XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 255

SCUTTLE

1.  W. K. M. Slimmings: Where you may see All Blacks do in ebullient Celts. (Wales will be sunk if you do!) (ut in anag., 2 defs.; do² = ut¹; wales = ship’s planks; ref. coal and NZ rugby tour 1953).

2.  J. W. Bates: Let’s cut supplies just enough to settle this coal situation (anag.; ref. threat of coal shortage).

3.  F. E. Newlove: The rent in Newcastle’s east end is raised when coal is in demand (cut in (Newca)stle).

H.C.

Dr S. H. Atkins: You can get a quick run if you find the gap in the covers! (2 mngs.).

M. Freeland: Let’s cut! Now shuffle! Hurry! This may bring a flush! (anag.).

D. J. Furley: Sink basket—that’s the place for black nuts (3 mngs.; nuts = coals).

S. Goldie: To hole in one is generally matter for getting lit-up—let’s cut capers! (anag., 2 defs.; pause after ‘hole’).

S. B. Green: Nutty slack for me? Dash! (2 mngs.; slack² = coal dross).

R. J. Hall: SINK may be clued: “Whence black liquor can be obtained on the Sabbath” (S + cuttle¹; i.e. sink = S + ink).

P. J. Higgins: The way to hold a lizard? Take its tail! (scuttle(r); “the striped lizard” in contemporary ed. of C.).

L. Johnson: Wretched slut, etc., often taken in hand for getting slack (anag.; slack² = coal dross).

C. Koop: After shuffling let’s cut—and pass quickly. What I hold has usually a black outlook! (anag., 2 defs.).

P. W. W. Leach: Find a gap in the side, make a dash for it, and that’ll shut the All Blacks up! (3 mngs.; ref. NZ rugby tour 1953 and coal).

C. J. Morse: A gaping hole in the rear of the forecastle (cut in (foreca)stle, & lit.).

E. R. Prentice: Opening in the covers for a quick run, made use of by Fender (3 mngs.; fireplace; ref. Percy F., Surrey and England cricketer).

E. W. Richart: Scoop over the bunker and do a hole in one (3 mngs,).

Capt W. H. W. Ridley: Sink hole or run away which often gets filled up in winter (4 mngs.).

E. O. Seymour: The vessel’s complement is black, with, perhaps, the most villainous slack captain under the sun (S + Cuttle; slack² = coal dross; ref. Capt C. in ‘Dombey and Son’).

J. A. Watson (Hoylake): Find the gap in the covers: there’s a quick run there (2 mngs.).

M. Woolf: Way to hold a tailless lizard (scuttle(r); “the striped lizard” in contemporary ed. of C.).

RUNNERS-UP

E. S. Ainley, M. Anderson, B. Ashton, J. A. Blair, Rev B. Chapman, A. E. Clayton, D. L. Clements, W. W. Cove, J. McI. Cruickshank, Cdr H. H. L. Dickson, E. G. Dommen, H. H. Elliott, J. A. Fincken, M. B. Fisher, Mrs N. Fisher, C. E. Gates, Maj A. H. Giles, R. R. Greenfield, G. M. Gwynn, F. H. W. Hawes, R. W. Hawes, T. E. Hendrie, A. R. M. Hooper, L. B. Hutchings, F. G. Illingworth, Mrs L. Jarman, Very Rev N. M. Kennaby, J. P. Lloyd, H. Lyon, B. J. McCann, E. L. Mellersh, T. W. Melluish, Sgt L. W. G. Oxley, J. E. Povey, Maj J. N. Purdon, E. J. Rackham, A. Robins, O. Carlton Smith, Miss R. E. Speight, L. T. Stokes, F. B. Stubbs, H. G. Tattersall, Mrs D. Winsor, I. Young.
 

COMMENTS—348 correct and the first really big crop of mistakes for some time, the trouble being caused chiefly by READEPT. It is, perhaps, just possible to make both “readapt” and “readopt” fit the definition part of the clue in the sense of “reclaim”; but I can’t see how either APT or OPT can be “the modern tax.” P.T. for Purchase Tax? But what about the A or the O? “A Purchase Tax” won’t do: I wrote “the.” I wasn’t trying to be catchy by choosing the rare word: I chose it because neither “readapt” nor “readopt” happens to be in Chambers, and a note would have been needed: I like to avoid these. And I did think E.P.T. [Excess Profits Tax] was clearly indicated, quite apart from the closer definition. It was a dangerous trap, but accurate reading of the clue should have prevented it from being so disastrous.
 
SCUTTLE yielded many good ideas, and a lot of people used them ingeniously, but there was much unsoundness too. “The boat’s going down” is not a definition of a verb, and S. is not a noun in this sense. (There were many like this.) A type of unsoundness which I haven’t illustrated before appears in “These cutlets are in an awful mess. Yes, they’ve just been fished out of the coal-box.” The words “these” and “they” make it quite impossible for the clue to lead to the right word; one would have to read the clue to mean “Some cutlets are in an awful mess. Yes, they’ve just been fished out of this coal-box.” And why should one? The writer hasn’t said what he means! Here are two cases of clues considered unsound, and unfair, by the introduction of irrelevant words to help the misleading sense. Irrelevant words are in italics:—“The guests have arrived and the cutlets are spoiled—I could sink through the floor.” (Definition also suspect, to say the least of it.)—“When playing cricket in the street, a cut to short leg will be sure to yield a quick run!” This isn’t quite so bad as the first one, but “When playing cricket” is irrelevant to the meaning intended to be used by the solver. One entry of very high merit (runner-up) was just spoilt, unless I am being dense, by a definition that won’t quite work. “Prevent from taking a prize anyone who doesn’t indulge in complicated clues!” (scu-t.t.-le). I can only make this work if one scuttles the enemy instead of the ship: otherwise one must read it to mean: “prevent from being taken as a prize.” If one pauses after “taking,” “a prize” being the object of “prevent,” it doesn’t really help, as a prize (captured vessel) has surely already been taken. A pity: if I could make the definition work, I should like this one very much indeed.