mysterious gowned bloke, “X,” keeps his secrets? (anag.).
J. Thompson (Stafford): Dope case to be tried here: Keep it under your hat! (knowledge box1; dope = information).
A. J. Young (Gravesend): Sconce and butter, perhaps, obtainable from the light buffet! (knowledge box2; i.e. head butt; sconce4, buffet2).
RUNNERS-UP
E. S. Ainley, S. Ashworth, A. J. Bisset, J. A. Blair, C. M. Brown, Rev B. Chapman, Miss E. C. Chapman, D. L. L. Clarke, B. G. H. Clegg, F. E. Dixon, W. M. Easther, W. J. Emerson, J. E. Evans, J. A. Fincken, M. B. Fisher, G. O. Gibb, Maj A. H. Giles, T. E. Girdlestone, A. S. Glide, R. G. Gordon, R. M. Grace, Rev J. G. Graham, Mrs K. N. Graham, C. P. Grant, C. R. Haigh, P. F. Heverin, P. J. Higgins, A. R. M. Hooper, T. O. Hughes, Mrs L. Jarman, A. L. Jeffery, H. W. Jenkins, L. Johnson, Capt G. Langham, D. Lister, J. P. Lloyd, C. J. Lowe, J. Martin, Maj A. D. Martin-Sperry, G. M. Mercer, J. G. Milner, W. L. Miron, Flt Lt W. O. Mitchell, H. Rainger, N. J. Reed, L. M. Row, J. L. Ruddle, T. E. Sanders, E. T. Smith, Mrs A. L. Stevenson, Mrs C. Taylor, Miss D. W. Taylor, J. Thomas, L. E. Thomas, H. S. Tribe, W. G. Webb, R. Wells.
COMMENTS—276 correct: quite a number failed to find sow = shed in Chambers’s and guessed “coos” instead of the correct WOOS, and there were several other causes of scattered mistakes, notably the last letter of PORTMANTEAUS: I can never help feeling a little pained when I have noticed the danger of an alternative at an unchecked space and carefully directed solvers one way or the other in the clue, and then they offer me the wrong one in spite of it!
The word set produced a very pleasing variety of treatment, in spite of the great popularity of “Learning to fight needs brains” or words to that effect: these are among the runners-up. One point seems to need elucidation: the explanation “& lit.” signifies that the words written are, all of them, at the same time an indication of the letters of a word and a definition of it. Some solvers are now appending it to clues which merely make sense as a whole other than the sense which the solver has to find, missing the point that “& lit.” means “and literally leading , as a whole, to the meaning of the whole word.”
May I make one request? Solvers are, of course, perfectly entitled to their full time for solving and brooding over a clue. But it does help me if those who can comfortably manage it post early. So please don’t wait till the last moment, unless you really are brooding, and remember that first, and uncomplicated, thoughts are often best.
Will writers of personal notes, which I always enjoy, please forgive the absence of acknowledgement or reply this week, as I have No. 195 to deal with at the same week-end as these slips?