XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 163

LORICATE

1.  Mrs L. Jarman: The White Knight was making Alice giddy with burbled rot! (anag.; ref. “Through the Looking-Glass”).

2.  M. Woolf: “It’s safer this way” said the Knight. “Rot!” Alice retorted (anag.; retorted (heraldic). = interlaced; ref. “Through the Looking-Glass”).

3.  T. Dwyer: Recoil at being disturbed, like a tortoise (anag.).

H.C.

J. W. Bates: See to protection of old lace or it gets spoilt (anag. of lace or it).

R. W. H. Brunswick: In case I attack shelter in erudition (I cat in lore; cat = penthouse = attack-shelter; loricate, adj. [see comments]).

H. H. Elliott: Tailor (E.C.) can arrange to supply hard-wearing overcoat (anag.).

D. S. Johnson: I’m armed cap-à-pie: rivets beginning to be hammered into place (ri(vets) in locate).

R. D. Jones: Unreasonable toil and care will make you crusty (anag.).

G. G. Lawrance: There’s a sloppy article about love appearing in the Mail (O in anag. of article).

R. O’Donoghue: Lot I care if letters go astray in mail! (anag.).

J. D. P. O’Leary: Blimey! that cat is thick-skinned! (Lor’ + cat in i.e. (that is) [see comments]).

R. Postill: Following the famous Annie, Coliseum’s new heroine sounds like having a hard test! (‘Laurie, Kate’; ref. A. Laurie; musicals at London Coliseum “A. Get Your Gun” followed by “Kiss me K.”; test² = shell [see comments]).

E. R. Prentice: Supply a loose coat with equal amounts of iron and lead worked in for protection (anag. of coat, ir(on),le(ad), & lit. [see comments]).

E. J. Rackham: As at crocodile’s head and tail, hard to penetrate (anag. of at cro(cod)ile & lit. [see comments]).

W. O. Robertson: Protected from the ravages of care and toil (anag.).

RUNNERS-UP

E. S. Ainley, C. A. Baker, M. W. Barnett, H. Bernard, J. A. Blair, T. G. Cordes, Brig W. E. Duncan, L. E. Eyres, Mrs N. Fisher, J. A. Flood, C. E. Gates, T. E. Girdlestone, C. P. Grant, S. B. Green, P. A. Harrow, L. W. Jenkinson, Capt G. Langham, A. F. Lerrigo, H. J. Lloyd, J. P. Lloyd, D. P. M. Michael, F. E. Newlove, A. C. Norfolk, A. E. North, Rev E. B. Peel, H. Rainger, A. Shoobridge, O. Carlton Smith, Miss R. E. Speight, J. Thomas, L. E. Thomas, Dr P. E. R. B. Unwin, W. D. Wigley, L. C. Wright, J. S. Young.
 

COMMENTS—230 correct and a fair number of mistakes, chiefly “ripen” and “risen” as guesses for RIVEN. I expected Ruddigore to be better known. Robin Oakapple was the assumed name of Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd. The pronunciation of Ruthven as “Riven” is not normal on the stage in this opera, though I believe it is often regarded as correct: hence the ? in my clue. Solvers who didn’t know the allusion might well have been guided by “pierced”: no doubt many were. I am glad so many solvers enjoyed being “fooled”!
 
The clues sent in were not, I thought, a brilliant lot. The most brilliant—Mr Postill’s—has (to me) the weakness that it doesn’t show clearly enough which is the definition. It really means “Having a hard test sounds like C.’s new h. following the famous A.”: can one—fairly—be expected to get the answer from the reversed order? Only, I think, if “this” were put in before “having,” which would, of course, ruin the misleading sense. A pity, for it is a very clever idea. Mr Prentice’s clue is nearly a very good “portmanteau,” but “for protection” seems to me redundant in the anag. sense. So is Mr. Rackham’s, but the fact that a crocodile is no better protected at head and tail than elsewhere is a slight weakness. Once these three had been regretfully consigned to H.C.s, the two “Alice” clues stood out: after them I slightly preferred Mr Dwyer’s neat clue to Mr Bates’s equally neat one for third prize. Mr O’Leary’s splitting of “i.e.,” is, I think original and quite fair: I like his clue and Mr. Johnson’s next best. Mr Jones and Mr Robertson made, I think, the best use of a much-used idea: so also did Mr Elliott, Mr Lawrance and Mr O’Donoghue of three other popular ideas. There remains Mr Brunswick: his clue is clever but perhaps a little too difficult.
 
I have selected three rejects for criticism:—“Fat lot I care for these attacks! I am well protected.” Complete sacrifice of soundness to misleading sense: “fat” and “for these attacks” are irrelevant and the anag. is entirely unindicated.—“To make the trunk secure fasten the straps or lace it.” The sender ends his note with the words “The last three words of the clue are, you will appreciate, an anagram of loricate.” Yes, I appreciate it, but why should the solver when no indication is given? This fault is still… [text obscured in Slip copy]