XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 738

ANAESTHETIC

1.  Mrs E. M. Simmonds: I can see that, mistakenly, a number of people like snow! (anag.; that which numbs; cocaine).

2.  P. R. Clemow: I and my local types can be deduced from “caine” at the end of names (anag. incl. s, & lit.; cocaine, novocaine, etc.).

3.  Mrs L. Jarman: A case ’neath it gets choppped up (anag. & lit.).

H.C.

Dr G. B. Arrowsmith: A scene that I play with stunning theatrical effect (anag.; play = move about irregularly).

F. D. H. Atkinson: Theatre’s sensational number: frenzied scene a hit (anag.).

C. Allen Baker: Storm in a tea-chest! (That would really put one out!) (anag.; storm vb. tr.).

K. Blewett: The aces ain’t shuffled: that’ll preserve us from the dole! (anag.; dole = pain).

A. R. Chandler: Facilitates repair of bone china tea-set following breakage (anag.).

Mrs M. P. Craine: Theatre-goes are needled because of one scene that I murdered (a + anag.).

W. Darby: A scene that I altered should prevent feeling creeping in the theatre (anag.).

Mrs N. Dean: I can see that being disorderly is a way of getting oneself put out (anag.).

N. C. Dexter: This causes distraught patient’s ache quietly to melt away (anag. less p, & lit.).

J. Flood: What deadens decayed teeth as I can see (anag. & lit.).

C. P. Grant: Number one—it’s the ace: reshuffle necessary (an + anag.).

S. B. Green: Snow perhaps responsible for one main being up—it must certainly be given most of the credit (an + sea (rev.) + the tic(k); cocaine).

E. J. Griew: After this there should be nothing for the patient to feel upset at in the case (anag. & lit.).

F. G. Illingworth: A peculiar scene that I insipred in the theatre (anag.).

D. Izzard: Sin θ fully permuted denotes a number between 1 and 100 (anag. of sine theta in a, C).

F. P. N. Lake: What can soothe bad teeth as I can? (anag.).

E. O. Seymour: It is arranged that I can see a number of patients in surgery (anag.).

T. L. Strange: “I can see that needs drilling” … It’s guaranteed to unnerve you at the dentist’s! (anag.).

J. W. Taylor: I can see that, recast, it could be a knock-out in the theatre (anag.).

D. A. Tingley: I can see that getting intoxicated produces a number of sensations (anag.).

C. E. Williams: Given by operators etc. in haste—a wrong number (anag., 2 defs.).

RUNNERS-UP (1)

A. W. Aspinall, J. W. Bates, R. T. Baxter, J. C. B. Date, J. Gill, P. Glennie-Smith, Rev A. D. Hodgson, L. Johnson, T. P. Kelly, A. Lawrie, Dr & Mrs J. P. Lester, C. J. Morse, Mrs M. Newell, L. S. Pearce, Rev E. G. Riley, A. Robins, M. C. Souster, T. A. J. Spencer, L. T. Stokes, S. A. Wetherfield

RUNNERS-UP (2)

R. B. Adcock, Mrs E. Allen, J. K. Anderson, J. Barrow, J. M. Bennett, Capt A. S. Birt, D. L. L. Clarke, J. B. Douglas, H. W. Flewett, P. H. Freeman, F. D. Gardiner, S. C. Gilchrist, S. Goldie, W. F. Goodman, R. R. Greenfield, F. H. W. Hawes, N. P. Treweek Hughes, R. W. Jakeman, Miss A. R. Johnstone, A. H. Jones, R. E. Kimmons, P. W. W. Leach, A. F. Lerrigo, S. M. Macpherson, Dr T. J. R. Maguire, Mrs W. J. Mahood, Miss H. Martin, Mrs E. McFee, D. L. McNeight, D. P. M. Michael, C. G. Millin, P. H. Morgan, R. R. O’Connell, G. Perry, R. Postill, Lady Reay, Mr & Mrs A. Rivlin, W. G. Roberts, Mrs J. Robertson, R. E. Scraton, J. A. Sefton, Mrs E. Shackleton, W. K. M. Slimmings, Mrs I. G. Smith, J. P. Smith, J. B. Sweeting, Miss D. W. Taylor, H. S. Tribe, C. T. Tulloch, H. Walsham, G. R. Webb, Maj T. A. Whitamore, Mrs M. Wishart, M. Woolf.
 

COMMENTS:—403 entries, 375 correct. It was a very friendly word to write a clue to: seldom can anagrammatists have had such wealth at their disposal, and they made excellent use of it. As I have occasionally done in the past when there were many close rivals for H.C.s I have included a special list of Runners-up whom I considered particularly unlucky. Much use was made of the “number” idea. It isn’t new, of course: I have used it more than once, and I got it originally from a brilliant clue of Afrit’s, in a pre-war Listener puzzle:—“Is minus power of number positive” for NUMB. (The clues were in verse). But there is no copyright for clue ideas, and the skilful use made of this one well earned the rewards. The main weakness in the unsuccessful clues was inaccurate or inadequate indication of an anagram, a common form of failure to say what one means. I will quote a few:—“in each test a spinner,” “a hit scene at variety show,” “these act in a strange way,” “can’t I ease the endless torture?”, “I can see that negotiation.” These cannot grammatically tell one that the letters are to be mixed.
 
Many thanks for kind inquiries about my flu. I’m more or less all right now, thank you, but the after-effects do seem to hang about rather, and I still feel a bit like a wet rag. This excellent entry cheered me up, though I have found dealing with it somewhat strenuous.