XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 438

MACARONI

1.  C. Allen Baker: It must be swell, being a little waterproof duck in a rain-storm! (mac + O in anag.).

2.  A. J. Young: Tube fare—one buck (2 defs.; fare = food).

3.  E. J. Griew: Food being cheap in Italy, it’s almost madness eating what’s dear there! (caro in mani(a)).

H.C.

J. W. Bates: I am a corn preparation supplied in tubes (anag. & lit.).

Mrs G. Bonsall: Here’s the mixture in the hopper—take a masher and we get tubes of paste (4 mngs.; see mash²).

V. E. Brooke: The Piedmont Piper’s pièce de résistance? A Romanic medley (anag. & lit.).

A. L. Freeman: A rock-hopper I am, a roc’ ’n rolling (anag.).

F. D. Gardiner: He’s a dandy—he’s a rock-hopper—I am roc’ an’ rolling too! (anag., 2 defs.).

S. Goldie: I can roam freely in Vauxhall Gardens now he’s no longer a menace (anag.; ref. S. Pepys 1667, “young gallants misbehaving…”).

E. Gomersall: Fancy marocain, suitable for putting under Italian waistcoats (anag.).

V. Jennings: Here, I can roam freely: in Italy, I would certainly be put inside (anag.; put inside = eaten).

H. Lyon: Dancing on air after May’s first two hundred, I was—Dandy! (Ma(y) + C + anag.; ref. Peter M., batsman, England captain in 1957).

E. L. Mellersh: Nut may be bolted, as it slips down easily (2 mngs; nut = a fool (Webster)).

P. H. Morgan: I am a corn mixture—paste in tubes (anag. & lit.).

C. J. Morse: Large bird, good eating—mixture of Leghorn and Minorca with a variegated coxcomb (anag., 3 defs.; types of chicken; L. = Livorno, Italy).

K. Perry: In Johnson’s day marocain was just the material fit for one who liked to cut a dash! (anag.; ref. Samuel J.).

R. Postill: Buckwheat? Well, I am a corn product (anag.; i.e. buck (= a dandy) from wheat).

K. Reed: A Minorca cooks well, but the Leghorn has it licked hollow when it comes to the table (anag. ; types of chicken; L. = Livorno, Italy).

I. R. Scott: A medley of strings and pipes rendered by a Romanic ensemble (anag.).

F. B. Stubbs: Perhaps a noodle enjoys swimming in icy water dressed to the nines (3 mngs.).

H. S. Tribe: A buck to see Rocky Marciano (anag.; ref. R.M., heavyweight boxing champion).

C. P. Wroth: A penguin has a short waterproof coat, and needs nothing in the stormiest rain (mac + O in anag.).

RUNNERS-UP

R. J. Atkin, R. Brain, Dr P. E. Brown, C. O. Butcher, R. N. Chignell, P. M. Coombs, C. R. Dean, P. G. Drazin, Dr W. M. Easther, W. G. B. Filburn, J. A. Fincken, Mrs N. Fisher, Mrs J. O. Fuller, Maj A. H. Giles, C. P. Grant, S. B. Green, T. A. Hanlon, K. Harding, P. J. Hyde-Clarke, Mrs L. Jarman, C. J. Lowe, R. K. Lumsdon, A. W. Maddocks, Mrs E. McFee, R. J. Munnings, D. A. Nicholls, A. E. North, E. G. Phillips, S. Plumb, G. W. Pugh, E. J. Rackham, T. E. Sanders, J. M. Sharman, Mrs F. H. Shepherd, K. C. Slater, W. K. M. Slimmings, C. Smelt, J. A. L. Sturrock, A. D. Walker, C. E. Williams.
 

COMMENTS:—319 entries, 266 correct. I should have expected a bigger entry: quite apart from the fact that it was an easy word to clue, several people said the puzzle was easier than usual, yet there were quite a lot of mistakes. LAPPS (“we,” of course, was the Lapps, not “we solvers and setter”). COMPO, WANTY and SCUTIGER all claimed several victims. The very obvious anagrams, especially the very popular “I am a corn product,” were hardly interesting enough to stand alone as “& lit.” clues: the best of those that gave them some added point appear in the lists. I am not very fond of words like “product,” “mixture,” “paste” put beside a series of words to indicate an anagram. To put them beside a word like “meat” is sound enough as an indication of “mate” or “tame”: a meat product is a product of meat. But I feel slightly less happy about the extension of this idiom to a series of words. Probably I am being too meticulous, and I didn’t insist on it in judging, but the feeling remains. Chambers gives only “mack,” not “mac,” as an abbreviation of “mackintosh” [see archive note] but I feel that “mac” is almost equally common, and I regularly admit familiar slang which is not in C. I think more clues than usual were ruled out this time for being a little too transparently easy: usually the too difficult and complicated are more numerous than the too easy. It depends, of course, on the word set: a common word needs something a little more elusive than a rare one.
 
Now for the amazing coincidence. Amazing coincidences seem to arise so often that I am beginning to expect them! Several competitors thanked me for my Derby tip at 1. across, even though Pipe of Peace was only third. I have, for a lark, given one or two (highly successful) tips in the past, but this one was entirely unintentional: the connection never crossed my mind. If P. of P. had won in these circumstances, I should no doubt have been kicking myself: as he didn’t, and I (rather dully) entrusted my very small investment to the winner, I’m not!
 
Now, in fear and trembling, I await your reactions to No. 442 (not 443, the next competition puzzle, which is, I think, harmless enough).
 
[Archive note: the more recent editions of C. give the “mac” abbreviation.]