◀  No. 70 Clue list 29 Feb 1948 Slip image No. 72  ▶

XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 71

MITRAILLEUSE

1.  L. R. Huxtable (Oldham): “Let not the grape go to the head” (Old French maxim) (cryptic def.; grape shot; breech-loading Maxim-gun).

2.  Rev E. B. Peel (Fleetwood): Permits rapid change-round in breeches. Let ’er try mine and —— (i.e. ‘me try ’ers’).

3.  Mrs L. Jarman (Brough): L’arme si utile dans une révolution (anag. & lit.; ‘the weapon so useful …’ (Fr.)).

H.C.

H. E. Foster (Northwood): In these troubled times, to scoff at the Roumanian standard would expose you to a storm of bullets (rail leu in anag.).

S. B. Green (NW10): Brawl between the French and the German with ultimate employment of a machine-gun (rail in mit (= with, Ger.) le + use).

Surg Capt J. M. Hayes (Parkstone): With the Tuileries in confusion the evil element among the malcontents might produce this weapon (anag. incl. mal; ref. seige of Paris, 1870).

E. A. G. Junks (Dollar): Grape sprayer the French use with German steel bar on top (mit (= with, Ger.) rail le use; grapeshot).

J. Hardie Keir (Galashiels): French weapon (1870) that would make an R.A. Lieut. smile (1948) (anag.; refs. to seige of Paris and year of puzzle).

Rev P. W. Low (Lingfield): Said the English gunner to the Frenchman “My blooming gun’s jammed. Let ——” (i.e. ‘me try yers’).

S. B. Lucas (Ilkley): A gun that gives an A1 result a mile away (anag. of AI result mile).

T. W. Melluish (SE24): You can have the piece in twelve pieces: I’ll measure it (anag.; i.e. 12 letters).

F. E. Newlove (SE9): France’s secret weapon makes the Lieut. R.A. smile (it’ll amuse one Sapper, too!) (anag., anag. incl. I RE).

H. Perrett (Lewes): A machine used in France for grape-spraying, but found ineffective against phylloxera (cryptic def.; grapeshot).

Mrs D. A. Reid (Hurstpierpoint): Would it take a load for quick dispatch? … I’ll measure it roughly … Yes, in the back (anag.; breech-loader).

E. Sheward (Newton-in-Bowland): Though the French master is groggy and sick at heart, practice has made him able to produce reports very quickly! (ill in anag. of maître + use).

Mrs E. M. Simmonds (Cookham Dean): Delivered a deadly sort of grape. Gunners ill after it in French division (it RA ill in Meuse (Départment of France); grapeshot).

Capt S. C. Tyers, RN (Elstead): “Il suit la mère,” for a chatterer, was at one time almost a maxim in France (anag.; Maxim-gun).

H. D. Wakely (NW3): The Gallic prototype of Miss Hotchkiss? Made many hits as a broadcaster (cryptic def.; ref. character in radio comedy ‘ITMA’, i.e. a blunderbuss).

 

Comments—318 correct. No single mistake appeared in many solutions; the commonest was the misspelling “Osbaldestone,” in spite of the last words of the clue—“vulgar his style” (= ’is tone). Some solvers were worried by Trotty and/or Lydda, but very few guessed wrong. The “Aeneas” clue from Acts ix. 32-34, was meant to pull a few Virgilian legs and was therefore left without a subsidiary clue, but Trotty, in case he was too obscure, was given one; even so one or two solvers thought “old-womanish” alluded to “old trout”—a disrespectful expression, which incidentally Chambers does not countenance! (But see trot).
 
The outstanding clue submitted does not even get an H.C.! Mr. A. P. O’Leary wrote “Riddling answer to a maiden’s prayer!” He gave no note, and at first the penny showed no sign of dropping; later it fell with a crash and “maiden sprayer” stood revealed. Brilliant, but alas! clues have to be solved, and this one really is a bit too much; even when one has seen “maiden sprayer” it is a pretty far cry (if you don’t know the answer) to “mitrailleuse,” though “riddling” might help a little. It had to be first prize or nothing and, regretfully, we decided on nothing. But many thanks for the moment when the penny dropped!
 
The winner is an amusing straight clue which leads with reasonable directness to a definition; Mr. Peel made the best use of a pun which occurred to several and which is well down to the X. standard; and Mrs Jarman’s is the most neatly expressed anagram.
 
Some runners-up (besides Mr. O’Leary)—I. M. Atkinson, G. W. Bain, S. Baines, C. Allen Baker, H. G. Butters, Mrs Caithness, F. A. Clark, G. N. Collins, Lt Cdr J. P. Cornish, H. B. Drake, J. Duffill, E. Duncan, Lt J. K. D’Eath, T. E. Faber, Lt J. A. Flood, L. G. Fluke, C. C. M. Giffin, F. H. Martin, R. H. Merson, D. P. M. Michael, A. Montgomerie, R. J. Munnings, Lt I. A. H. Munro, Sir J. Nixon, A. P. O’Leary, D. I. Randell, P. H. Rowley, T. E. Sanders, Mrs Shackleton, W. K. M. Slimmings, R. H. Taylor, J. Thomas, P. C. Watling.
 

 
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