XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 517

CAROTID

1.  Rev C. M. Broun (Edinburgh): If this bursts you might get a doctor (though it’d mean getting one for nothing). Get the hearse to come round, I should (anag. with I for 0, car + to (rev.) + I’d, & lit.).

2.  A. H. P. Cardew (Newnham): A doctor in a muddle concerning arteries? That’s a bit off—I’ll have to substitute for one of his rounds (anag. with I for 0).

3.  M. Winterbottom (SE25): It would shake a doctor if you cut one out and put nothing in its place! (anag. with I for 0, & lit.).

H.C.

C. Allen Baker (Milnathort): Cut-throat’s objective, perhaps—and a jar of acid to eat away the body! (rot in anag.; jar = conflict, body = middle part).

F. D. H. Atkinson (Claygate): Describes channel originally aortic deviously spreading to the furthest part of the head (anag. + d, & lit.).

Lt Col P. S. Baines (Chatham): Captain takes a collapse in hand—brings fresh blood to bowler’s pitch! (a rot in Cid; bowler hat).

Miss A. W. Baldy (Crawley): You’re stuck with this vessel if you twist a cord round it the wrong way (it (rev.) in anag., & lit.).

Mrs M. H. H. Barclay (N2): This kind of important neckline is definitely different at C. Dior (anag.).

J. W. Bates (Westcliff-on-Sea): Aortic derivative leading the side of head (anag. + (hea)d, & lit.).

T. E. Bell (Gainsborough): A cord put round it, given a pronounced twist, did for Torquemada’s victims! (it (rev.) in anag., ‘garrotted’, & lit.; ref. Spanish Inquisitor).

R. N. Chignell (SW19): Should a captain go in in a collapse? Quite the reverse. Pressure here might occasion a fatal stroke (a rot in Cid; go in = be written in diagram; cf. England captain Peter May in 1958-9 Ashes tour).

J. A. Fincken (N11): Cuts on main line tubes like this are fatal—do it somehow by bus (car + anag.).

C. P. Grant (W3): A cord knotted round it, twisted, will produce an almost strangled sound (it (rev.) in anag., ‘garrotted’, & lit.).

S. B. Green (NW10): Low fellow, having cased the joint, describes some palpitating necklines! (rôti in cad).

Mrs B. M. Halpern (W8): The plate goes round and back it comes with nothing in it: I’ll make you disgorge if I burst! (it 0 (rev.) in card; card = plate in weaving; 2nd it = card).

N. Jennings (Reading): Take a hill in reverse when the cops are about, and if some clot gets stuck there, you’ve had it! (a + tor (rev.) all in CID).

D. P. M. Michael (Whitchurch): Such is the way the claret goes to the head with the last of the Medoc you require assistance to swallow the stuff (c + rot in aid; claret = blood).

C. J. Morse (SW11): Distort the guttural end of this artery and I’ll sound as if I was garrotted (i.e. change initial ‘c’ to ‘g’ sound, & lit.).

E. R. Prentice (Clifton): Describes what’s compressed when garrotted? Sounds like it with minor injury to head (i.e. changing initial ‘c’ to ‘g’ sound, & lit.).

E. J. Rackham (Totton): Derives from aortic duct initially (anag. incl. d, & lit.).

J. R. Scarr (Wembley): This tube provides a capital service—one vehicle three times a day with nothing between (0 in car t.i.d.).

L. E. Thomas (Bangor): It’s vital to keep the bloody traffic moving through here! Have a breakdown when the cops are about and you get it in the neck! (a rot in CID, 2 defs.).

RUNNERS-UP

R. B. Adcock, V. E. Brooke, J. R. Burton, R. S. Caffyn, A. G. Callely, R. F. S. Chignell, P. M. Coombs, T. Davies, J. H. Dingwall, R. N. Exton, J. A. Flood, A. L. Freeman, P. A. L. Freeman, Mrs J. O. Fuller, C. E. Gates, K. Gibson, J. Gill, G. P. Goddard, A. J. Hill, H. T. E. Hone, Rev R. Jarvis, Dr W. I. N. Kessel, C. Koop, Miss M. Lamb, D. R. Laney, A. Lawrie, P. W. W. Leach, Mrs R. D. Lemon, Miss J. S. Lumsden, R. K. Lumsdon, Dr T. J. R. Maguire, A. A. Malcolm, Miss G. M. May, Mrs E. McFee, T. W. Melluish, M. Newman, D. A. Nicholls, D. C. Paton, Dr S. L. Paton, W. H. Pegram, Mrs N. Perry, E. G. Phillips, T. D. Powell-Davies, H. Rainger, F. B. Ramsay, K. Reed, Rev E. G. Riley, Mrs J. Robertson, G. J. S. Ross, H. R. Sanders, E. O. Seymour, E. B. Stevens, L. T. Stokes, F. B. Stubbs, Miss D. W. Taylor, H. S. Tribe, C. T. Tulloch, R. J. Watson, J. F. N. Wedge, Maj J. P. A. Widdey, J. B. Widdowson, M. Woolf.
 

COMMENTS:—452 entries, 383 correct: the N.W. corner caused most of the errors, DOOK being most often wrong. C. gives carotid only as an adjective, and some competitors nearly burst theirs in the effort to clue it as such. They will perhaps be annoyed with me for not insisting on this in my awards; but facts are facts, and it is so commonly used as a noun that to insist on the adjective would have been most unfair. One (very successful) clue was written in a liquid of a reddish brown colour, with a realistic-looking smudge on the back: was this symbolical, or had a disaster induced by the subject really occurred?
 
It was an entry with a large top, a large bottom and a a smaller middle than usual. At the bottom there were again distressingly many unhelpful indirect anagrams, e.g. “A judge is sick” (cadi), inadequately indicated anagrams, e.g. “See Coq D’Or, Act 1” (“see” isn’t enough, and “Coq” is misleadingly and unfairly redundant), and unsound wording, e.g. “Let me leave the moithered idiot” (otid—but “me” isn’t “I”): “Most of the ear” (oti—but “most of of the ear” is meant, and “of” can’t do double duty). But the long lists above show how good the top of the entry was.
 
Post as early as you can for the Christmas Competition in spite of the extra week-end allowed in case of accidents. And a very happy Christmas to all solvers!