XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 59

TAME

1=  J. D. P. O’Leary (Thames Ditton): Check: mate in two moves (i.e. mate is two letter moves from tame).

1=  Dr K. P. Whitehead (Widnes): Check, and mate in two moves (i.e. mate is two letter moves from tame).

3.  M. L. Herzig (Enfield): Tema con variazioni, senza vivacità (anag.; “theme with variations, without vigour” (It.)).

H.C.

C. Allen Baker (Wishaw): Domestic required here. Apply 10 am. Non resident (domestic, adj.; anag. of te(n) a.m, i.e. non = no ‘n’).

D. Ashcroft (Fleetwood): The side’s in a mess (and what a mess!) thanks to me not being game (anag. of team, hidden, ta me).

Mrs Baird (Aberdeen): Variations on a theme of Palestrina in A and E flat (i.e. tema with a and e swapped; ref. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian composer).

Rev H. N. Burton (Abersoch): Without vigour the whole team is disorganised, even the vice-captain (anag. of team and mate).

H. Chown (Battle): Shrewd suggestion for mate in two moves. Dull? Well, at least you might thank me for it! (T. of the Shrew; mate is two letter moves from tame; ta me).

W. T. Clift (Manchester): K. takes P. might lead to mate in two moves (shrewd play but dull ending) (Katharina and Petruchio, T. of the Shrew; mate is two letter moves from tame).

B. C. Davies (Heswall Hills): Tema con variazioni, dolce e tranquillo (and a word of thanks to the composer) (anag. “theme with variations, sweet and quiet” (It.); ta me).

F. E. Dixon (Dublin): Flat, and what a mess it’s in! (hidden).

Miss J. Fraser (EC4): We want different meat, possibly due to a surfeit of bully (anag.).

S. Holgate (Durham): The team loses all its spirit when the right half is moved into the centre (i.e. am goes inside te).

F. P. Hussey (Dublin): Flat hunting? What a melancholy search! (hidden).

F. E. Newlove (SE9): Wet in Midlands and North: little change of temperature likely: dull (rivers Tame in Midlands, Manchester; i.e. tame = not heated).

R. C. Payn (Irvine): There’s mincemeat, and you may find holly of a sort—but no spirit (anags. of meat and mate; mate = holly).

Rev E. B. Peel (Fleetwood): Keep in check and mate in two moves (i.e. mate is two letter moves from tame).

A. Robins (Mundesley): Dull here. Will strike camp and find flat (testament less anag. of tents).

W. Rodgers (Newton Abbot): Check—and mate—in one (2 meanings; mate² = daunted).

A. E. Smith (Farnham Royal): Domestic gives us remains of yesterday’s joint and upsets wife (anags. of meat and mate; domestic, adj.).

G. Wagstaff (SW18): How dull a variation on a theme written by an Italian can be! (anag. of tema, It. for theme).

Comments—A large entry but no more than an average number correct—287. Great destruction was wrought by MOBLE (“mobled queen is good”—Hamlet ii 2) and LOGAN/GAIR (anglo-mania, poised stone/“Who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?”—Macbeth v 1: gair=gore, Scots). The non-existent words “MABLE” (Queen Mab?) and “LOMAN” (hidden) appeared in many solutions. Discreet consultation of Chambers would have prevented these errors. Some likely candidates for the Honours List had to be eliminated—a few of them for other errors.
 
The two most attractive ideas were “check-mate” and “theme with variations.” Mr. Peel just fell short of the winners because “keep in check” sounds less like a genuine quotation from Mr. Harley’s department: “check” alone is a good enough definition. Messrs. Chown and Clift were ingenious but inclined, perhaps, towards gilding the lily: Mr. Davies had the same tendency, thereby making his good clue a little too easy. There were many good clues, so a long list of runners-up to the H.C.s is given:—Dr Aspinwall, Rev L. Blackburn, Rev D. Burton, Mrs Caithness, F. A. Clark, D. L. Clements, F. L. Constable, R. C. Davidson, Cdr Dickson, J. H. Dingwall, L. E. Eyres, H. L. Ford, Mrs Frith, S. B. Green, W. E. Green (Ulverston), C. B. Joyner, E. J. Kenney, J. Campbell Ker, C. Koop, Mrs Laing, Mrs Magruder, Maj Michael, E. H. Morris, Mrs Porter, J. H. Quincey, H. Rainger, S. P. Shanahan, L. E. Thomas, Capt Tyers.