XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 291

APAGOGE

1.  Mrs N. Fisher: An oblique check for the afternoon, with the latest thing in buttons (a + go in page²; go (n.) = fashion).

2.  Miss D. W. Taylor: Monkey about with spirit to get the required proof (agog in ape).

3.  R. Postill: I initially get antithesis, prove absurdity—then take its antithesis (ego + initial letters (all rev.), & lit.).

H.C.

F. D. H. Atkinson: By turning the argument round I can hit on the flaw and the answer (ego gap a. (all rev.), & lit.).

B. D. Corbett: Taking the opposite view, the thinker is led to break with what is assumed at the outset (ego gap a (all rev.), & lit.).

C. R. Dean: Taking a keen interest in Gibbon makes one like the Romans’ being reduced to the absurd (agog in ape; like the R. = Latin).

L. E. Eyres: This should lead to a conviction, and you’ll find one of the servants has to go inside (go in a page²).

A. L. Freeman: A pass back—own goal! England’s lead—this is what shows the error of the other side (a + gap (rev.) + o.g. + E).

S. B. Green: Bit of Geometry, Part I which can be grasped by a boy who attends (g(e)o in a page², & lit. [see comments]).

R. J. Hall: I produce a void answer, when the contrary aspect is viewed (ego gap a. (all rev.), & lit.; gap vb.).

D. P. M. Michael: Father gets excited about East End demonstration that what’s Left must be Right! (pa in agog + E).

C. J. Morse: For example, the interval between nought and one is plainly not descending—therefore the reverse is correct (e.g. + gap in 0, a (all rev.), & lit.).

J. S. Pyett: Good left-half in a side like this makes the other side look silly (go(od) in a page; side like this = (newspaper) page).

E. J. Rackham: Father’s back all excited with a middle cut of leg. Could we deduce “rational” conclusion from this? (pa (rev.) + agog + e; ref. meat rationing).

D. Raper: This could be demonstrated by a pedagogue, but not directly (anag. less due, & lit.).

T. E. Sanders: April time’s about only half gone—that’s a good enough reason for some showers (Ap. + go(ne) in age; i.e. show-ers).

W. K. M. Slimmings: Logically, it involves showing opposite conclusion to be gaga (anag. of op. (b)e gaga, & lit.).

F. B. Stubbs: Primate goes about eager to offer rebuttal of all non-conformity (agog in ape).

Miss D. Tennant: A giant in a split-pea? Surely a case of “reductio ad absurdum” (Gog in anag. of a pea).

M. Woolf: With this I pass to the answer by exposing the lie of the opposite (ego gap a. (all rev.), & lit.).

RUNNERS-UP

C. Allen Baker, T. E. Bell, Lt A. S. Birt, P. Brown, A. N. Clark, E. J. Collman, G. N. Coulter, J. H. Deterding, Cdr H. H. L. Dickson, H. H. Elliott, J. A. Fincken, D. Godden, E. Gomersall, P. Graystone, R. W. Hawes, H. Hindle, L. Johnson, C. Koop, J. Leece, J. P. Lloyd, E. L. Mellersh, R. Mizel, J. W. Parr, M. G. Powell-Davies, G. W. Pugh, N. Roles, Miss R. L. Saw, W. Steinberg, J. B. Sykes, L. E. Thomas, L. K. Upton, T. G. Wellman.
 

COMMENTS—392 entries, 310 correct: scattered mistakes, the commonest being “xenon,” which makes the clue very feeble with a far too vague definition, various versions of 1 ac., and failures at TANIT, in spite of “tin ’at”! Tanit, or Tanith, was a Carthaginian goddess: the subsidiary part of the clue should have guided those who couldn’t find her in reference books. The puzzle was easier, but it wasn’t an easy word to clue because of the difficulty of working in a sound definition. Many failed so achieve this: things like “isn’t this absurd?” are not really adequate: a reductio ad absurdum is not absurd! I should, I think, have liked Mr. Green’s clue best apart from go = bit of geo: a bit really suggests consecutive letters. Mr. Gomersall would have got a prize but for my very serious doubts of his interpretation of the meaning of agoge. His clue was “A piano above, a bit out of tune, makes the alternative premises untenable.” This is delightful, but it is only sound if the definition “sequence in melody” means “a sequence in a melody”: I know nothing about Greek music, but I really don‘t think it can mean that; so I regretfully had to reject it.
 
There were many new competitors: for their benefit and guidance I quote a couple of unsuccessful clues, so that they may avoid common weaknesses. “Bony fish cooked with two articles gives absurd result.” (pogge-a-a). This “pogge” might be a word in the diagram, with a clue consisting of definition such as “bony fish” and a helpful subsidiary indication: but as part of an anagram such a rare word must be itself to be of any use to a solver—“bony fish” would never suggest it. Indirect anagrams must lead pretty straight to their answers. This is a very common weakness in beginners’ clues. Incidentally the definition is unsound, too: a reductio ad absurdum does not give an absurd result.—“If you ‘Have a Go,’ the rest may gape. Never mind, simply lead away.” This is very loose wording, failing completely to say what it means. What it must mean, to be a clue, is “If you have a go, and the rest [of what you have] is gape, the result of mixing the letters may be apagoge.” “The rest may gape” cannot … [final lines of slip missing].