XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 79

SALOME

1.  Maj G. W. Shepherd (Scarborough): Perplexed damsel wanting a head and requiring nothing more (anag. of (d)amsel incl. 0 and literal mng.).

2.  T. E. S. Jobson (Dublin): She danced up and down in front of the Lords and demanded a capital levy! (cryptic def.; ref. Mark 6:21).

3.  J. H. Dingwall (N12): Meal so arranged requires no dressing but capers (anag.).

H.C.

E. J. Belt (Sheffield): Boy! What a strip-tease! When she took off almost everything, there was still some left! (al(l) in some).

C. B. Joyner (Ringwood): Just a tripper needing no meals cooked (anag. of 0 meals).

F. C. MacIntosh (Edgware): She did a capital take-off and got an Oscar for her portrayal (cryptic def.; O. Wilde; head of John the Baptist).

D. Marsh-Smith (Rainhill): A Baptist lost his head to her and a Sabbatarian, Lollard and Methodist might do the same (Sa Lo Me).

T. W. Melluish (SE24): Her pa was decidedly not anti-her pas (cryptic def.; i.e. Herod Antipas; pas = dance steps).

D. P. M. Michael (Newport): She wouldn’t take half a crown for herself but she did for John (cryptic def.; J. the Baptist; ref. Mark 6:23, “up to half my kingdom”).

A. Montgomerie (Glasgow): Young artiste with good head for footwork gets an Oscar (cryptic def.; O. Wilde; head of John the Baptist).

F. E. Newlove (SE9): Dancer who appeared in seven films and came to London in ’05 (cryptic def.; i.e. seven veils; production of Wilde’s S.).

W. O. Robertson (Marlow): A filly that had to be given her head (cryptic def.; head of John the Baptist).

A. H. Taylor (Newark): Markswoman (under an assumed name) dances away with the King’s Prize (cryptic def.: S.’s name not mentioned in Mark 6; Bisley; i.e. Mark’s woman; King Herod).

J. Thomas (Bangor): Damosel danced away ahead (anag. of (d)amosel, & lit.; i.e. away, a head).

Capt C. Tyers (Elstead): History credits her with a man’s head, she was so male by disposition (anag.; head of John the Baptist).

J. S. Young (SW2): ohn with the dance, she said (cryptic def.; i.e. John the Baptist lost head).

Comments: Only 166 correct and much havoc. Much of it was wrought by FRABBIT; “crabbit” may also mean “peevish,” but what, about “following a bad player”? Can “C.” or “c.” mean “following”, as “f.” does? MANOA also gave trouble: see Samson Agonistes. It was hoped that S.’s father, with his Miltonic spelling, was well enough known for those who couldn’t trace his namesake, the capital of El Dorado. Then there was “gams” instead of GUMS; “sticks” as a description of tusks is hardly possible. DIERESES—not in their proper places in “naïveté” and “Thaïs”—was elusive too: Chambers gives this spelling as well as “diaereses.”
 
An interesting point of “cluemanship” was raised by a regular and expert solver. Was “insist” for in sist without a hint of division, sound in the clue to SISKIWIT? He asks how far we would extend this licence and whether this would do as a clue for PIQUET:—“P.T. à boutique; what a game!” On the whole he seems right, and the practice had better stop, but it was only fair to pass it this week (see Mr. Thomas’s clue). Several others used it, and it might well get extravagantly out of hand! After all “I insist—two helpings—said the kiwi!” would have done instead.
 
Writing a clue to SALOME raised certain questions of taste; we hope no one will be offended by any of the sallies in those selected.
 
Some runners-up:—D. Ashcroft, P. A. Barrow, J. L. Brooks, R. A. W. Cohen, J. Duffill, D. Hawson, H. J. Henderson, J. G. Jenkins, G. G. Lawrance, R. C. Macfarlane, Mrs Mallett, B. Murray, A. E. North, Rev E. B. Peel, E. G. Phillips, D. I. Randell, T. E. Sanders, O. Carlton Smith, R. Taylor, F. L. Usher.
 
[Note:—In case anyone missed the notice in last Sunday’s issue, it may interest solvers to know that there are 25 Ximenes back-numbers and an Introduction by L. E. Eyres in the new Penguin, The Observer Crossword Book.]