◀  No. 121 Clue list 22 Jan 1950 Slip image No. 123  ▶

XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 122

LEATHER

1.  C. H. Hudson (Oxford): Fell fully dressed into a wet trench, right in front of her—that’s tough! (leat + her, 2 defs.; fell = skin).

2.  Rev E. B. Peel (Fleetwood): I’ve been tanned, without sparing the whip—that’s hell for me! (cryptic def.; hell for l.).

3.  T. Heaney (St. Asaph): Hare let loose returned to form to hide (anag.; form = hare’s bed; hide = thrash).

H.C.

E. S. Ainley (S. Harrow): There’s a snag in the real material heIl for it’s excessively scorching (anag.; pause before and after m.).

D. Ambler (Harrow): Writer of a lot of nonsense about the sole protector of mankind (the in (Edward) Lear).

R. H. Budworth (Takeley): Tread on it!—or you may make her late (anag.).

F. A. Clark (Croydon): The real motive for Much Binding being shelved (anag.; ref. radio comedy ‘Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh’, cancelled by BBC in 1950).

F. L. Constable (Bridgnorth): On your feet! The King stands without! (the in Lear).

P. M. Coombs (Burgess Hill): The real stuff: this will be the making of me, said Chinstrap (anag.; ref. Col. C., character in radio comedy ‘It’s That Man Again’).

F. E. Dixon (Dublin): The skin remaining when you’ve got out of the altogether! (anag. of altogether less anag. of got).

S. R. Gibbs (Sheffield): How do I get tanned? By roaming about altogether unclothed! (anag. of al(tog)ether).

S. B. Green (NW10): You can scour hell for this (cryptic def.; scour = run; i.e. run hell for l.).

W. H. Hawes (Dagenham): Much Binding in early days; Take it From Here at fifty (anag. of here at L; ref. radio comedies ‘Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh’ and ‘Take it From Here’).

L. Johnson (N. Harrow): What makes her late? Being dressed for the sports ball, perhaps (anag.; leather ball).

D. Lacey (SW19): Hide in a trench when followed by a female (leat + her).

D. P. M. Michael (Newport): Prepared case of Buck and Others v. Wallop (2 mngs.; v. = verb).

W. D. M. Paton (St Albans): To be had for a thong, if he letth! (i.e. one who leases, with lisp).

E. G. Phillips (Bangor): To give the boy a beating puts the enraged Head in a sweat! (e(nraged) in lather).

R. Postill (Jersey): The writer of a lot of nonsense about hunting it is Fielding (the in (Edward) Lear; pause after about).

H. Ingram Rees (Edgware): Used to sharpen the razor in The Barber of Seville at Her Majesty’s (hidden).

T. E. Sanders (Walsall): Sole? For a pound three and a tanner may have to be paid (anag. of L a three, 2 defs.).

J. H. Sleeman (E6): The real make up to use for nicely tanned skin (anag.).

 

COMMENTS—342 correct. There were few mistakes, but a warning to check your diagrams seems due again—“oralt,” “red-shortnees” and “caeditor” appeared this time, among other obvious slips.
 
There are some excellent clues, a plethora of “There’s nothing like the real mixture” or words to that effect, and more entries than usual rejected for extreme difficulty. A few of those kindly critics who have from time to time suggested that very hard clues have received awards wiII, I feel, agree with the rejection of these (taken almost at random from a pile of “too-hards”):—(1) Firing rifle at Herr Fell, Hawkeye escapes barefoot. (2) Hide and softlee catchee—twist its head and cut off its tail—but first pay back the Chinaman. (3) “There’s an old mill by the stream, Nellie Dean,”—I’ve found the right key at last. (4) Basil’s kind of sheepish; spent seq: 27163 to discover froth turner had passed out, swallowed dead rat for tea! The first two I can manage with their notes, but I certainly couldn’t without: the third has no notes, and apart from a suggestion of “leat”—and “N. D.” = “her”?—I have no notion what it means: the last, even with notes, is entirely beyond me.
 
One more point—several people used “sixpence” to indicate “tanner” as part of a clue. We have discussed this “clue-to-a-clue” business before—in the past I have done it myself—but I doubt if it’s fair when it involves not a mere synonym but an entirely different sense of the word required in the clue. (“The real change from sixpence” is the sort of thing I mean). A “clue to a clue,” then, is never a strong point and is only tolerable when no change of sense is involved (e.g. a synonym of an anagram): it should not be used even then unless the clue would be too easy otherwise.
 
RUNNERS-UP—M. Anderson, Dr S. H. Atkins, E. A. C. Bennett, Cdr H. H. L. Dickson, T. N. Dowse, E. H. Freedman, Mrs J. O. Fuller, G. M. Gwynn, J. J. Holloway, R. P. Irving, F. Jackson, Mrs L. Jarman, L. W. Jenkinson, H. Joyce, A. S. King, C. Koop, A. F. Lerrigo, D. A. Lloyd, Mrs E. M. Lucas, Mrs M. Mahon, T. A. Martin, E. L. Mellersh, C. J. Morse, A. C. Okell, Mrs M. G. Porter, M. G. Powell Davies, E. Prior, A. R. Read, Mrs J. Robertson, A. Robins, Mrs E. S. G. Sheehan, O. Carlton Smith, R. E. Stephens, Miss D. W. Taylor, L. E. Thomas, M. F. Thorogood, D. L. Tuckett, Capt C. Tyers, M. A. Vernon, E. Ward.
 

 
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