XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 148

FILIBUSTER

1.  A. N. Clark (Portsmouth): I rifle tubs at sea (anag. & lit.).

2.  Maj P. S. Baines (BAOR): Petty Liberal and Unionist in wanton strife obstruct legislation (Lib U in anag.).

3.  F. E. Newlove (SE9): Keaton plays major part in all-talking version of Adventurer (at the Capitol) (i.e. ends with Buster (K.), 2 defs.; ref. Charlie Chaplin film, Capitol where Congress meets).

H.C.

C. A. Baker (Wishaw): Wanted: fleecer and stripper; also sound breaker of young mares, not averse to taking over occasional jade, etc. (‘filly buster’, 2 defs.; jade = nag and treasure).

F. L. Constable (Ludlow): I should be found to be among the leaders in filching, bushranging and terrorising! (I in fil, bus, ter, & lit.).

P. M. Coombs (Burgess Hill): Enough to make Congress tart? True, if 1 lb.’s all you want (anag. incl I; tart = scathing).

B. J. Iliffe (Westcliff): ’E ain’t a proper soldier, but ’is rifle’s in the Mess! (anag.).

L. W. Jenkinson (Stoke): Character who might be disposed to “lift” rubies indiscriminately (anag. & lit.).

A. F. Lerrigo (Pinner): Tries to keep on his feet, but it’s futile with ribs all broken (anag.).

R. Mills (SW12): He doesn’t mind a scrap or bit if rules may be broken (anag.).

E. J. Rackham (Totton): His speech does not keep to the point, and fibs rule it out of order (anag.).

P. P. Simpson (Birkenhead): Had there been fires built like this in the House, the Coal Bill might never have been presented (anag.; ref. 1946, etc., Coal Industry Bills in Parliament).

H. S. Tribe (Sutton): Scotch law, so to speak: it rules F.B.I., oddly enough (anag.; scotch vb.).

J. F. N. Wedge (Sutton): I broke into a smoother way of talking to confound the law (I bust in filer (= smoother)).

J. S. Young (Beckenham): Trifle worried about the bus I caught being a pirate (anag. incl. bus I).

COMMENTS—152 correct and few mistakes in a small and heroic entry. It was much the hardest “Playfair” I have set, intended to test the experts: the successful solvers deserve the “rich halo of enthusiastic cheering” which one of my favourite authors is so fond of quoting. Always before I have made the clues to the encoded words easier than usual: this time I treated them exactly like the rest, and that, plus the fact that interlocking reduced the number of exposed pairs of letters, made all the difference. I’m glad there were so many for whom I didn’t go too far and that most of them seem to have enjoyed it; but I’m afraid there must be some mercifully inarticulate sufferers who would like my blood!
 
The standard of the clues submitted was far higher this time: hence the rise in the number of H.C.s and R.U.s in spite of the much smaller entry. But there were again some who ruled themselves straight out by serving up unindicated anagrams like “If I bluster I obstruct legislation.” As far as I am concerned, if an anag. isn’t indicated it might as well not be there, and the clue has no merit except that which it possesses, if any, as a straight clue. I feel quite as strongly about such clues as about those which give no definition or hint of the meaning of the whole word.
 
Mr. Clark’s multum in parvo is, I think, superb—he has brilliantly seized a rare chance. I feel confident, for once, that any judge would put his clue first; but an amusing light was thrown on people’s differing tastes by two comnsents I had (from two very experienced solvers) on my last awards. One said he would have put the 3rd prize winner top, the other that he would have put him below any of the H.C.s. Such comments are always interesting and welcome, and their disagreement is most comforting!
 
RUNNERS-UP.—G. Bowness, Cdr H. H. L. Dickson, Mrs N. Fisher, J. A. Flood, P. A. Harrow, J. Hardie Keir, G. G. Lawrance, R. Lumley, R. C. Macfarlane, Dr L. B. Marshall, E. L. Mellersh, D. P. M. Michael, W. L. Miron, A. I. Oldaker, K. H. Oldaker, Rev E. B. Peel, E. G. Phillips, R. Postill, G. W. Pugh, H. Rainger, Mrs J. Robertson, T. E. Sanders, O. Carlton Smith, P. H. Taylor, W. H. Thorne, D. R. Tivy, W. H. Victory, J. Walton, B. K. Watts, R. A. Whitley.