◀  No. 123 Clue list 19 Feb 1950 Slip image No. 126  ▶

XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 124

BARHAM or BRAMAH

1.  R. O’Donoghue (Westcliff): He is railing against Hamlet without restraint and advocates Bacon as the author (bar + Ham(let), bar (lawyers) + ham; let = restraint).

2.  S. B. Green (NW10): Hinder part of animal—where the legendary wag comes from (bar ham; hinder, vb.).

3.  J. H. Dingwall (N12): “Battleship might have made Derby winner”—Bookmaker (anag. of Bahram, Derby winner 1935; Battleship, Grand Nat. winner 1938; HMS Barham).

H.C.

F. A. Clark (Croydon): Except for the Bacon element in Hamlet, his works are frankly legendary (bar Ham(let); ref. ‘Ingoldsby Legends’).

A. J. Croft (Birmingham): Holding one hydraulic engine in contempt, he invented another (ram in bah; Bramah-press).

C. V. Jones (Liverpool): Writer who made his name by a false tale about Irish society (RHA in bam; Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin).

Lt Cdr W. G. Marshall (Rothesay): Derby winner’s girths have slipped! Battleship’s there though! (middle letters rev. in Bahram, Derby winner 1935; Battleship, Grand Nat. winner 1938; HMS Barham).

W. K. M. Slimmings (New Malden): Clergyman who collected Stories and wrote articles about “Leaders of Religion and Humour” in the British Museum (R, H in a, a in BM).

L. E. Thomas (Bangor): Where one can get a drink a short while before midday in Kent (bar + h. (= hour) + a.m.; Barham near Canterbury).

L. W. Titman (Peterborough): Richard Harris, penniless poet, village writer of comic verse (bar(d) + ham; R. H. Barham).

 

COMMENTS—185 correct in a smaller entry than usual: practically no errors were made except by some who wrote “Keblah,” failing to see the initial letters—“leaders”—in the clue. (Incidentally. this sort of clue is hardly worth while unless the result is appropriate to the word clued.) Although there was a choice of two words to write clues, both were difficult: I think this probably kept the entry down rather than failure to arrive at the two authors. But it is hard to tell. “What a difficult puzzle!” writes one regular solver: “… nice and easy, too,” writes another!
 
The lists are much shorter than usual, and this gives me room for a few individual criticisms. The winner’s clue very cleverly combines two versions of “bar+ham,” and I like it very much. “He is” followed later by “as the author” shows a slight weakness in wording: a possible improvement would be “Advocates Bacon for the author, railing against Hamlet without restraint.” Mr. Green’s clue has more sparkle, perhaps, but it doesn’t suggest clearly enough to me that “the legendary wag” is the definition. I should prefer “… that’s where your legendary wag is seen”—not quite so scintillating but fairer. Mr. Dingwall’s clue is perfectly sound and well worded, and the indirect anag. is quite fair: there can’t be many 6-letter Derby winners. But it is less entertaining than the first two. Of the H.C. clues Mr. Clark’s is rather too easy; Mr. Croft’s and Mr. Jones’s are rather too difficult, since in both none of the 3 parts would be likely to strike a chord at all quickly—the penny wouldn’t drop till one had got most of the letters—but both are very neat. Lt.-Cdr. Marshall’s race is, perhaps, an improbable one, but the clue sounds pleasantly like an excerpt from a commentary and is of the right sort of difficulty. Mr. Slimmings’s clue gives a pleasant picture and is soluble, though rather too “bitty” to be ideal. Mr. Thomas’s clue is one of the neatest, but Barham is a little known place, so the rest of the clue ought not, perhaps, to include anything as indefinite as “a short while” for “h” = “hour.” Finally, Mr. Titman’s clue is eminently sound but rather unexciting.
 
None of the others quite came up to standard, I thought. There were some attractive ideas, but each time I came up against some insuperable objection—often on the score of difficulty.
 
In conclusion, I was glad to read that so many solvers enjoyed being sent back to a very great book.
 
RUNNERS-UP—C. A. Baker, Mrs N. Fisher, G. C. Fuller, J. P. Hancox, P. A. Harrow, F. H. W. Hawes, D. E. G. Irvine, C. Koop, Mrs F. Laing, E. L. Mellersh, D. P. M. Michael, R. Postill, A. Robins, Miss D. W. Taylor, P. H. Taylor, J. Walton, J. S. Young.
 

 
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