XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 33

TAMBERS

1.  F. L. Usher (Leeds): Sound qualities of English character can be discerned even in Mr. Bates (O Twist) (anag.; ref. character in ‘Oliver Twist’).

2.  T. E. Sanders (Walsall): Rest a doctor ordered for its tonic qualities (anag. of rest a MB).

3.  F. E. Newlove (SE9): A rest and M. & B. have latent tonic qualities (anag. of a rest M B; ref. May & Baker medicines).

H.C.

I. Cheyne (Glasgow): Qualities of the cor anglais? (cryptic def.; i.e. anglicisation of ‘timbres’).

H. E. Elphick (Uxbridge): Would not be appreciated by a doctor when his rest is disturbed (anag. of a MB rest).

Miss J. Fry (Oxford): Is the musician in tears upset because these offend his ear? (anag. incl. B.M. (Bachelor of Music)).

S. B. Green (NW10): Foreign stamps collected by both Mr. Bates and Master B. (Tony) (anags. of Mr Bates, Master B; timbres (Fr.) = stamps; i.e. ‘of tone’).

Miss F. H. Harris (Guildford): Mus. Bac. in heart-broken tears—because the musical qualities are anglicised? (M.B.[?] in anag. of tears).

Mrs L. Jarman (Brough): If you want musical tones, give the buglers an interval with minced meat (anag. of Brs. (abbrev.) meat).

J. Hardie Keir (Galashiels): And these, in balanced combination, content a bandmaster! (comp. anag. incl. and, & lit.).

Mrs D. M. Kissen (Lanark): Best-selling American heroine owes tony English qualities to sojourn in back street (Amber in St (rev.); ref. ‘Forever Amber’, by Kathleen Winsor).

Miss W. Lawson (Birmingham): Bert’s morning begins with tea: the arrangement sounds tonic (anag. of Bert’s am, beginning with T (‘tea’)).

G. H. McConnell (Edinburgh): Sound qualities forever lacking in novel with a back street setting (Amber in St (rev.); ref. ‘Forever Amber’, by Kathleen Winsor).

A. E. North (Beeston): Sir Henry might have said “Shiver my ——!” at a false note in his Fantasia (timbers with a letter wrong; ref. Sir Henry Wood, ‘British Sea Songs’).

R. Noskwith (Nottingham): Shaver my ——!, as the conductor of the ship’s orchestra might say (cryptic def.; cf. ‘shiver my timbers’).

R. C. Payn (Irvine): Warning light in a back street unlikely to be recognised by the chef d’orchestre (amber in St (rev.); i.e. anglicisation of French ‘timbres’).

Mrs P. B. Rhodes (Leeds): Is the R.A.M. best adapted to display musical qualities in true English form? (anag.).

G. H. Savage (Uckfield): For all-British tonal characteristics I give the R.A.M. best (anag.).

F. Wallace-Hadrill (Bromsgrove): I enclose a decoration, with the thanks of the Royal Society, for sound qualities (MBE in ta RS).

Rev R. J. Whitaker (Evesham): Arrangement by English composer of bars met in Old French tunes (anag.).

Comments:—A lamentably large number wrote FRIYA at 1 ac.—a spelling of Freya (or Freyja) for which X. can find no authority. The normal form of the name for Fairyland is Faery (or Faerie): the former allows the lady’s name to be spelt properly. A good many wrote SWATHER for SLATHER (Chambers): he’s an important person at the moment, but “it’s galore” hardly describes him. A few other scattered mistakes added to these reduced the correct solutions to 228. The apposite double sense of “O Twist” well earned the first prize: the second and third—very alike—ran the first close. It was a well varied entry: “Forever Amber” spent a lot of time in a back Street and many timbers were shivered.