XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 651

NIPCHEESE

1.  C. O. Butcher (E4): Lavish presentations are not my line—the likes of Felix and Mickey Mouse satisfy me! (nip³ cheese; i.e. what F. & M.M. like).

2.  A. B. Gardner (Haslemere): Put down hunks like this and you’ll have bait enough to catch the cat as well as the mouse! (nip³ cheese; hunks = miser).

3.  R. W. Jakeman (Donnington): Screw used, no doubt, in Japanese mousetraps (i.e. Nip cheese; screw (old sl.) = skinflint; Nip (offensive sl.) = Japanese).

H.C.

J. W. Bates (Westcliff-on-Sea): He is tight with the odd pence! (anag. & lit.).

T. E. Bell (Gainsborough): He commonly hangs on to his pence—tight! (anag. + ’e, & lit.).

A. H. P. Cardew (E. Horsley): ’E pinches terribly ’e does! (anag. + ’e, & lit.).

C. E. Gates (Kettering): If you fancy a snifter, the old number one brand, the purser’s the man for you! (nip, cheese²).

E. Gomersall (York): He is tight with pence (anag. & lit.).

R. W. Hawes (Dartford): He wouldn’t consider a Grand Prix to be severe with Dunlop, for example (nip cheese; prix (Fr.) = price; D. cheese).

F. G. Illingworth (Worcester): Is he careless with pence? Yes and no! (anag. & lit.).

A. L. Jeffery (Oxford): ’E pinches, ’e’ s crooked, the skinflint! (anag.).

R. Postill (Jersey): Hunks of Japanese Cheddar? (No wonder they called the purser a ——!) (i.e. Nip cheese; hunks = miser; Nip (offensive sl.) = Japanese).

A. Robins (Manchester): He is tight with pence! (anag. & lit.).

J. B. Sweeting (Shepperton): Scrooge was the type to give a tiny tot a squashed cake (nip cheese).

Miss A. C. Tatham (W8): One who takes care of the pence, is he? Yes, and no! (anag. & lit.).

RUNNERS-UP

F. D. H. Atkinson, Mrs F. Begg, Capt A. S. Birt, B. Burton, J. R. Causton, Mrs J. Chalkley, P. R. Clemow, J. Coleby, M. Cook, P. M. Coombs, Cdr H. H. L. Dickson, W. M. Easther, C. C. M. Giffin, G. P. Goddard, S. B. Green, Mrs L. Jarman, A. H. Jones, A. Lawrie, A. A. Malcolm, Mrs E. McFee, T. W. Melluish, W. L. Miron, C. J. Morse, D. Outhwaite, G. Perry, H. Perry, A. J. Redstone, W. Rodgers, Mrs E. Shackleton, W. K. M. Slimmings, A. F. R. Stoddart, L. T. Stokes, T. A. Stout, Miss D. W. Taylor, Mrs J. Thomas.
 

COMMENTS:—A more difficult Plain than the average, producing 251 entries, 218 correct: the chief causes of error were XERODERMATIC and TYPTO. The clue to VIDUAL not unnaturally puzzled those who are not almost word-and-music-perfect in their “Gondoliers.” In their duet Marco and Giuseppe sing a bar each, in turn, irrespective of ends of words, thus:—G. “Replying we” M. “sing as one indi-” G. “-vidual, as I find I’m a” etc. The reference to widowhood made solution possible without knowing the point.
 
The entry was a little dull for me because of the great preponderance of clues using the “pence” anagram, which was so convenient for an “& lit.” effect. Those in the style of “he is involved with pence” and “he is pence mad” were the commonest of the sound ones: quite apart from their numbers, which made tangible reward for them impossible, I slightly preferred the less common versions to which I have given H.C.s. Some did not indicate the anagram soundly. Several who used the slang sense of cheese = the correct thing did not indicate its obsoleteness, which I thought a weakness. Nothing more to add except my devout thankfulness that last week-end was not judging week-end instead of this one: I think I should have had a seizure in the heat! I hope August 12/13 will be no hotter than it is now.