XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 28

HELCOSIS

1.  A. E. Wynne (St. Margaret’s-at-Cliffe): “This is giving me sheol (sic),” said Job (anag. & lit.; ref. Job 7:5).

2.  Mrs M. B. Caithness (Ambleside): How to solve ulcer trouble: try an outsize chisel (anag. of OS chisel).

3.  C. Koop (Ferring): The Way of All Proud Flesh (cryptic def.; proud = raised; cf. Samuel Butler title).

H.C.

H. G. Butters (Ipswich): His inside is close but upset, hence inflammation (anag. in his).

T. A. L. Cairns (Totton): If you dabble in ice-slosh, you may, it seems, get an ulceration (anag.).

G. N. Collins (Ipswich): The hoss is upset with lice. You’re bound to get soreness (anag.).

J. M. Doulton (Orpington): Ochlesis is endemic in Mysore (anag.; o. = morbid condition due to overcrowding; pun on ‘my sore’).

C. E. Gates (Kettering): Roughly close his open sore (anag).

P. Irving (Edinburgh): His close disposition is a sore point (anag.).

T. W. Melluish (SE24): Plain, flat, square member rising in his inflammatory state (socle (rev.) in his).

A. E. North (Brighton): This unhealthy condition might be the result of overcrowding (anag. of ochlesis).

E. H. Pascoe (Harpenden): A chisel so manipulated is sore to the skin (anag.).

D. I. Randell (Woking): O for a Lachesis to resolve this sore problem! (anag. with O for a).

T. E. Sanders (Walsall): The inflammatory process by which, I hear, Hades warms itself (‘hell coses’).

R. C. Shorter (Askrigg): Some disturbance in Chile! S.O.S.! Will it matter? (anag.; matter = exude pus).

W. H. Wheeler (Wembley): She is cold, penniless and distraught; a sore condition indeed! (anag. less d).

COMMENTS:—“Who is this that darkeneth counsel…?” Ximenes. apparently! 10 dn., quite innocently, caused havoc and reduced the correct solutions sent to 157. X. imagined that “to darken counsel.” springing from Job 38.2. was in common enough use, but it seems unfamiliar to many. The alternatives really won’t wash, even with a shove! Could one, honestly, “dry up” counsel “into a barky substance”? There is little more to be said for the less popular “harken” as a bad form of “hearken” but X. ruled it out as too weak for acceptance. Other, wilder, shots don’t even appear to exist. Apologies, if irritation was caused, but the clue wasn’t even intended to be tricky. There was a sprinkling of trouble elsewhere, wide-spread but not concentrated anywhere.
 
The clue word wasn’t too easy to manage except for anags. The winner won easily this time. The 3rd prize shows that there is a reward waiting for good “straight” clues, which are harder to come by: this one seemed good enough to beat all but two of the anags.