Foreign News: The Crossword King

The British newspaper reader, like his American cousin, is an avid crossword-puzzle fan, but Britain’s puzzles are as different from those in the U.S. as chess is from checkers. Most U.S. puzzles give clues that are at best merely obscure, e.g., “a device to fill the lower pane of a painted window” in six letters.† British fans expect their clues to be witty, ingenious, arch and wildly erudite.

Far & away the most ingenious of all British puzzle “setters” is a Sussex schoolmaster named Derrick Somerset Macnutt, whose crosswords appear each fortnight in London’s Sunday Observer under the byline Ximenes (a Cardinal Inquisitor of Spain). Ximenes’ puzzles, for which he is paid 10 to 15 guineas ($30-$44) apiece, contain clues that range from pure cipher through anagram to outrageous pun. Samples: “Pleased a bag £14 lighter” in four letters;** “Important city in Czechoslovakia” in four letters ;†† “Shortage of bats at a high level” in six letters.***

Last week some 60 Ximenes fans, ranging in age from 20 to 70, in profession from clergyman to bank clerk, gathered in London’s gaudy Cafe Royal to pay tribute to Britain’s arch-puzzler, celebrate the appearance of his 200th puzzle. Sporting a badge marked “Mr. X” and beaming at his admirers from behind his rimless spectacles, Ximenes took the opportunity to ask their forgiveness for No. 26 Down in a recent puzzle, which a lot of “solvers” had found too tough.††† He was forgiven. Said one speaker: “We salute you not only as our tormentor, but as our tutor and friend.” Said another: “It is impossible to imagine what our lives would be without you.”

Most Ximenes regulars (an estimated 5,000 weekly) say that it takes from two to four hours to solve a Ximenes. The puzzler himself makes them up in an average 1½ hours. “You have to be a lunatic with a distorted mind to do it,” he says.

† FYLFOT. **GLAD, i.e. a GLADstone bag minus one stone

(14 Ibs.).

†† OSLO, i.e., CzechosLovakia.

** SANITY, i.e., no bats in belfry. ††† “Earnest money got by leaving deposits on old clothes” in five letters. Answer: DYEST. Ximenes explained that deposits on old clothes refers to dye; to get money is to earn; earn out of earnest leaves -est.