XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 642

SEETHER (Printer’s Devilry)

1.  F. D. Gardiner: “What’s in Africa?” s/es Rab (bit cut up and white). “Sauce! We’ll stick to S.A., lad!”

2.  F. G. Illingworth: Can the beef, or e/at her? Painful effect o’ fasting!

3.  J. D. H. Mackintosh: If ever I think of marrying Alice, N/ell begins to intoxicate me.

H.C.

J. K. Anderson: Forth isle: s/eal trouble. Is that the land? Lord knows! The property is valuable.

P. Best: Aren’t bills always mine, as ale s/ates? On the house! The landlord pays!

J. A. Bulley: Next April, if there’s O’Neill at Oxford! Will/ow in Grace tradition sustained! (ref. rower taken ill in 1961 Boat Race).

C. O. Butcher: When’s a turn sin?—Viewing lasses—observer swill/ing—sex tending round it (Saturn’s).

O. B. Chedzoy: Ado, ’tis said, mor/e present. Edit by a dash! (Morse code).

Mrs M. P. Craine: Do you want ale s/ent up here? Shandy? When you can’t pay your debts!

Mrs D. M. D’Eath: O glory! O fun! I’ve r/eally starred. (Shelley?) (universe; ref. Shelley’s “Epipsychidion”; and S. Winters, film star).

J. Flood: In Africa s/aw constituent sought to be chopped up!

B. T. Gilmore: Mazda is to a Hindu as to a par/ishioner (ejected) (parsee the rishi).

R. R. Greenfield: My mate’s too drunk to stand, but I can t/otter home.

W. Hough: “John do/es enough for three in the house,” said his loving wife when the Vicar was calling.

A. H. Jones: You don’t know how, through a rump, a r/hinoceros got his skin then. (Re-adjust, so) (rum parsee; ‘Just So Stories’).

M. J. Lanchester: No respectable citizen could! Fore/igner (O!) would run before the burning of Rome (the rig Nero).

A. F. Lerrigo: “And that’s the school. You can/e the boys?” “Like anything!” “Not too hard, I hope.” “Of course, it improves some.” “What?”

S. L. Paton: One, for a lark, began “Ave, r/eal minstrel, Hail to thee!” The other started! (ref. ‘Ode to a Skylark’).

A. M. Shorkend: He defended well in the early rounds, but didn’t for e/ighth, and knock-out.

W. K. M. Slimmings: I just can/ed Davis on the bottom. Cushion badly needs down! (ref. snooker champion Fred Davis).

L. H. Stewart: Tell the public en/ough customers are a nuisance.

L. T. Stokes: Should the Aussies throw the spectators will/ow? (ref. cricket bowlers).

P. H. Taylor: To prepare, Africa s/aw me. A tough tide, ally to be beaten first.

H. S. Tribe: Drinking with Alice n/ever ends; Iris ’as ’ad sight too many gins (Reverend, sir).

P. J. Wagstaffe: One can/e is no real deterrent for crimes of violence.

J. Walters: I think Ruby may resist—oop!—a s/ag! Eat one time! (passée, the rage; Ruby M. Ayres, novelist).

G. H. Willett: Puritans would never allow Alice. N/ight—too penal ways.

C. E. Williams: You need a Sepoy too, ver/y ’ot work men! (ryot = peasant).

RUNNERS-UP

I. L. Adamson, Mrs E. N. Adlington, F. D. H. Atkinson, Mrs M. H. H. Barclay, J. W. Bates, Capt A. S. Birt, J. G. Booth, Mrs S. Brookes, Rev C. M. Broun, Mrs E. V. Bury, R. S. Caffyn, R. N. Chignell, A. N. Clark, D. L. L. Clarke, A. J. Cochran, Mrs D. Colley, B. W. Dennis, Cdr H. H. L. Dickson, L. L. Dixon, W. J. Duffin, J. A. Fincken, A. G. Fleming, H. W. Flewett, A. C. Gardner, S. Goldie, S. B. Green, D. J. Hawkins, S. Haycraft, Mrs M. Henderson, Mrs E. J. Holmes, E. M. Hornby, J. G. Hull, A. D. Izzard, V. Jennings, G. Kirsch, E. C. Lance, Mrs R. D. Lemon, H. Lyon, Dr T. J. R. Maguire, Mrs W. J. Mahood, A. A. Malcolm, A. D. Mattock, Mrs E. McFee, T. W. Melluish, D. P. M. Michael, J. G. Morris, C. J. Morse, R. A. Mostyn, W. G. Mowforth, G. M. Neighbour, M. Newman, A. E. North, R. Parkinson, L. S. Pearce, R. V. Penycate, N. A. Perkins, G. Perry, K. Perry, Mrs N. Perry, R. Postill, E. J. Rackham, Rev E. G. Riley, J. S. Rioch, A. Rivlin, Mrs J. Robertson, W. Rodgers, I. R. Scott, J. P. L. Scott, C. A. Sears, E. O. Seymour, R. M. Stafford, J. B. Sweeting, J. Thompson, Mrs J. E. Townsend, A. Turner, M. A. Vernon, J. Ward, Mrs V. Webb, W. D. Wigley, G. H. Wilde.
 

Annual Honours List for 13 Competitions: 1. C. Allen Baker and C. J. Morse (1 prize, 7 H.C.s). 3. S. Goldie and V. Jennings (2-3). 5. Mrs L. Jarman (2-2), E. J. Rackham (l-4), S. B. Green (0-6). 8. F. D. Gardiner and Miss D. W. Taylor (2-l), J. W. Bates, C. O. Butcher, D. P. M. Michael, P. H. Morgan, M. Woolf (1-3), G. H. Dickson and R. Postill (0-5). 17. T. W. Melluish, L. S. Pearce, Mrs J. Robertson (1-2), A. Robins (0-4). Consolation Prizes: S. B. Green, G. H. Dickson, R. Postill.
 
Total different prizewinners to date: 360 (11 new this year).
 
Total different prizewinners and/or H.C.s: l,269 (45 new this year).
 
COMMENTS—An excellent entry of 505, 478 correct: the general standard of clues sent was extremely high. Judging was complicated by the fact that much the easiest way to achieve neatness and brilliance with this word was to start the inserted part with the word “see,” thus leaving a break before the letters of “seether” in the final version. My statement of preference for a break in the middle of a word referred to the devilled version; but a study of my own practice will show that I feel the same about the final version. However, I hadn’t expressly said so, and I have included quite a number of “see” clues among the H.C.s and more among the R.U.s: as to prizes, I preferred to give them all to competitors who had achieved what with this word was certainly the harder task.
 
There were so many clues of equal merit on the lines of “I’d always use the coupons, if I could, for eight results” that they all had to be relegated to R.U.s: I singled out Mr Shorkend’s clue from these because of its slight extra ingenuity, and because the final version was not so much of a glimpse of the obvious as those of the pools and racing ones were.
 
A most unfortunate and somewhat ironical feature of the competition was that in quite a lot of copies of the paper, apparently, though not in mine, there was some genuine “printer’s devilry” in the shape of imperfect printing! This affected two of the down clues, two or three words in each being illegible. I need hardly assure you that this very rare occurrence was not part of the joke, and I should think it is very unlikely to happen again. Solvers seem to have come well out of it: I don’t think there were any mistakes at the points affected.
 
Many thanks for the answers to my queries in the last slip. They were almost unanimous in favour of the introduction of the Revised Edition of Chambers, with supplement, after due warning. I therefore propose to do this as from the beginning of 1962. It will be nothing like such a radical change as the last one, since there are not many changes (mostly, I think, corrections of errata) in the main body of the work, while the supplement of 20 odd pages contains many familiar modernisms; and I shan’t go out of my way to give you an overdose of its contents. On the other point the answers were even more nearly unanimous, so I shall continue not to state when a word is out of its alphabetical place in Chambers.
 
Thank you for many appreciative remarks about the puzzle and congratulations to all those in the Honours List.