XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 271

TRIPLET

1.  F. E. Newlove: Another Bedser might have been the answer, but there wasn’t one—and the tour is bound to suffer (trip, let; ref. identical cricketing twins, Alec & Eric Bedser and 1954 test matches; E.B. was never selected for a test match).

2.  S. B. Green: Might be taken for a little run—here’s the leash (i.e triplet = little trip.; leash = set of 3).

3.  Mrs L. Jarman: A peril not normally envisaged while extending the Race of Man (anag. in TT & lit.; triplet = cycle for 3).

H.C.

J. McI. Cruickshank: Three gathered together is a small flock—in a word, an unsuccessful service (trip² (= flock), let; church, tennis).

Miss B. J. Dix: Trippers in company suffer—the fleas that tease in the high Pyrenees, perhaps (trip¹ (n.), let, & example).

E. C. Double: There’s unusual peril in the race, for three are in a space for two (anag. in TT; music).

Mrs N. Fisher: The voyage to make an ancient stop “one of three” (trip let^2; ref. The Ancient Mariner, who stopped one of three wedding guests).

A. L. Freeman: The three Rs, for instance, are what you want—skip Latin and French (trip L et (Fr.)).

Rev A. D. Hodgson: Three lines running, with suitably selected termini. Excursion service cancelled (trip let; rhyme).

L. Johnson: Make a false step and suffer. A near thing to quad! (trip let).

M. F. Knott: One tern makes a very small flock (i.e. triplet = very small trip²).

R. H. Lemon: Mother had two more like me—doesn’t sound much of a holiday! (i.e. triplet = small trip).

C. J. Lowe: One out of three emerges from the peril involved in Man’s hazardous race (anag. in TT).

C. J. Morse: Cheap excursion service cancelled for three lines with the same terminus (trip, let).

P. M. Newey: Voyage permit, reducing the time taken for the passage by a third (trip, let; music).

R. Postill: Fault! …? Double? No, one more! (trip + let (implied)).

A. Robins: Travel permit for a person of German birth with two companions (trip, let; german = fully related).

T. E. Sanders: What’s the flock of birds over the lake and coming from across the Channel? Only tern (trip² L et (Fr.)).

Mrs E. M. Simmonds: Stumble over half the Great Dane’s leash (trip + (Ham)let; leash = set of 3).

J. P. Smith: Catch allowed? That makes the hat-trick! (trip let).

J. B. Sykes: Lack of lip control in extreme trumpet ranges results in trilling (anag. in tr(ump)et: trilling = one of 3 triplets).

Miss D. M. Thorn: Go lightly over an obstacle conveying a tray (trip, let; tray² = trey).

M. Woolf: Presumably a tiny flock of birds trilling (i.e triplet = little trip²; trilling = one of 3 triplets).

RUNNERS-UP

C. Allen Baker, A. J. Barnard, J. W. Bates, W. W. Brown, R. S. Caffyn, D. L. Clements, F. L. Constable, C. P. Dearnley, Cdr H. H. L. Dickson, Mrs D. M. D’Eath, W. Eite, L. E. Eyres, A. B. Gardner, C. E. Gates, R. M. Grace, G. M. Gwynn, D. Hawson, Rev K. E. Hood, L. R. Huxtable, B. J. Iliffe, L. W. Jenkinson, D. G. Julian, J. Hardie Keir, Capt M. Le Fanu, P. W. W. Leach, E. L. Mellersh, T. W. Melluish, D. P. M. Michael, W. L. Miron, D. W. Murray, D. A. Nicholls, A. E. North, K. A. Osborn, J. W. Parr, E. J. Rackham, H. Rainger, C. P. Rea, Capt W. H. W. Ridley, J. H. Scott-Wilson, E. O. Seymour, Mrs E. Shackleton, W. K. M. Slimmings, L. R. Smith, J. E. Smith Wright, G. J. St. J. Steadman, J. A. L. Sturrock, Gnr R. I. Sutherland, Miss D. W. Taylor, Capt C. Tyers, F. L. Usher, Miss E. Wheatcroft, W. F. Witton, I. Young.
 

COMMENTS—419 entries, 364 correct. Though the puzzle was not difficult, there were a number of fortuitous traps for the unwary—words which fitted the spaces but not the clues, e.g. mellifluous, irate, Ural, athetesis: these all took their toll. I gather from one or two solvers that the Enc. Brit. gives the Aral Sea as the fourth largest inland sea. The encyclopaedia I consulted is admittedly somewhat out of date, but I thought it likely to be sound on such a point: I didn’t think that any inland seas would have grown very much in the last 30 years or so, but evidently two have! I’m sorry. The clue, anyway, stated clearly enough what I meant and couldn’t conceivably fit Ural.
 
On copying out the clues above I came to the conclusion that they were the best all-round set we have ever had, and their senders, too, include five newcomers to this distinction. The standard is certainly still rising, and incidentally the total number whose names have figured in these lists is getting very near the thousand mark: this does not include Runners-up. I ruled out a number of clues which defined “triplet” as “stopped by the Ancient Mariner” without query or qualification. I can find no authority in C. for a triplet as “one of three” in any sense other than that of birth: in its other uses it seems always to mean all three of a set, not one of them. I haven’t searched other dictionaries, but C. is our guide in such matters and should not be departed from, unless it seems clearly to have nodded in overlooking some well recognised usage. It must be quite impossible never to err in such a work: cricketers may be amused at the definition of “mid-wicket” in the New Version! But it is on the whole, I think, an amazingly accurate book.
 
P.S. I hope everyone can see that Mrs. Fisher’s clue does not offend in the way referred to above—a good exercise in “cluemanship!”