XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 547

STORMY

1.  Mrs E. Shackleton (Cold Ash, Newbury): Kind of stage setting for beginning of Macbeth (M in story, & lit.; story² = kind of stage).

2.  E. J. Griew (Edgware): “Full of Sound and Fury”, written at 28 to describe severe depression (2 mngs.; ref. barometer marking at 28in. and Macbeth V.5).

3.  J. G. Hull (Ilford): Passionate strike leader to take mercy on us (s to r my!; ref. printers’ strike).

H.C.

J. W. Bates (Westcliffe-on-Sea): Gold-mine found under street—just when the Mercury can afford only a short column! (St + or my; barometer).

Mrs G. Bonsall (Morpeth): Black as ink dispute may seem, it’s just blustering (3 mngs; ref. printers’ strike).

C. O. Butcher (E4): Rowing is giving ground to rock and roll: that’ll be a blow and the end of Henley! (storm + y; rowing = brawling; ground = sufficient reason).

R. F. S. Chignell (Oundle): My sort gets passionate (anag. & lit.).

J. H. Eyre (Enfield): In “The Three Musketeers”, for example, one finds the Frenchman noisy and flashy, menacing anyone who dares to bare his steel (M. in story; lightning).

E. Gomersall (York): After Sunday, there’s an idle tale about the Mail having the wind up properly! (S + RM in toy; ref. printers’ strike).

Mrs L. Jarman (Brough): Such passages swiftly debunk while challenging experts on bridge (cryptic def.; bunk and bridge on ship).

Dr T. J. R. Maguire (Mount Merrion): As ever, with true love, fondly yrs., Tom (anag.; ref. proverb “the course of true love never did run smooth”; fond = silly).

Mrs E. McFee (Rhos-on-Sea): Plot about the fifth of November was, and still is, disturbed (m in story).

D. P. M. Michael (Whitchurch): It’s a lie about the first of March being gusty—the really bad weather comes before the end of February! (M in story, storm + y).

W. L. Miron (Nottingham): Opening of Macbeth is staged with “thunder and lightning” (M in story).

C. J. Morse (SW10): The violent element in escapist or mystery fiction involves the ultimate in sadism (hidden, m in story).

M. Newman (Hove): Wuthering Heights (read end bit first) for me: there’s a hint of murder in the plot! (tors with s to start + my, m in story).

Miss M. J. Patrick (Lewes): Passionate marine gets caught in amorous sport, chasing one of the W.R.N.S. ((WRN)S + RM in toy).

Mrs J. Robertson (Georgeham): My sort cut up rough (anag. & lit.).

RUNNERS-UP

D. B. J. Ambler, Lt Col P. S. Baines, C. Allen Baker, J. M. Bennett, P. R. Clemow, J. Donnington, J. A. Fincken, M. B. Fisher, Mrs N. Fisher, K. Gibson, S. B. Green, D. Hawson, L. H. Jackson, A. H. Jones, E. A. Jones, G. Kirsch, T. W. Melluish, P. H. Morgan, R. F. Pardoe, R. Postill, Mrs E. M. Simmonds, F. B. Stubbs, L. E. Thomas, J. Thompson, M. A. Vernon, J. Walters, C. E. Williams, M. Woolf.
 

COMMENTS:—I don’t know when this will reach you—not too late, I hope! There were 271 entries, 216 correct, WOXEN and TARKA causing most of the failures. I don’t think the puzzle was particularly difficult, but a heat wave usually reduces the entry. I grew very tired of tales about Frenchmen: it is wise to keep off a very obvious treatment of a simple word. I have mentioned above a few of the best users of this idea. I will quote three very nearly excellent clues and give the reasons why they had to be relegated to the RUs. “The married, housed by a relation, must be unsettled” (Mrs Fisher). A very neat idea, but I can’t pass the initial “the” with the abbreviation “m” for “married”: “m” surely can’t mean “married people”. It would be quite all right without “the” and with a dash or colon after “relation”—“How the outlook now appears to the journalist, with no jolly filling for the pen!” (A. H. Jones). One of several good topical ideas, but “no” won’t do for “O”: “no” isn’t “nought”. I can’t offhand see any good way of getting round this “nothing jolly in the pen” is feeble and spoils it. A pity.—“Such conditions make the lightning strike, involving Tory-backed paper, not being printed”. (T. W. Melluish) Excellent except for the misleading hyphen, which is too violent for my taste: one has to ignore it or read it as a dash, and one shouldn’t be expected to do this. I should prefer the clue with “-backed" omitted altogether: “paper not being printed” is a pretty obvious indication of MS, and I think I would pass it as an indirect part of an anagram. These three were all very near misses.
 
One slight flaw, which I overlooked to the extent of an HC, mars Mr. Bates’s ingenious clue. I don’t quite like “mine” = “my” without a suggestion of archaism; but it is current in such an expression as “mine host” and can just be passed, though I would rather avoid it if I could.
 
Note.—Apologies for the misprint “Petra” for “Pella” in the note to 10 ac. of No. 545, accompanying the solution. It can hardly have puzzled anyone, but I shouldn’t have missed it. Thanks to two solvers who pointed it out.