XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 902

WINCOPIPE

1.  F. B. Stubbs (Crook): It used to be quoted in weather lore—start about the first of October to plough (O pip³ in wince).

2.  T. E. Sanders (Walsall): This style of red bloomers is antiquated; mine used to lead the company to whistle! (win (= mine, vb.) co. pipe).

3.  H. Rutley (NW7): Victory, said Celtic before the whistle: it was a bloomer! (win co’ (= quoth) pipe).

V.H.C.

F. D. H. Atkinson (Claygate): Could be chewed up in cow but while flowering in fields served as a rustic barometer (anag. + pipe; but = butt, pipe).

E. C. Bingham (E4): An old name for a wayside flower with blossom in a rich red colour (co- (prefix) + pip (= blossom), all in wine, & lit.).

Mrs K. Bissett (St. Helier): Leads to Percy’s pseudonym—well, not exactly—it’s obsolete in Chambers’s New Edition (anag. of initial letters, & lit.; ref. Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel).

P. M. Coombs (Burgess Hill): Take over small firm with tube producing plant that’s old-fashioned (win co. pipe).

J. Fryde (NW10): Old-world plant, with blossom in a rich red colour (co- (prefix) + pip (= blossom), all in wine).

A. H. Jones (Manchester): Old country flower with blossom in rich red colour (co- (prefix) + pip (= blossom), all in wine).

R. E. Kimmons (Kettering): Common old garden weed with a flower in red (co- (prefix) + pip (= blossom), all in wine).

L. F. Leason (Liverpool): Original version of The Scarlet Pimpernel screened in P.O.W. epic (anag.; screen = sift, sort).

Miss M. J. Patrick (Lewes): It opened wide in nice conditions; otherwise, perhaps, it pointed earthwards (initial letters, & lit.).

Mrs E. M. Simmonds (Cookham Dean): The Baroness’s title was locally a success but the County has muscled in! (Co. in win pipe; but = butt, pipe; ref. ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ by Baroness Orczy).

W. K. M. Slimmings (Worcester Park): Old red bloomers made me succeed in getting C.O. to whistle! (win CO pipe).

Brig R. F. E. Stoney (Woking): Effect with tube obtained by obsolete form of poor man’s weatherglass (win co- (prefix) pipe).

G. R. Webb (Maidstone): Old countryman’s flower opens when illuminated, nocturnal closing of petals indicates phototropism’s ended (initial letters).

H.C.

E. S. Ainley, W. G. Arnott, C. Allen Baker, Mrs H. M. Barclay, Mrs D. Barker, E. A. Beaulah, Lt Col R. L. Bell, R. Brain, R. E. C. Burrell, A. C. Burton, C. O. Butcher, R. S. Caffyn, Mrs J. Chalkley, P. Clemow, Miss D. Condor, R. M. S. Cork, Mrs M. P. Craine, A. J. Crow, N. C. Dexter, Flt Sgt J. Dromey, S. Goldie, E. Gomersall, F. H. W. Hawes, Miss K. A. Howarth, J. G. Hull, L. Johnson, B. Jordan, Sir S. Kaye, T. P. Kelly, C. Koop, A. Lawrie, J. H. C. Leach, Mrs B. Lewis, J. D. H. Mackintosh, Dr T. J. R. Maguire, Mrs E. McFee, E. L. Mellersh, T. W. Melluish, D. P. M. Michael, J. G. Milner, T. K. Milsom, P. H. Morgan, C. J. Morse, M. Newman, R. Postill, E. J. Rackham, P. J. Reardon, J. G. Stubbs, A. Turner, J. D. Walsh, Mrs M. P. Webber, J. F. N. Wedge, Rev C. D. Westbrook, G. H. Willett, M. Woolf.
 

ANNUAL HONOURS LIST FOR 13 COMPETITIONS:— 1. R. Postill (2 prizes, 6 H.C.s); 2. T. Anderson, N. C. Dexter, A. Lawrie, C. J. Morse (2-5); 6. C. Allen Baker, L. F. Leason (2-3), F. D. H. Atkinson, Mrs. E. McFee (0-7); 10. W. K. M. Slimmings (2-2), P. R. Clemow, Mrs. B. Lewis, T. E. Sanders, J. W. Taylor (1-4); 15, F. B. Stubbs, J. F. N. Wedge (1-3), C. O. Butcher (0-5).
 
CONSOLATION PRIZES:—F. D. H. Atkinson, Mrs. E. McFee, C. O. Butcher.
 
Total different prizewinners to date:—414.
 
Total different prizewinners and/or H.C.s:—1457.
 
COMMENTS:—About 330 entries, very few mistakes. The list of quoted clues is shorter than usual, and perhaps a trifle dull, because so many competitors failed to indicate obsoleteness. There is no absolute rule about this, but it is, I think, my invariable practice to indicate it with a totally unfamiliar obsolete word; so I thought the only fair thing to do was to apply this principle all round. The senders of the best of the clues thus excluded are in the long second list. It may seem, in view of this, inconsistent to accept, as I have done, the alternative EMIR, when rime = chink is obsolete while rima is not. But I thought that to exclude all the senders of EMIR on this ground would have been to go too far; after all, EMIR (I had overlooked the possibility) does give a sound solution, whereas the awarding of prizes and commendations is a matter of opinion and taste, not of fact. I took some time to come to these decisions: I can hardly hope that everyone will agree with them, but I can only do what I think is fair.
 
There is room for one point on soundness, which has often arisen before about “I”: I cannot allow that “we include” can mean “we includes.” There were quite a number of these.
 
Congratulations to Mr. Postill on regaining the “championship” which he last held, jointly, in 1961/2: it was, as you will have seen from the list, one of the closest contests for this honour that we have ever had.