XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 825

COACHES

1.  L. F. Leason (Liverpool): They’ll take on plodders needing a lift—those with nothing upstairs (double mng.; sports coaches and single-deckers).

2.  C. J. Morse (SW10): Trains and buses are what one might call associated forms of continuous discomfort (i.e. co-aches; 2 defs.).

3.  S. Goldie (Enfield): One who does may make progress by stages with diligence (double mng.; coach (vb.) = study with tutor).

V.H.C.

C. Allen Baker (Milnathort): If we part company, some human sufferings may well result (c. less Co. = aches, & lit.).

J. Brock (Montacute): Trains—the slow sort as a rule (2 mngs.; (slow)coaches).

G. H. Dickson (Enniskerry): Chaps like Higgins take care of dropping h’s (c/o aches; ache² =aitch; ref. ‘Pygmalion’).

P. H. Freeman (Shrewsbury): Such things as flies have the head and six feet of blackbeetles (c(ockr)oaches; fly = light vehicle for hire).

F. D. Gardiner (Halifax): Callaghan’s first round hurts conveyances! (C o aches; ref. James C., new Chancellor).

J. A. Holden (Solihull): Alluring creatures with just a spangle in the secret places (O in caches).

Mrs L. Jarman (Brough): Ribbons from our frothy drawers were handed up to stage boxes (cryptic def.; i.e. horses; ribbons = rein; drawer = puller).

A. H. Jones (Manchester): Game kids, these—they’re quite comfortable at sea, they cram in a cocoa chest! (3 mngs. & hidden).

T. P. Kelly (W14): Leader of Opposition gains entry to secret arms dumps—we can prepare for a major row! (O in caches; i.e. rowing coaches).

A. Lawrie (Cheltenham): The causes, often, of aspirations succeeding completely (co- (prefix) + aches (= aitches), & lit.; C. p. 1324).

Mrs B. Lewis (E. Molesey): Charas: an extract of hemp some people drop in a salad (ache (= aitch) in cos; cf. churrus).

A. A. Malcolm (Perth): The Scout can provide some useful material for these sections of the Express (2 mngs.; ref. newspaper racing tipster and football).

D. P. M. Michael (Newport): These prime hides are penetrated by nothing but horse-flies possibly (0 in caches, 2 defs.; prime, vb.; fly = light vehicle for hire).

P. H. Morgan (Midhurst): We take care of adult and child beginners in education and sport (c/o A ch e s, & lit.).

W. H. Pegram (Enfield): They take tourists for a ride with under-the-counter magazines about love! (0 in caches, i.e. illegal arms).

R. Postill (Jersey): The posh pubs say No to them, but they cram The Green Man (2 mngs.; green = inexperienced).

J. A. Sinclair (Cobham): They raise the rate from the bank and the smaller company suffers (Co. aches; rowing coaches).

G. H. Willett (NW3): Stages where the partner of sin has an uncomfortable feeling inside (ache in cos; trigonometry).

H.C.

R. B. Adcock, D. B. J. Ambler, Dr G. B. Arrowsmith, P. F. Bauchop, R. T. Baxter, F. H. Bernard, Mrs K. Bissett, J. A. Bulley, C. O. Butcher, R. S. Caffyn, Mrs F. Castle-Knight, Mrs M. P. Craine, L. J. Davenport, A. L. Dennis, Cdr H. H. L. Dickson, J. H. Dingwall, J. C. Farman, J. A. Fincken, Mrs N. Fisher, H. W. Flewett, J. Flood, Dr P. A. French, J. Fryde, G. P. Goddard, A. Griffin, Mrs L. F. Hallen, E. M. Hornby, L. W. Jenkinson, T. E. S. Jobson, C. Koop, P. W. W. Leach, L. E. Lodge, J. D. H. Mackintosh, Mrs E. McFee, W. L. Miron, J. J. Moore, S. E. Morton, J. J. Murtha, R. R. O’Connell, N. O’Neill, B. G. Palmer, Miss M. J. Patrick, Mrs N. Perry, B. A. Pike, E. J. Rackham, A. R. Read, W. Rodgers, W. K. M. Slimmings, J. E. Smith Wright, G. Snowden-Davies, J. Sparrow, L. H. Stewart, L. T. Stokes, F. B. Stubbs, J. B. Sweeting, W. H. Thorne, A. F. Toms, K. I. Torrance, J. R. Whitelegg, Mrs M. Wishart.
 

COMMENTS:—About 350 entries, and hardly any mistakes by you, but two by me—very few solvers mentioned them: perhaps more noticed them, and I’m sorry. The spell, not the knurr (nur), is the trap: this is clear from a careful reading of Chambers, but I was too hasty, as I also was with quaestuary: this can’t be an abstract noun, which I made it. And it would have been so easy to write “Chase up the witch …” and “Pursuing wealth …” Just two cases of jumping to conclusions, I fear.
 
The general standard of the entry was very good, though there was perhaps less brilliance than there is sometimes. There was some unsoundness, and I haven’t for some time commented on unsound clues with a view to helping the unsuccessful, so I’ll do so this time. The main trouble, which continual notes here have failed to eradicate, is the unhelpful indirect anagram. An anagram in a clue should lead to the answer, not set an additional problem to the solver before he even reaches an indication of it. An extreme example of an anagram which I, for one, should never even discover in a month of Sundays, was:—“An inverted pronounced shine is a hyperbolic function of schools! Note:—An inverted sinh = a cosech = anagram. Schools = coaches (verb).” The only way in which I could use this clue to reach the answer would be to disregard everything except the last word of it. Here is another indirect anagram, not quite so obscure but almost equally useless to a solver:—“Stirs a mass of water with a small spoon—prepares for boat-race!” (sea, coch.). Sea, perhaps; but who would ever think of coch.? Do remember that the subsidiary part of a clue is meant to help, not to be a puzzle. I will quote one more clue which failed for a different reason:—“Those alluring Animals took the rock out of the Beetles”. (co-ckro-aches). No indication whatever that the letters of “rock” are not in their correct order in “cockroaches”: hence completely unfair. It’s a long time since I quoted Afrit’s dictum on clues, so it may by now be new to some solvers—“I need not mean what I say, but I must say what I mean.” This, I think, sums up “all the law and the prophets.”