XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 1049

SLANGWHANGER

1.  F. B. Stubbs: He gives a rambling performance with heartless fury (slang² + w(it)h + anger, & lit.).

2.  C. O. Butcher: Billingsgate merchant—likely agent for whoppers caught by dissembling anglers (whang (= thong) in anag.).

3.  Rev C. D. Westbrook: Be suspended, getting caught in disorderly wrangles—as he might be? (hang in anag.).

V.H.C.

R. H. Adey: Abuse and rage about White House leaders can often be heard at Hyde Park Corner (WH in slang, anger).

J. C. Brash: One who uses crude language with heartless rage (slang + w(it)h + anger, & lit.).

E. W. Burton: Here’s a spouter; whaler’s gang runs amok with end of harpoon (anag. incl. n).

E. Chalkley: He’s inclined to make a noise about Welsh show to decorate our Royalty (W in slang² hang ER; ref. Investiture of Prince of Wales).

E. M. Hornby: What Petruchio pretended to be, taming little Latin shrew (nag, nag) (anag. incl. L (= Latin), tame = reduce to order).

F. G. Illingworth: Such an orator was Glendower, the Welsh gang ran amok (anag.; ref. Hen. IV Pt. I).

R. E. Kimmons: One who declaims and wrangles violently about a principle (hang (noun) in anag.).

Capt G. Langham: Loud-mouthed flogger of false weight (i.e. slang² w. hanger).

A. Lawrie: Gag when snarl erupts—that’s what he needs (anag. & lit.).

Mrs B. Lewis: One might become a shrew and nag and nag, heading for divorce by fifty (anag., L between first two letters, & lit.).

Dr T. J. R. Maguire: Ragger overriding links on a hunter, a whacking divot-cutter (slang³ whanger; whang¹).

C. J. Morse: An orator like Paisley combines cant with extremes of wrath and passion (slang w(rat)h anger; Ian P.).

F. E. Newlove: Tub-thumper calling for legalisation of flogging, Westminster’s prime advocate of capital punishment? (slang W hanger; slang² = licence; prime, noun).

F. R. Palmer: Vulgarly show the beginnings of white hot rage? He might (slang + w, h + anger, & lit.).

R. Postill: Goliath was such a bombastic chap—but shyer after what David did (slang whanger; pa. t. of sling; 1 Sam. 17).

Mrs E. M. Simmonds: Ham for lunch in anglers’ mess (whang in anag.; lunch= thick slice).

K. Thomas: Man like Petruchio tames shrew, repeated nag, encompassing love’s beginning (anag. incl. nag, nag, l).

J. L. Turner: Ranter throws his phony weight about (i.e. slang² w. hanger).

Dr E. Young: It’s to remain attending closely amid wrangles which is unusual for him (hang (vb.) in anag., & lit.).

H.C.

R. Abrey, W. G. Arnott, F. D. H. Atkinson, C. Allen Baker, M. J. Balfour, G. D. Bates, J. W. Bates, T. E. Bell, Rev C. M. Broun, P. M. Coombs, A. J. Crow, J. McI. Cruickshank, E. Davies, N. C. Dexter, J. E. Evans, J. H. Frampton, A. L. Freeman, J. Fryde, A. B. Gardner, J. Gill, S. Goldie, Mrs S. Hewitt, S. Holgate, C. H. Hudson, J. G. Hull, Mrs L. Jarman, K. R. Jenkins, C. Jones, Sir S. Kaye, J. Hardie Keir, L. F. Leason, A. D. Legge, H. Lyon, Lt Col D. Macfie, A. A. Malcolm, H. S. Mason, B. J. McCann, Mrs E. McFee, D. P. M. Michael, C. G. Millin, W. L. Miron, T. N. Nesbitt, Mrs M. Norman, L. W. G. Oxley, S. L. Paton, G. Perry, W. G. Roberts, R. Robinson, N. Roles, Mrs K. M. Russell, L. G. D. Sanders, Sir W. Slimmings, J. Sparrow, Brig R. F. E. Stoney, J. B. Sweeting, C. M. Tatham, R. D. Thompson, G. A. Tomlinson, G. R. Webb, Mrs M. P. Webber, J. Webster, A. R. Wheatley, Miss M. G. Williams, M. Woolf.
 

COMMENTS:—Just under 400 entries, few mistakes, mostly caused by failure to find STRINGOPS, not in its alphabetical place in C. but under STRIGOPS; C. is annoying in this way. We once discussed the possibility of my indicating such cases, but the majority of solvers agreed with me that this would be infra dig. The long lists reflect a good entry of clues with plenty of variety. I changed the word for competitors at the last moment (a thing I have rarely done); it was to have been CHANCE, which I decided was dull. Some people protested that SLANGWHANGER was difficult; the variety of the entries gives the lie to this, and I ask protesters to consider the possibilities of some of the words I didn’t set! I changed my mind several times about the prizewinners. Mrs. Lewis and Mr. Postill struck me first as the most brilliant, but later meticulous consideration of small points made me, rather reluctantly, prefer others; many (including the authors!) may disagree. In Mrs. Lewis’s clue I decided that the very ingenious introduction of L to the anag. could hardly logically lead to the inclusion of that letter between the first two letters of the required word; it should strictly lead to its inclusion between the first two letters of the anag. Or shouldn’t it? In Mr. Postill’s clue I don’t quite like the “but” in the concealed sense, though I have used it, reluctantly, myself; and in the misleading sense I don’t quite see how a dead man could fairly be called “shyer”. A pity: both are brilliant ideas. I think Mr. Palmer is justified in regarding “slang (2)” = “show” as slang, in defiance of what is said under “The Meanings” on p. vii of C. I have found this statement to be untrue in many places, especially with words marked (Scot.). Very often by reference to Webster I have found that all, or several, meanings are Scottish when only the first one is so marked. Finally a few notes on unsoundness:—“cant” is not “can’t”; “comparative banter” is impossible for “banterer”—nouns and verbs don’t have comparatives; I don’t like G = 400, etc.—these mediaeval numerals are unfamiliar and, to me, dull; “’ell” is not the letter L; and “Peel’s dog” = “Ranter” = “slangwhanger” is a bad example of “a clue to a clue”, which I have often denounced as unsound and unfair; “seller” = “flogger” = “whanger” is another example. But there was less unsoundness as a whole than usual.
 
Finally I’ll reveal what I very rarely have the occasion to reveal—the clue I had originally written. No one produced the same idea, and I dare say you were all right—I’m not at all sure that it’s sound! It was “He declaims noisily—Albert and the Lion?” When I found that “slang” was a watch-chain, I couldn’t resist it, and “whang” does mean “to make a resounding noise”. A lion does do this, and the query helps; but purists may say “You wouldn’t, at the Zoo, say ‘Listen to that lion whanging!’ would you?”, and I admit that I wouldn’t! So perhaps it was as well that I changed the set word.