XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 44

PARIS

1.  F. R. L. Green (Orpington): Where to find errant couples? (anag. of pairs, & lit.).

2.  D. Marsh-Smith (Rainhill): Wasn’t I like my dad in my pram? (i.e. I in pram = Priam; father of P.).

3.  C. H. Hudson (Oxford): What’s Hecuba to him? If you know, mum’s the word (cryptic def.; H., mother of P.).

H.C.

Rev L. Blackburn (Croydon): Alexander Herbert Turner (Sir A. P. (rev.); P. also known as Alexander; ref. Sir A. P. Herbert, humorist and writer).

A. E. Brookes (Sutton Coldfield): Helen’s partner in the mixed doubles (anag. of pairs; H., partner of P.).

N. Grange (Berkhamsted): In a state of equality beginning is the end of capital (par + is).

S. B. Green (NW10): Capital raised by notorious company promoters is standing close to par (anag. of pairs, par + is; i.e. ‘two’s company’).

C. T. Hatten (Richmond): Interest for Helen, capital for Helène (2 mngs.; Helen, love interest of P.).

H. C. Hills (W. Drayton): Capital judge of form, yet backed the wrong horse! (2 mngs.; ref. judgment of P., Trojan horse).

E. Irving (W5): (A set of clues with acrostics [see comments]).

H. Joyce (Bristol): The nominal value of the shares is not revealed, but the capital is frankly stated (par is; pun on ‘franc’).

T. W. Melluish (SE24): Town with about 101 bally letters couldn’t be longer in any case (i.e. parisyllabic less CI bally (rev.); case = inflection).

D. G. C. Mockridge (Oxford): Face value is sufficient for the judge of beauty (par is; ref. judgment of P.).

Rev E. B. Peel (Fleetwood): The judge in a beauty competition is after face value (par + is; ref. judgment of P.).

Mrs Porter (SW13): Liberty! Equality! Fraternity! Strange only one of them is here (i.e. par is; ref. motto of France; par = equality).

G. E. Salisbury (Burnham): Seek out name of foundling prince reared in Asia Minor (i.e. initial letters give Priam, father of P.; ref. story of Paris being left as a baby on Mount Ida).

Miss D. W. Taylor (W5): Capital soundly realised by the banks of the sane (i.e. ‘Seine’).

L. E. Thomas (Bangor): State of equality exists where liberty and fraternity are proclaimed (par is; ref. motto of France).

W. R. Watson-Smyth (Egham): Did Love give him the pip? (cryptic def.; ref. judgment of P., Aphrodite, apple of discord).

G. J. Willans (Cambridge): Nominal value of capital derived from braces is left untold (anag. of pairs, Paris less is = par).

Comments:—162 correct. Naturally there were far more incorrect solutions than usual. There were many attempts to find clues in the wrong places, some ingenious, some dull, some highly tortuous! Of these the most popular—and the nearest to acceptability—was “ounces” as a clue to “pards”; but it was hardly justifiable to count as correct a solver who had not spotted the acrostic in the across clues and who had disregarded the statement that “the search... may well start... before some of the puzzle has been solved.” (Incidentally “ounces” was not a deliberate trap; such traps are foreign to the policy followed in these puzzles. But the many alternatives for the five vital squares were deliberately planned, in order to make guesswork as unlikely to succeed as possible.) The errors were not confined to the “hide-and-seek” words: several failed at “Nemea” and several more missed “sprayers”: “stroyers” has authority as a word but is an inferior answer to the clue—sprayers have no mercy, even if aphides offer prayers. To judge by comments, the search seems to have afforded amusement to many and also to have caused the waste of much valuable time. X. thanks those who made appreciative remarks and apologises for diverting people from their jobs at a time of crisis! [The winter of 1946/1947 was one of the harshest on record, with fuel and energy shortages and severe rationing.]
 
There were some good clues to “Paris” of which a few were hard to assess. Mr E. Irving sent a complete set of clues with acrostics leading to Paris, the man: “A Hecubian firebrand” across, “Alec in Lutetian form” down [Hecuba, mother of Paris; Paris also known as Alexander; Lutetia, Latin name for the city]. Mr Salisbury’s acrostic clue is almost too good: it is so satisfactory as a straight clue that the solver would probably grasp at the answer thankfully without seeing the acrostic. Both of these entries fully earned commendations, but it seemed fairest to award the prizes to the best clues of the normal type.