XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 477

SEDATENESS

1.  P. W. W. Leach: Riotous strip-tease ends with abandoned dance—observed in the usual butler’s manner! (anag. less trip [see comments]).

2.  J. A. Fincken: Robe’s assembly (considering the cold!) has a cape, but gives an effect of coolness (sedate + ness; i.e. ‘Rome’s assembly’, ‘senate’, pron. with a cold).

3.  H. S. Tribe: As set needs to be overhauled, you won’t get much on Channel 9 (anag.).

H.C.

F. D. H. Atkinson: It’s not ginger that’s required now. Labour needs seats! (anag.; labour, vb. imp.).

C. Allen Baker: Attitude of the staid—even though seated wretchedly on a point! (anag. + ness).

J. W. Bates: Dowager’s carriage needs seats remade (anag.).

T. E. Bell: Len, no novice, is circumvented by what may be construed as Sobers’s refusal to be put out! ((L)en in sedates’s; ref. L. Hutton & Garfield S., England v. W. Indies Test series 1957).

R. N. Chignell: Getting the fruit on the head, following the ends of science, denotes gravity (s(cienc)e, date, ness; ref. I. Newton).

Miss S. Dorrington: You need sang-froid to envisage Dante’s inferno in dubious Cathedral City … sulphur down below is the very deuce! (anag. of Dante in see², + S twice (deuce)).

C. E. Gates: I am unmercifully teased over art à la française in the New Style—an unruffled temperament is called for (anag. + es (= art, Fr.) in NS).

J. Gill: A quality lacking in the House these days needs seats regrouped to achieve it (anag.).

S. B. Green: A tryst by the loch—both found after right at the bottom—that’s gravity! (SE date Ness; SE = bottom right).

F. H. W. Hawes: Quality missing from Rock an’ Roll broadcasts, as set needs reconstruction (anag.).

B. J. Iliffe: Quiet assignation in the early evening between one crooked character and two others! (date in ene, all in S, SS; S = crooked char.).

E. L. Mellersh: Seated unstably above the haunt of a fearsome creature—that should make you think of gravity! (anag. + Ness; Loch N. Monster).

T. W. Melluish: Gravity—due to a fruit interrupting wandering senses (date in anag.; ref. I. Newton).

C. J. Morse: For the avoidance of confusion, the letters N.S. should be added after revised dates (anag. + en + ess; see New Style s.v. style).

K. Neale: For composure rocky seats need a shilling underneath (anag. + s).

D. A. Nicholls: Unflappability? That’s dense, with seats in jeopardy! (anag.; ref. to Lord Hailsham).

R. Postill: Sexton stopped early, having an appointment with a half of Guinness—hence the state of the grave! (Se(xton) + date + (Guin)ness).

Maj J. N. Purdon: It’s keeping cool: one sort of needs tea in a steaming vessel (anag. in SS).

E. B. Stevens: Let’s have some quietness, get seated properly, the monster’s home (anag. + (Loch) Ness).

Miss D. W. Taylor: Assented freely to a bit of seduction—and that’s what you call being sober! (se(duction) + anag.).

RUNNERS-UP

E. A. Beaulah, H. Brown, C. O. Butcher, A. G. Callely, J. D. Campbell, R. F. S. Chignell, A. N. Clark, A. H. Clough, R. A. Cox, J. McI. Cruickshank, Miss E. Deutsch, J. H. Dingwall, F. E. Dixon, Dr W. M. Easther, T. R. Eve, J. H. Eyre, W. G. B. Filburn, S. Goldie, E. Gomersall, R. R. Greenfield, E. L. Hayward, Mrs M. L. Herridge, Dr T. O. Hughes, Mrs L. Jarman, J. Hardie Keir, R. W. Killick, A. Lawrie, N. A. Longmore, A. W. Maddocks, J. Mann, Mrs E. McFee, D. P. M. Michael, J. J. Moore, P. H. Morgan, F. E. Neale, F. E. Newlove, M. Newman, I. J. Nicholas, Dr S. L. Paton, L. S. Pearce, W. H. Pegram, N. Pensam, E. G. Phillips, B. G. Quin, G. H. Ravenor, C. P. Rea, Mr & Mrs A. Rivlin, W. O. Robertson, A. Robins, C. Rosebourne, T. E. Sanders, Mrs E. M. Simmonds, W. K. M. Slimmings, G. L. Sorenson, H. B. Sutherland, P. H. Taylor, D. G. Thomas, J. Thompson, D. H. Tompsett, K. I. Torrance, Capt C. Tyers, A. D. Walker, Miss E. Ward.
 

COMMENTS:—38l entries, 368 correct—a record high proportion, I should say, without wading through all the records. Some said that the puzzle was unusually easy, others that it was unusually difficult: so perhaps a good average-sized entry with very few mistakes was a natural result! The standard of clues sent in was again high, and judging is becoming steadily more difficult. First place seldom goes to a clue with a “subtractive” anagram, for this is a rather clumsy device that calls for some very striking compensation to justify it: here the brilliant double meaning of the definition triumphantly does so.
 
Among the unsuccessful clues few violated the principles given in the January Slip, but more than usual suffered from redundant words, added simply for effect and often unfairly misleading, e.g. (redundant words in square brackets):—“[Birds!] Nests eased, remodelled, make serenity. [Advt.].” (Answer should, presumably be pacific birds found in an advt.).—“S. Snead’s tee wobbles a bit, but [he] is the essence of steadiness.” (Answer should be a man).—“[I told my wife I had] an appointment in Sheerness without her. [She showed] great composure.” (Answer should be informative husband of tranquil wife!).—“Eden’s asset, when assailed, [was his] composure.” (Answer, again, should be a man).—This fault should he guarded against.
 
People still misunderstand the description “& lit.” It means that the whole clue, excluding no words at all, works as a definition of the required word, quite apart from its subsidiary indication, e.g. anagram. It does not merely mean that one part of the clue is a definition—that, after all, is true of all sound clues— nor merely that the statement made by the clue is literally true. Competitors often apply it to their clues in their notes when it is only applicable in one of these two senses. No room, I fear, for examples.