XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 338

SHE-ASS

1.  Mrs N. Fisher (Stroud): Surely Mrs. Bennet’s an example of this brazenness needed for man-catching (he in sass; ref. ‘Pride & Prejudice’).

2.  W. Eite (Carlisle): Job’s one in a thousand. Milk producer with two-thirds priority butter-making content (i.e. shea(ss); ref. Job 42:12 “a thousand female donkeys”).

3.  A. B. Gardner (N21): Not what you’d call a brainy girl, but just the type for Jack: dynamite wrapped in charm, there before the boat gets in! (HE in SA + SS; jackass).

H.C.

C. Allen Baker (Milnathort): One feels a Colt with a cartridge of brass containing explosive (HE in sass).

Mrs G. Bonsall (Newcastle): Has chess disaster: check, out of it, fool’s mate (anag. less ch.).

J. H. Dingwall (SW19): When a female’s the sort that produces a Colt, a man requires unusual boldness for an embrace (he in sass).

F. E. Dixon (Dublin): She may be taken for a ride—and may do the bumping off! (cryptic def.).

C. E. Gates (Kettering): Once the companion of a Bobby in the South of France, she’s apparently ensnaring a copper in Italy! (as³ in she’s; ref. R. L. Stevenson, ‘ Travels with a Donkey’).

T. E. Sanders (Walsall): A dam, maybe, that called for audacious action when breached with high explosive (HE in sass).

Mrs E. Shackleton (Basingstoke): Heroine (a dumb type), who though smitten couldn’t make a pass! (cryptic def.; ref. Balaam’s ass, Numbers 22:28).

Mrs E. M. Simmonds (Cookham Dean): Dicky’s dam cheek—embracing something devastating! (HE in sass; dicky²).

F. B. Stubbs (Barrowford): Be still, wild seas, called Jenny—Jack’s my boy (sh! + anag.).

H. S. Tribe (Sutton): First in Steeplechasing, Haute Ecole and Summer Show? I think not! (initial letters, & lit.).

RUNNERS-UP

J. W. Bates, T. E. Bell, H. Bernard, J. Brock, S. Clack, Cdr H. H. L. Dickson, A. S. G. Fish, S. Goldie, E. Gomersall, Surg Capt J. M. Hayes, M. L. Herridge, Mrs L. Jarman, C. Koop, G. G. Lawrance, A. F. Lerrigo, H. Lyon, A. W. Maddocks, I. McGivering, D. P. M. Michael, W. L. Miron, C. J. Morse, E. G. Phillips, W. K. M. Slimmings, Brig R. F. E. Stoney, Flt Lt N. D. Young.
 

COMMENTS—246 entries, 225 correct: the few mistakes were chiefly due to writing “galleass,” the alternative spelling precluded by the reference to “sail” in the clue. The puzzle seems to have been found more difficult than usual, and “she-ass” was certainly not an easy word to clue effectively: hence the short lists. I have sometimes (though not this time, as a matter of fact) been bitterly asked if I choose the word I find most refractory myself! This I honestly do not do: I choose the word before I write any I clues at all, aiming to offer one which seems to give several possible lines of approach and not one very obvious one. I don’t try to think of a clue to it myself, as I don’t want to be prejudiced if someone reproduces my idea: so I don’t find out whether it is as good a word for clues as I think it is until the entries arrive. I am now convinced that this particular female was not very tractable: I hope the next word will be more inspiring. In judging, I thought the clue ought in some way to hint at the femininity of the answer, though I stretched a point in giving Mr. Tribe an H.C. “Fool’s mate” was the most popular idea, but I didn’t think it interesting enough as a straight clue by itself. A few clues were rejected as too difficult and fewer than usual as unsound: it was usually a case of no entertaining penny dropping.
 
I was very glad to find from many letters, and also notes accompanying No. 338, that the “Misprints” puzzle was both soluble and enjoyable. As the misprints in the solution were a new complication, I had had my doubts about it. Many thanks for comments and also for kind inquiries: I am getting on well, thank you, with what I am told is due caution and restraint as to diet and violent I exercise!
 
P.S. we must congratulate a solver, Mr. A. W. Maddocks, on being the B.B.C.’s “What Do You Know?” champion. He tells me that he attributes his success to “a course of Ximenes,” which is most gratifying!