XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 882

SNAPDRAGON

1.  C. G. Millin: A Christmas game in which you have to explore inside spirit, alight (drag in snap, on, & lit.).

2.  E. W. Steel: Caution for Christmas! “Drive vehicle before getting lit up” (snap drag on; caution = amusing thing; snap = energy, drive).

3.  J. H. Frampton: Game, a bloodless sport beside: grasp and no hurt will be the outcome (snap drag on, anag., & lit.).

V.H.C.

F. D. H. Atkinson: Cold spell is bound to linger on—it will make fingers tingle at Christmas (snap drag on).

J. C. Brash: Cheat a person very much on the alert? You could burn your fingers at that game (snap dragon).

C. O. Butcher: I’m cultivated—and open to squeezing and impromptu horseplay in a fellow’s embrace! (snap + rag in don).

J. F. Coldwell: I’m game for the daring grasp, on and off (anag.).

E. Gomersall: A cold spell—a fierce one too. It’s a blooming rarity at this time of year! (snap dragon).

W. F. Goodman: Sudden unending pain; doctor called in. I’m stuck in bed (Dr in snap agon(y)).

E. G. Illingworth: Sharper getting pull by running Christmas draw, participants will be playing with fire (snap drag on).

T. P. Kelly: A sudden hook to leg has scorched the fingers of many a player (snap drag on).

A. Lawrie: Cold spell to be unduly prolonged, it seems; I’ll spend the whole blooming time in bed! (snap drag on).

J. D. H. Mackintosh: It’s a fracture, doctor—the pain’s endless—I should be in blooming bed! (snap Dr agon(y)).

B. J. McCann: Dangerous game to play a hook to leg after a sharp break (snap drag on).

Mrs E. McFee: Cold spell to continue. Bed’s the place for me—I’ll come out in summer (snap drag on).

C. J. Morse: In which one has to seize and pull a little bit sunk in liquor (snap drag on, & lit.).

J. W. Parr: This game, played in the Christmas spirit, requires a determined grasp and no fumbling (anag.).

R. Postill: Game become tedious? No good playing it when out of spirits; should be in bed (snap drag on, 2 defs.).

E. J. Rackham: Cold spell to continue indefinitely? This will be useful for bedding (snap drag on).

T. E. Sanders: The kind of bloomers that’s wanted with a spell of cold weather drawing near (snap drag on; drag = act of dragging).

R. E. Stephens: Put the brake on, quick! It’s a blooming plant! (snap drag on; plant = police trap).

Brig R. F. E. Stoney: Cheat has influence on risky game through which many will burn their fingers (snap drag on; drag = influence, Suppt.).

J. W. Taylor: Cheat the duenna and you may pinch me in my bed (snap dragon).

H.C.

T. Anderson, G. W. J. Aston (Nairobi), A. J. Barnard, J. W. Bates, J. E. Biggin, Rev L. Blackburn, J. G. Booth (Ohio), D. K. Bowen, J. A. Bulley, J. Clamp, P. M. Coombs, V. A. R. Cooper, J. Crowther (Madras), A. L. Dennis, N. C. Dexter, F. E. Dixon, Sgt J. Dromey, M. A. Elder, Mrs W. Fearon, J. A. Fincken, A. L. Freeman, J. Fyfe, P. D. Gaffey, S. Goldie, R. R. Greenfield, R. M. Greenhalgh, E. M. Hornby, C. H. Hudson, Maj G. J. Insley, Mrs L. Jarman, L. Johnson, A. H. Jones, C. Koop, Capt G. Langham, J. H. C. Leach, A. D. Legge, Mrs B. Lewis, H. Lyon, J. L. Mackie, Mrs S. M. Macpherson, P. H. Morgan, S. E. Morton, M. Newman, R. R. O’Connell, G. Perry, Mrs N. Perry, E. G. Phillips, K. Pomagalski, C. Quin, W. G. Roberts, A. D. F. Shanks, N. E. Sharp, W. K. M. Slimmings, H. Stephens, E. B. Stevens, L. T. Stokes, Mrs J. M. Struthers, J. B. Sweeting, J. Templeton, P. W. Thacker, H. S. Tribe, Miss M. G. Walker, J. D. Walsh, J. F. N. Wedge, W. G. Wigley, G. H. Willett, Mrs M. Wishart.
 

COMMENTS:—A big entry of about 530 and very few mistakes. There were plenty of good clues and pleasing variety; but there were so many “grandpa” anagrams, with none of outstanding merit, that regretfully I had to exclude them from the V.H.C.s. I received one query, from a solver who has competed for some years, which I will try not to answer with too much asperity! It runs as follows :—“Incidentally, do you actually compose a clue yourself and match competitors’ efforts against it or do you just leave us the difficult one ?“ I do neither of these things: in fact I do more or less the opposite of both of them. When the diagram is filled, I choose the competition word before writing a single clue. I eliminate words which offer one obvious treatment, intractable words, and words that have been used before at all recently: I choose what seems to me a tractable word which will produce variety in the entry, and I deliberately avoid trying to think of a clue to it (though, inevitably, various ideas sometimes suggest themselves). I therefore rebut without qualification the suggestions made in the query above quoted.
 
I had one regret in choosing the clues I liked best: a few competitors, one or two of them in very attractive clues, used the word “perennial”. Dictionaries don’t help on this point, but in every nurseryman’s catalogue I have seen antirrhinums are listed as hardy annuals. I can remember seeing antirrhinums left in the ground for a second year and surviving in a rather leggy, straggling form; but I don’t think they can possibly be called perennials in the true sense. I’m no great expert, and if I’m wrong I’m sorry; but that’s my view and I had to stick to it.
 
One or two competitors pointed out that “reversi” is not a card game but is played with counters. They, perhaps naturally, failed to notice that Chambers gives as its second meaning “reversis”, which is described lower down in that column as an old card game.
 
There wasn’t much unsoundness in the entry, but the use of redundant words to make a clue make sense was perhaps commoner than usual. The sort of thing I mean is “A Christmas game may bore after a card game,” and “Try this lively party game should a card game become boring.” In these clues “may” and “should” are redundant: they make no contribution to the true intended meanings of the clues, and therefore they cannot, in my view, be justified.
 
I have been asked to repeat the name and address of the suppliers of Ximenes ties and scarves:—T. M. Lewin & Sons Ltd., 106 Jermyn St., S.W.1.
 
A happy Christmas to all.