XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 225

TOUCHSTONES

1.  C. J. Morse (Norwich): Basanites: a tribe of fools, said to use their bulls as stalking-horses! (2 mngs; AYLI V:4:112, T. “uses his folly as a s.-h.”; cf. Psalm 22.12 “bulls of Bas(h)an” [see comments]).

2.  R. M. S. Cork (Cambridge): By feeling pelts, they divide the sheep from the goats (touch + stones (vb.)).

3.  T. W. Melluish (SE24): Give the fool two testrils—or testers (Touchstone + s (= shilling); tester, testril = sixpence; ref. AYLI).

H.C.

J. A. Blair (NW9): They make tests on the exterior of a precious object (ouch² in anag., & lit.).

D. J. Furley (W1): A ring on test? Such are the materials used (anag. incl. O, & lit.).

A. R. M. Hooper (SW10): Do they give “the lie direct” to golden dreams? (double mng.; ref. AYLI V:4).

L. Johnson (N Harrow): Hutton all at sea (bad cess to him!) with a duck in the Tests (0 in anag. of Hutton cess; ref. Len H., cricketer).

J. Hardie Keir (Galashiels): Hutton’s second blob! Looks disastrous with the Tests in sight! (anag. incl. sec 0; blob = duck; ref. Len H., cricketer).

F. E. Newlove (SE9): The XI for these Tests must include Hutton ’cos ’e’s smashing! (anag.; 11 letters; ref. Len H., cricketer).

R. Postill (Jersey): At testing times they often showed a yellow streak. Shakespeare’s lied skilfully to avoid fighting (2 mngs.; gold; ref. AYLI, T.’s duel).

E. J. Rackham (Totton): Test on such, and nothing more, provides but a rough analysis (anag. & lit.).

T. E. Sanders (Walsall): Hutton’s second duck—that’s hardly the form we want for the Tests (anag. incl. sec 0; ref. Len H., cricketer).

E. B. Stevens (Morden): Certain tests applied whereby in seconds a dud note is spotted by the feel (touch + anag. in s, s).

L. T. Stokes (Walsall): On these the cuts soon show the difference in make-up (anag. & lit.).

P. H. Taylor (Stratford-on-Avon): They prove what may be hocus on test (anag. & lit.).

H. Walsham (Bradford): Tries to borrow from a chap who is always good for a bob (touch St. one s (= shilling)).

A. H. Wright (Egham): He’s left gems on the brooch—they show up the gold (t(he) ouch² + stones).

A. J. Young (Gravesend): They are used in the old saying—People who live in glasshouses shouldn’t even ——! (i.e. touch stones; saying (obs.) = assaying).

RUNNERS-UP

E. S. Ainley, C. Allen Baker, Rev B. Chapman, J. A. Fincken, Mrs J. O. Fuller, S. B. Green, C. R. Haigh, Mrs M. Henderson, B. J. Iliffe, C. J. Lowe, E. L. Mellersh, M. Newman, J. D. P. O’Leary, M. G. Powell-Davies, A. Robins, Mrs G. W. Robinson, J. C. Shaw, F. N. Shimmin, W. K. M. Slimmings, L. R. Smith, Miss N. Smith, Miss R. E. Speight, J. A. L. Sturrock, J. Thompson, G. F. W. Turner.
 

COMMENTS—169 correct and a lot of mistakes, This rather surprised me: I meant the puzzle to be easier after a difficult one and made several changes in the proof with this end in view; but pitfalls evidently remained. PASHT and LOUDES may be taken together. When there are alternative spellings and/or a proper name may be hard to trace, I give a subsidiary clue to settle it: if solvers won’t be guided by these, I respectfully suggest that it isn’t my fault! Pash = face is in Chambers: Loudes is very obviously nearly loudest, while “Loudez” isn’t. The latter word raises the question of -ise and -ize in 5 down. These, in a very large number of verbs, are alternative spellings in common use: which you use is simply a matter of taste. As A. P. H. points out in What a Word—that lovely book—the Times is an -izer and the Telegraph an -iser. l’m afraid I should regard it as an absurd restriction that I should be bound by the fact that the old Chambers’s edition is an -izer. It showed, t think, very odd judgement to be swayed by this rather than by “loudest.” For TOLSEY see under “toil”: what is “tocsey”? And how can “snob” fit the clue to 30? No, I don’t think solvers as a whole were in their best form, which is very good. On the other hand, there were some good clues submitted. The winner, though I prefer, as a rule, a clue which needs less explanation, is very brilliant, and the fact that a glance at “basanite” in C. gives a straightforward definition compensates for the difficulty. I didn’t care for the clues which treated the word as the plural or possessive of the clown for purposes of definition: the plural isn’t in common use, and the treatment of the word as a possessive seems to me weak—except, of course, in a subsidiary part of the clue with a definition elsewhere.
 
Many thanks for Easter greetings, which it is a little late to reciprocate.