XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 146

BELDAME

1.  W. K. M. Slimmings (New Malden): No wonder the old lady’s furious: she’s nothing to show but the B.E.M., and that’s tarnished (anag. of BE Medal [see comments]).

2.  R. Postill (Jersey): “The Third Man?” Head’s gone: Matron’s to go later. She’s furious! ((A)bel + dame; Abel = third man on earth; ref. 1949 film).

3.  J. A. Flood (Leyton): Elbe dam bombed by an old Spitfire. Probably a miss, though! (anag.; i.e. a female spitfire; oblique ref. to 617 Sqn ‘Dambusters’ raids).

H.C.

C. A. Baker (Wishaw): Jezebel’s end made a considerable mess of—Jezebel! ((jeze)bel + anag. of made; ref. death of Jezebel, 2 Kings 9:30–37).

H. P. Chubb (Winkleigh): Horrid old Grannie to bleed Mummy when broke! (anag. of bleed ma [see comments]).

F. L. Constable (Ludlow): I’m a good worker, about fifty, female—yet I appear to be a woman scorned (L dam in bee; “Hell hath no fury …”).

S. B. Green (NW10): Book the Castilian cutie—she’s a witch! (b. el (Sp.) dame).

C. H. Hudson (Oxford): It’s all right for an old Granny, but here’s Mother, on the right side of 50, in a sewing circle! (L, dam in bee; sewing bee).

C. Koop (Ferring): How the blade trembles before me! Stage fright? (anag. + me; ref. Macbeth II.1 and witches).

F. E. Newlove (SE9): ‘‘Is this a dagger which I see before me?” Not so! It’s one of the weird sisters (anag. of blade + me; ref. Macbeth II.1 and witches [see comments]).

A. E. Smith (Farnham Royal): With a broken heart, the old lady shows her medal (B(O)E + anag. of medal; BOE = Bank of England, ‘The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street’).

Capt C. Tyers (Elslead): Merely be fifty, and a woman is called a hag! (be L dame).

J. S. Young (Beckenham): An uncomfortable bed and a badly served meal is enough to make a woman furious (anag. of bed, meal).

COMMENTS—A small entry—187 correct and far fewer mistakes than last time. The general impression was that the puzzle was hard again: perhaps holidays and lack of books also had their effect. There were some enquiries—and polite accusations—about STRING, but there was no mistake in the tense. It was a triple clue:—“Being nervous” (a string is a nerve), “drove” (a string of horses is a drove of horses), “to decide who should be the premier player” (string, vb.: ref. to billiards). “Screak” won’t do instead of SCREAM: even if “reak” would serve as “material for journalists” with no ref. to its obsoleteness, the whole word surely can’t mean “a farcical incident.” There were a few queries about DALRIAD. Dalriada is the “ancient name for part of Argyllshire, founded by the Dalriads from Ireland, c. 500 A.D.” (New Encycl. and, no doubt, others). I would repeat that it doesn’t matter if you can’t verify an obscure proper name, as long as you use the subsidiary clue, in this case the anag. of DAIL and RAD: it is surely clear that “rad” is intended by “little Radical” and not “red”—“red” isn’t an abbreviation.
 
As to the clues submitted, the question of indirect anags. comes up again. These are only fair if the word meant is made obvious by a very restricted choice—e.g. “Dail” and “rad” above, “B.E.M.” in Mr Slimmings’s clue and “mummy” = “ma” in Mr Chubb’s. Mr Newlove’s clue is the most brilliant thing in the entry when you see the point: but “dagger” doesn’t lead obviously enough to “blade” as part of an anag.: the point would hardly be seen before solution. Mr Koop avoided this fault, but the result is a little too transparent. Hence H.C.s only for both of them.
 
If this reaches you late, it is because I have been away for a week: please let me off. And apologies—if you noticed it!—for the slip by which the Rules appropriate to a monthly competition were printed, making mention of six 3rd prizes instead of one: I don’t think the possible winners of the extra five prizes would wish to be given them through a pure accident.
 
RUNNERS-UP:—T. Bilsborough, M. L. Booker, Mrs Caithness, P. M. Coombs, F. E. Dixon, J. Duffill, Brig W. E. Duncan, E. G. Durham, L. E. Eyres, Mrs N. Fisher, C. E. Gates, L. R. Huxtable, D. S. M. Imrie, Mrs L. Jarman, W. A. Jesper, E. E. R. Kilner, G. G. Lawrance, B. M. Legg, Mrs H. N. Lock, C. J. Morse, N. J. Reed, H. Ingram Rees, T. E. Sanders.