XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 30

TWEEL

1.  J. T. Young (Mapledurham): Jean is north of the Border (cryptic def.; jean = twill; ref. Burns’s Jean of the western airt, Golden Treasury No. 155).

2.  S. Holgate (Durham): Spinning in Yorkshire? No; woven in Scotland (‘t’ wheel’).

3.  Mrs M. B. Caithness (Ambleside): English tweed is cheaper in the end than this Scots stuff (i.e. tweed = tweel with d for L).

H.C.

Miss D. Browne (Dublin): Stuff to make Colin all that was craved for him after tea (‘t’ weel, ref. Golden Treasury No. 154).

H. E. Cannings (Newcastle): Tike’s bike? No, Macduff’s stuff (‘t’ wheel’).

K. D. H. Cattanach (Cambridge): Whence the Dee came into the Tweed? (i.e. tweed = tweel with D for L; rivers).

F. A. Clark (Croydon): Tweed’s true name—simply Latin for its delta (L for D in tweed; river).

E. W. Eardley (Bexhill): Maybe we let the Scots weave thus (anag.).

Dr W. H. Hamilton (Edinburgh): Multiply my tail by ten, I’m still Scots stream-weft fit for men (i.e. tweel with D for L = Tweed; Roman numerals).

Miss A. Keen (Glasgow): This well-finished cloth is Scots throughout (ends with weel (= well)).

C. R. Malcolm (SW7): If we let mixture occur, it may be heather mixture (anag.).

A. P. O’Leary (Rugby): Cricket? We eleven can do our stuff in the north! (hidden).

R. Postill (Jersey): Will this fabric be on sale? It will, shortly, in the Caledonian market, but there’s a catch in it (’twill; ’t weel (= fish trap)).

G. W. Pugh (Ferndown): This has a more expensive finish than the usual gent’s suiting (L for d in tweed).

J. H. Quincey (Oxford): Tea, with the right kind of fare to suit a Scot (‘t’ + weel; ref. Golden Treasury No. 150).

D. I. Randell (Woking): Methinks ’twill be better for a Sassenach (cryptic def.; i.e. twill is Eng. version).

A. E. Smith (Farnham Royal): Made from the fleece of Mary’s pet wee lamb? (hidden).

J. Waters (N3): If ’twon’t be affirmative ’twon’t be material to Scot who says this is (i.e. ’twon’t and ’twill, twill and tweel).

E. F. Watling (Sheffield): Once we let stuff over the border it well may look like this; in fact it will (anag.; ’t weel, ’t will).

Comments:—X. in his simplicity had no idea that other versions of G.T. [F. T. Palgrave’s Golden Treasury] existed, later than his World’s Classics edition; if he had known, the announcement on the stable door would have appeared before the horse had gone, instead of after! Not many of the maddened solvers protested, and those mildly: X. thanks them for their forbearance. As to the use of the “Additional Poems,” X. did know that these were not chosen by F. T. P., who included no poets living later than 1855; but he imagined that “P.’s G.T.” would be taken as covering the whole contents of the volume which goes by that name, being ignorant of other versions.
 
There were 250 correct solutions submitted in spite of these difficulties: chief causes of error were LEVEL (247), which is presumably in all versions of G.T., and PRATES (Browning’s Gram. Fun. [A Grammarian’s Funeral]) which isn’t but might have had its last letter fixed by Jonson’s learned SOCK (112, 90). The prize word—which chose itself this time—offered rather little scope. A few did not see, or misunderstood, the words “replace in the usual way”: references to G.T. in clues were not asked for, though two have in fact received commendations. The winner is simple but artful in its “garden path” suggestion of Burns’s Jean of the western airt.
 
No misunderstandings in the next literary one, we hope, when its turn comes again.