XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 43

DRESSING

1.  Rev E. B. Peel (Fleetwood): Sauce for the goose-step? (2 mngs.; d. = proper alignment of troops, drill (OED); pun on ‘sauce for the goose’).

2.  D. S. Milford (Marlborough): There was more for dinner in our salad days (cryptic def.; i.e. dressing for dinner was more common; salad dressing; ref. rationing).

3.  S. B. Green (NW10): Children play me up (sauce!)—and naughty ones get me down (3 mngs.; i.e. dressing up, dressing down).

H.C.

P. E. Bugge (S. Shields): The costume for the Lobster Quadrille? (cryptic def. (i.e. sauce); ref. Alice in Wonderland).

H. G. Butters (Ipswich): Either up or down will make you smart (2 mngs.; dressing up, dressing down; smart = fashionable, sting).

A. Buxton (Cardiff): Not much sauce for the Gandhi (2 mngs.; sauce = dressing; ref. Mahatma G.’s simplicity of dress and ‘sauce for the gander’).

A. Chipperfield (W. Wickham): No point in starting me up if you’ve nowhere to go (cryptic def.; ref. ‘all dressed up with nowhere to go’).

F. A. Clark (Croydon): Reds sign arrangement for coming into line (anag.; d. = proper alignment of troops, drill (OED)).

G. H. Clarke (Croydon): It’s girding whether it’s up or down (2 mngs.; dressing up, dressing down; girding^1,2 = clothing, beating).

D. L. L. Clarke (Steyning): Going in after a big score, tail first, you need marl (D + ress-ing, i.e. ingress tail first; marl^3,1 = marvel, dressing for soil).

J. H. Fuller (Burgess Hill): Makes you smart up or down (2 mngs.; dressing up, dressing down; smart = fashionable, sting).

L. R. Huxtable (Oldham): Prominent, both up and down, in salad days (3 mngs.; dressing up, dressing down, salad dressing).

P. Irving (Edinburgh): Daily round that makes a woman tired but happy (cryptic def.; tire³ = dress).

C. Koop (Ferring): Pick me up, says the drill-sergeant, or you may get me down; I’m tiring (3 mngs.; d. = proper alignment of troops, drill (OED); dressing down; tire³ = dress).

Mrs F. Laing (SW2): Putting on the links (double mng.; ref. golf (dressing of greens) and cuff links).

J. G. Monroe (Burgess Hill): Up on the boards, down on the mat (2 mngs.; dressing up, dressing down; boards = stage; on the mat = reprimanded).

Rev C. Trevor (Birmingham): For such as like it not, “Let us alone” sounds a fitting slogan (cryptic def.; ref. nudists; i.e. ‘lettuce alone’).

W. H. J. Wheeler (Wembley): Should the recruit not pick his up, the sergeant-major would hand him one down! (2 mngs.; d. = proper alignment of troops, drill (OED); dressing down).

Comments:—204 correct. The coincidence that “asps” is an anag. of “pass” caused some errors of judgment at 1 ac. Errors they certainly were, for the solution ASPS won’t fit the first part of the clue, as several correct solvers—not feeling too sure of themselves—hopefully pointed out. There were quite a number of other mistakes, SCUG especially being elusive (S.C. + ug, and see Chambers for definition). A possible prize-winner failed through leaving the fifth letter of PLAINT blank—a pity. His clue was “Decoration next in order to the Bath.” A clue ruled out as too difficult, but of appalling ingenuity, was “Operation Daily. What’s the Gen? 2.15 Objective Paradise. 3.7 Reprisal?” Got it? Here’s a hint—Gen=Genesis. The most popular idea by far was “dressing up and dressing down”: that consistent performer, Mr Green, used it best, but two others—very neat ones—beat him this time.