XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 29

RATAN

1.  Mrs L. Jarman (Brough): A limited company might be floated, with this reliable staff (cryptic def.; i.e. ratans could make a flimsy raft).

2.  G. Bowness (N3): He’s usually T.T. now, this dry old stick (i.e. usually spelt rattan).

3.  Lt R. H. Lemon (SE18): Usually, as here, found just inside the door at any house (hidden & lit.).

H.C.

C. B. Daish (Peterborough): A stick of little use to Noah in his Ararat anchorage (hidden).

L. E. Eyres (York): Cane used by headmaster at an “execution” (hidden).

Maj A. H. Giles (Leamington): You should hand the palm to those who go in for walking and stick to it (2 defs.).

Mrs N. J. Griffin (Cowdenbeath): Raft for war-time ferry service in the Navy? (ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary) in RN).

P. A. Hall (Harpenden): We have taken 13’s baton, so now he plies without (anag. of Palestrina (composer, no. 13 in puzzle) less plies).

L. Johnson (Llandudno): Cane? A constituent of sugar, at any rate (hidden).

G. T. Knight (Sutton Scotney): Walker with it goes all the stronger at having run about in the past (at in ran).

C. R. Malcolm (SW7): Complexion of gunners made to stick in Malaya (RA tan).

R. Postill (Jersey): Ferry pilots in the Navy? Special sort of staff job, I suppose! (ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary) in RN).

Miss D. W. Taylor (W5): Sticky palm which my be read in a fair at any time (hidden; like a stick).

L. D. Wakely (SW19): “Sticky” reconstruction of remains after I dropped out of a train (anag. less I; like a stick).

W. H. J. Wheeler (Wembley): An art form used by Chaplin in his early films (anag.; ref. Charlie C.’s cane).

COMMENTS:—N.E. corners seem to be under a hoodoo, and poor old 10 was again in trouble. DENE was the commonest wrong version: X. cannot for the life of him get it out of the clue, and its senders must hold a low opinion of X., if they think SAUCE could be the answer to his clue to 12, in which “forward” surely calls for the adjective, SAUCY, rather than the noun. “What’s this forward (saucy) like? (It’s like) A 1 (sauce), perhaps” was the intention. EYNE is more plausible; but can they be called a waterway (sing.)? They are shielded, by lids, but are they on both flanks? Surely the ears occupy that position. TYNE (N. and S. Shields) seems to X. so much the better answer that he cannot accept EYNE. One competitor produced CAUCA for 12: X’s spelling is, he hopes, a little better than that, and he does try to restrict his flights of fancy to what may be fairly described as words! CAUCI was another strange thought; there were more versions of 10, existent and non-existent, but none of them acceptable; and a few mistakes elsewhere. After all this the correct solutions were reduced to 180. One of the best clues accompanied a solution with one letter wrong (not in 10): It is worth quoting:—“Whether palm or stick is intended, I’m evidently in for a tanning!” As might be expected with a short word, “hidden” clues ousted anags. from their usual popularity; the winner is a good “straight” one.