XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 586

HEBDOMADARY

1.  D. P. M. Michael (Whitchurch): Shockingly bad Doh! Ray! Me!—not quite compassing an octave (anag.).

2.  S. B. Green (NW10): Hoard made by going to the dogs every week (anag.).

3.  C. J. Morse (SW10): The Deadly Sins are a typical example of what you’ll find all over any provincial weekly! (hebdomad ary).

H.C.

A. W. Aspinall (Chester): “Head, arm, body, all mutilated”—the chapter gives one a regular turn! (anag.).

T. Davies (Shortlands): Ecclesiastical official had rod, maybe, for reforming (anag.).

F. E. Dixon (Rosslare): Bedad! H. Amory has the makings of an administrator, but he should go at the end of the week (anag.; ref. Derick Heatcoat-Amory’s Budget, 1960).

J. Flood (Wembley): Act crazy in a pub and dance around. Happening every Saturday night? Not if he’s on duty! (do mad in bar, all in hey²).

V. Jennings (Reading): Just like the Sunday papers to distort the relationship of Dad, Ma and her boy! (anag.).

A. H. T. Midlane (Caernarvon): Like Ximenes, may be hard to do, possibly, but you haven’t got to! (anag. less to).

P. H. Morgan (Torquay): Bedad! H. Amory’s upset the man with “the habit”—he gives his share of duty each week, heaven knows! (anag.; ref. tobacco duty increase in Derick Heatcoat-Amory’s Budget, 1960).

M. Newman (Hove): Derangement of head, arm and body, typical of Sunday newspapers? (anag.).

S. Plumb (S. Shields): Regularly, like Eileen Fowler, showing correct movement of arm, body and head (anag.; ref. keep fit on TV, each Mon. p.m.).

R. Postill (Jersey): Man, with theological qualifications, may do a routine (six off in seven!) that’s arranged (he BD + anag. of may do a r(outine), & lit.).

Dr D. S. Robertson (Edinburgh): Once a week, act silly in a pub and dance around (do mad in bar, all in hey²).

Mrs E. M. Simmonds (Cookham Dean): Ingeniously hard, maybe—absorbing to work at—like X’s puzzles! (do (= work at) in anag.).

Sqn Ldr J. L. Whitbread (W10): Thoroughly spoiled, maybe, when having had rod, strange as this may seem, applied every week (anag. of maybe had rod).

RUNNERS-UP

D. B. J. Ambler, C. Allen Baker, Mrs Begg, J. Brock, J. A. Bulley, C. O. Butcher, A. E. Crow (Brentwood), A. Everard Crow (Bushey Heath), G. H. Dickson, S. J. Draper, J. A. Fincken, Mrs J. O. Fuller, S. Goldie, C. P. Grant, F. H. W. Hawes, Mrs E. J. Holmes, H. T. E. Hone, E. M. Hornby, A. L. Jeffery, A. H. Jones, D. Kennedy-Fraser, G. Kirsch, M. C. Leaf, Mrs R. D. Lemon, A. F. Lerrigo, Dr T. J. R. Maguire, Mrs E. McFee, T. N. Nesbitt, A. E. North, E. J. Rackham, N. J. Reed, Rev E. G. Riley, W. G. Roberts, A. Robins, E. O. Seymour, H. S. Tribe, Capt C. Tyers, P. F. Webster, M. Woolf.
 

COMMENTS—An accurate but small entry—253: 235 correct. The puzzle was found harder than usual, and the word was none too easy to treat effectively. C. does not make it clear whether the official acts for one day a week or for a week at a time: if anything, it seems to me to imply the former, whereas I gather from those who know that the latter is correct. It seemed fairest to allow either interpretation in clues, and I have done so. I have little more to add this time: there was not much unsoundness, but the entry was, on the whole, unexciting—hence the shortish lists above.
 
Several people have asked for enlightenment on last month’s winner: here it is. Moss Gathering signifies a wedding reception, attended by many in garments hired from Moss Bros., the refuge of those whose figures preclude the use of those they wore at their own weddings and/or whose pockets cannot run to new ones. I hope you will like it as much as I did.