XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 126

RASPBERRY

1.  Cdr H. H. L. Dickson (Fareham): A Lloyd George product lately received by his successors (2 mngs; Ll.G., popular variety of r.; ref. poor result for Liberals in 1950 Gen. Election).

2.  W. L. Miron (Nottingham): A cane is needed! Present day outburst of disapproval gives one the pip! (3 mngs).

3.  A. F. Lerrigo (Pinner): May be preserved for those whom the gods do not love (2 mngs; gods = theatre gallery; r. jam).

H.C.

C. A. Baker (Wishaw): The cane’s responsible for my springing up from my stool! (cryptic def.; stool = stump).

F. A. Clark (Croydon): In a jam, ’Erb prays King for a dissolution (anag. incl. R; ref. Herbert Asquith’s government 1915-16).

J. Coleby (Chester): The bird is a kind of pie: when clipped, as it often is, makes a harsh grating noise (4 mngs.; ‘give the bird’; pie = magpie).

P. A. Harrow (N12): To produce fruit, spray round about the end of September and the middle of March ((Septem)ber, (Ma)r(ch) in anag.).

F. H. W. Hawes (Dagenham): Bird of the gods (cryptic def.; ‘give the bird’; gods = theatre gallery).

Mrs L. Jarman (Brough): Brr …… spray and east wind! There’s little ruddy joy in the English summer (anag. incl. E; wind, vb., signifies anag.).

F. E. Newlove (SE9): Bird in the bush? (2 mngs.; ‘give the bird’).

G. Perry (Stoke-on-Trent): Spar tossed about by swell may be the result of the gods’ hostility (anag. + berry (= swell); gods = theatre gallery).

A. Robins (Manchester): Boo-hoot-iful frui-hoot! (hoot = raspberry; cf. soup in ‘Alice in Wonderland’, Mock Turtle’s song).

W. K. M. Slimmings (New Malden): It’s jammed, blow it! Have you a file? Swell! (rasp + berry (= swell), 2 defs.).

O. Carlton Smith (Potters Bar): Shakespeare specifies figs, but from internal evidence this fruit would have done for Cleopatra just as well (ref. Antony and C. V.2; asp hidden in figs and in r-asp-berry).

Miss D. W. Taylor (New Malden): In a jam? Prayers, little brother, bear fruit (anag. incl. br., 2 defs.).

L. C. Wright (Selby): Strike me! Here’s a blasted sparrer by one of the fruit bushes! (anag., 2 defs.; sparrow).

COMMENTS—Only 160 correct in another small entry with many: scattered mistakes: the puzzle wasn’t meant to be especially cryptic, but apparently it was. In case the published notes are inadequate. here are a few more, suggested by enquiries:—
 
29. B-lunts-chli in Arms and the Man might well have been sufficiently irritated by Sergius to tell him to go to lunts = blazes. 35. mer = eau. 6. George A. Birmingham (who died recently) wrote delightful Irish stories. If you don’t know your Meldon, you’ve missed something. 19. To dirk is to gash and a man when he’s down is a lier: ask Fairshon (the Scot in the song who “swore a feud ’gainst the clan McTavish,” in which dirks were freely used) what could be more gashly, i.e., gashlier (Scots word). Hard until you get dirk, and “dirt” was a possible red herring at 34; but only one competitor actually wrote “dirt,” whereas quite a number missed gashlier. I feel that dirk should have made it soluble. 31. nome is not a place-name but a division of a province (Chamb. s.v. nomarch). I think the published notes cover all other difficulties.
 
The clues sent were of a rather higher standard than last time, and Cdr. Dickson’s very pleasant joke against himself well earns pride of place. The word set wasn’t any too popular, though: one regular solver asks what my clue would have been. I couldn’t normally answer this one: to produce an original one after reading so many would be impossible, and I purposely don’t think about it beforehand. But this time I had, as the puzzle was originally to have been a non-competition one; so here it is, for what it is worth: “A chastening blow from the cane.” Nothing wonderful, I fear, and I’m surprised that no one duplicated it; perhaps it was rejected as too obvious. Whether there’s a moral to that or not I leave you to decide.
 
Many thanks for welcomes to the weekly puzzle—but I fear its permanence isn’t certain yet.
 
RUNNERS-UP—D. Ambler, J. H. Dingwall, B. Franco, S. R. Gibbs, C. C. M. Giffin, S. B. Green, D. Hawson, C. Higham, C. H. Hudson, J. G. Hull, F. Jackson, D. P. M. Michael, D. G. C. Mockridge, C. J. Morse, W. D. Oliver, A. P. O’Leary, Rev E. B. Peel, E. G. Phillips, R. Postill, H. Ingram Rees, W. O. Robertson, A. J. C. Saunders, A. H. Taylor, L. E. Thomas, H. S. Tribe, H. D. Wakely.