XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 205

CANTANKEROUS

1.  R. R. Greenfield (Ruislip): Like a dog in the manger, eating malignantly with intermittent bark (tan¹ in cankerous).

2.  J. A. Blair (NW9): Most unwilling to give an O.K.—recusant, in other words (anag. & lit.).

3.  Mrs A. Sladden (Oxford): So Kate can run amuck? Shrewish! (anag.; ref. Taming of the S.).

H.C.

C. Allen Baker (Wishaw): It’s just like a rotter—lying about a ring with no intention of giving (tan¹ in cankerous; tan, circus ring).

R. N. Chignell (Bexhill): Bit of a song about the wine ration, gets us finally in bad temper (anker in canto + us; alcohol not officially rationed during and post WW2, but in short supply).

J. C. R. Clapham (Windsor): Perverse and morbidly sour aren’t in it (an’t in cankerous & lit.).

Mrs D. M. D’Eath (Bexhill): Difficult cross-word? Run, ask at once if it’s devilled! (anag.).

W. M. Easther (W2): Being hard to please, North Korea can’t come to a settlement with us (anag. incl. N + us; ref. Korean war, unfinished in 1952).

J. A. Flood (Leyton): A sunken actor goes into variety, having an aptitude for cross talk (anag.).

B. A. Gunner (Harrow): Do not use a crank carelessly—liable to fly off the handle! (anag., indicated by do … carelessly).

R. J. Hall (Redbourn): Can a distributor of oil over the waters practically oust the ill-tempered? (can tanker ous(t); oil on troubled waters).

C. Koop (Ferring): Kate can run so wild! That’s how she struck Petruchio (anag.; ref. Taming of the S.).

J. P. Lloyd (Swansea): “Crustakean?” No! Something wrong with that. Try “Crabby” (anag.).

C. J. Morse (Oxford): Countersank screws round an axehead liable to fly off the handle unexpectedly (i.e. a(xe) in anag.).

E. J. Rackham (Totton): We so describe one who cannot agree with us, nor can take us light-heartedly (anag. & lit.).

L. T. Stokes (Walsall): Liable to blow up any time! Preserve the reservoir! Sure nothing is amiss below! (can tank + anag. with O).

T. G. Wellman (Poole): Countersank a screw: difficult, it being not level-headed (anag.).

L. C. Wright (Selby): Get a century, then try to sneak a run—but make it snappy! (C + anag.).

RUNNERS-UP

E. S. Ainley, T. E. Bell, A. J. Bisset, Rev L. Blackburn, J. Buist, Miss E. C. Chapman, F. A. Clark, B. G. H. Clegg, G. N. Coulter, J. C. B. Date, C. P. Dearnley, F. E. Dixon, Maj F. R. E. Durie, T. Dwyer, L. E. Eyres, Mrs N. Fisher, Mrs D. Fuller, Mrs J. O. Fuller, C. E. Gates, S. Goldie, C. P. Grant, E. W. Handley, E. L. Hayward, B. J. Hazzard, C. Higham, A. R. M. Hooper, F. G. Illingworth, Dr D. S. M. Imrie, L. W. Jenkinson, L. F. Johnson, J. Hardie Keir, E. E. R. Kilner, A. F. Lerrigo, F. C. Lill, L. V. Martin, T. A. Martin, E. L. Mellersh, F. E. Newlove, A. P. O’Leary, R. Postill, E. R. Prentice, Maj J. N. Purdon, E. W. Richart, J. Riley, A. Robins, A. J. C. Saunders, W. I. D. Scott, Mrs E. Shackleton, E. T. Smith, E. B. Stevens, Mrs C. Taylor, H. S. Tribe, J. D. Tutin, B. J. Wain, J. F. N. Wedge, R. Wells, M. Woolf, H. T. Young.
 

COMMENTS—404 correct and a moderate number of mistakes, nearly all of them in the S.W. corner. Some very good clues were sent in and an exceptional number of goodish but not outstanding ones. It is time for some more criticism of unsuccessful clues: I will take a few of the goodish ones which did not quite achieve mention among the Runners-up. “Unable to arrange Korean exchange, we object to disagreeable result.” Attractive but “can’t” is inaccurately defined: it can only mean “is unable to.” “We object” for “us” and the second “to” without a verb are also a little strained. The looseness in defining “can” or “can’t” was common: here is another example in a clue which had merit:—“Not to be able to bear the sight of a bit of ankle—you sound in love, and thoroughly perverse.”—“Unreasonable tick, exuding bile, may well he.” This is a sound “& lit.” clue, but I don’t like an adding-and-subtracting anag. for a long word which is easy to anagrammatise normally: it seems too fussy.—“The attitude of cranks tae U.N.O. maks me ill-haired.” Neat, but there is nothing to justify the Scotticism, which normally suggests a Scots word, except the clue-writer’s own convenience, which is a serious flaw.—“Like Dr. Moussadek, I have no tankers and not much caution in my make-up.” Here too many letters of the anag. are in the right order, which detracts from any possible surprise.—“One gets so sore: that’s what’s bad about sunburn.” Very neat, but I reluctantly cannot accept “bad” as an adequate definition of “cankerous”: it is so terribly vague.—But all these clues have solid merits: their exclusion shows how high the standard is.
 
Note:—In the last slip Mr. Postill’s clue appeared with two unfortunate errors. It should have read:—“No doubt to amuse our Arth., a f/at odalisque! ’Er methods must shock the Sisters!”