XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 81

CHARADE

1.  L. E. Eyres (Bath): Means employed to indicate that Mr. Elton would house Miss Woodhouse (cryptic def.; ref. ‘Emma’, Ch. IX, courtship charade).

2.  F. A. Clark (Croydon): Enigmatic passage in Acts: without study, even an archdeacon is perplexed (anag. less con).

3.  R. Postill (Jersey): Puzzle: what became of the Archdeacon when he left his study? (anag. less con).

H.C.

E. S. Ainley (S. Harrow): Had, if careless, a setter’s way of worrying settees! (anag. incl. care; c. used in clues).

C. Allen Baker (Wishaw): Wings chartered to beat blockade: some display, I guess! (i.e. char(tered … block)ade; wing vb.; ref. Berlin airlift).

Maj P. S. Baines (W11): Technique, said Torquemada (without question quite mad), is needed for this playful puzzle (anag. less anag. of q. q. m.; [see comments]).

F. L. Constable (Diss): Archdeacon doesn’t need to memorise part to cause a riot in amateur dramatics! (anag. less con).

Cdr H. H. L. Dickson (Fareham): The problem is hard without the ace: play may provide solution (anag. of hard ace).

J. H. Dingwail (N12): How the “Charge of the Light Brigade” started and the end it had in view have always been a puzzle (i.e. Char(ge … Brig)ade).

P. G. W. Glare (Woodford Green): Little publicity required in labour party action (ad in chare).

H. C. Hills (W. Drayton): Our time in the job’s a subject for guesswork. A word in the right quarters possibly ——? (AD in chare).

Mrs D. M. Kissen (Lanark): Game performance in race had all excited (anag.).

G. G. Lawrance (Harrow): Enigma Variation No. 1. and hard to compose (anag. incl. “C. A. E.” ; ref. Elgar, title of E.V. No. 1).

A. R. McInroy (Edinburgh): He takes a card and shuffles; you have to guess what it is (anag. of he a card).

T. W. Melluish (SE24): Like a rebus, ‘concerning’ (Lat.) on ‘conveyance’ (abbrev.) (chara. + de; i.e. re ’bus; charabanc).

T. E. Sanders (Walsall): A reactionary editor makes game of the “Daily Worker” with questionable motive (char a + ed. (rev.); ref. socialist newspaper).

A. J. C. Saunders (Sanderstead): A liberal measure of Chartreuse with a final dash of lemonade popular at parties (Char(treuse) + (lemon)ade).

W. K. M. Slimmings (New Malden): Daily Express supports Daily Worker leading article—Party leaders act (char a D.E.).

O. Carlton Smith (Potters Bar): Care had to be taken in manoeuvring this French car to and fro, but it’s child’s play really (anag., char à de).

E. Wagstaff (SW18): Daily help wanted: East End: game to help at parties: references required (i.e. char ad + E).

Comments.—171 correct. Solvers found the N.W. corner especially hard: the commonest error was to mis-spell CHILEAB the son of David, but surely Chile is seldom spelt with a final I? “Moire” (watered silk) was an interesting but unintentional red herring at 3: it should be noted that “sounds” in a clue of this kind usually indicates a pun. “Sounds-like-a-sea lawyer” (main, Maine) was the intention. But we confess that “ectal derm” was intentional!
 
One or two solvers dislike the use of “for” in such clues as “Death for climbers: has arsenic in it.” X. is sorry but cannot really see any objection—it would be of interest to hear other views. X.’s view is this:—“Here’s a penny for your Aunt”—“D for AUNT”—“DAUNT”: something for someone suggests commonly enough that he is to receive it, and one part of a word may be said to receive another so as to form the complete word. (A definition is, of course, as always, also necessary).
 
1st. prize goes to an apt literary reference with a cleverly introduced example of an appropriate charade. Maj. Baines used an over-elaborate anag. with addition and subtraction—a type of clue that we normally rather dislike; but this one showed special ingenuity. Warning:—a dangerous example to follow! Mr. Lawrance’s clue is very clever, but demands, perhaps, knowledge of too technical a kind. Mr. Mclnroy nearly won a prize, but can one quite maintain that “he” in the clue does the shuffling?
 
Some runners-up.—D. Ambler, Mrs Caithness, Rev B. Chapman, F. E. Dixon, Mrs Fisher, A. R. Fraser, S. B. Green, Miss S. J. Horner, Mrs Magruder, Mrs Magruder, A. Montgomerie, F. E. Newlove, Miss D. W. Taylor, D. Thomas, L. E. Thomas, J. Thompson, J. S. Young.