Very Highly Commended.
Edith K. Baxter, Elsie Benians, Rev. F. Townshend Chamberlain, Maud Chinn, Leonard Clark, Leila Claxton, Nina E. Coote, H. Cope, Vera F. Cremer, Mrs. Crossman, E. G. Dalton, Eva M. Edwards, William H. Edwards, Beatrice Fitzhugh, Marjorie A. Forbes, Edith A. Freeman, Will L. Freeman, Mabel Frewen, Ada J. Graves, Florence Graves, F. S. A. Graves, C. B. C. Hancock, Eleanor Hearsey, Julia A. Hennen, Percy E. Herrick, A. Hughes, W. R. Hughes, Minnie Ives, Annette E. Jackson, Gertrude J. Jones, D. Langley, Clara E. Law, B. M. Linington, Fred Lindley, M. Dorothy Long, Florence Lush, Winifred M. Macallister, C. Y. MacGibbon, Nellie Meikle, Nellie Minchener, Blanche A. Moody, Mrs. C. F. Morton, Charles Martin Morris, May Morris, Charles Nunneley, jun., G. de Courcy Peach, L. Pentelow, Ada Mavee Pleasance, Jessie C. Poole, Alexandrina A. Robertson, Dora O. Robinson, Elizabeth Russell, Mary Sheriff, A. J. Selwood, Kate C. Sinclair, Clara Souter, William Stradling, Margaret B. Strathorn, Mollie B. Taylor, Muriel Thompson, Lilian S. Toller, Aileen M. Tyler, Katie Whitmore, Helena M. Wilson, Alice Woodhead, Emily C. Woodward.
EXAMINERS' REPORT.
Once again we have been unable to satisfy every claimant for a prize, and in order to reduce the list to manageable limits we have been obliged to exclude all solvers who have been enriched during the last year.
As for mentions, space forbids us to indulge in anything less honourable than "very highly commended," and even that has been much more deserved than usual.
Concerning the special difficulties we need only refer to the mysterious M in line 1 and to the adjective in line 6. It was rare indeed for any solver who surmounted both those to fail elsewhere. The first stands for "maiden" in cricket parlance, being the manner in which a "maiden" over is recorded on the score sheet. It is not the first time in which the device has been employed in these puzzles, and yet it was interpreted in no less than twenty-six different ways.
The second difficulty is not so easily disposed of, as several adjectives equally well describe the fanciful G. But few of them are really appropriate as qualifying "guile," and to select the right one severely tested the solver's ability.
For instance, "flowery" describes the G exactly but is not at all a happy qualification of guile. We think that "fanciful" is, on the whole, the best word for the double duty, but we have also accepted "beautiful," "wonderful" and "exquisite." "Picturesque" would have been good but for the necessary transference of the accent from the last to the first syllable.
We observe with great pleasure the much larger number of solutions giving the form of the verse correctly. Failure in this respect in this puzzle marks the difference between the solutions most highly and very highly commended.
As to punctuation, actual mistakes had to be counted, and we found two of a glaring character in several papers, namely a comma after tried and after clash! Let no one say in regard to such errors that they are matters of opinion.