REPORT ON COMPETITION NO. 34 IN an incautious moment we

invited readers temporarily t exchange the task of solving our crossword puzzle for that 0 devising crossword clues for a number of given words. Th sequel to this rash invitation has been something approachin. a nervous breakdown in the person on whom the duty of sift- ing the answers fell, and signs of brainstorms in two others wh were dragooned into rendering assistance. The construction o crossword puzzles appears to have for our readers almost th force of a primal impulse; the hideous ingenuities that came in shoals by every post during the week were, moreover, th, products of talents unjaded by the ritual of weekly rivalry, fo it was noticeable that few of those who submitted entries wer habitual entrants for our competitions. In terms of number there has only been one more successful competition in thi series; there has never been one anything like so difficult t(. judge, for in addition to being embarrassingly numerous the entries were naturally also in many cases embarrassingly similar.

Below is a small selection of the more ingenious suggestions :— HARRIDAN: What Mr. Hunter's quarries didn't do—Sounds like an order to persecute a tribe—Hard rain keeps the shrew under cover— Horrible female with male parts—Apparently it takes two of the boys to put this old girl where she belongs—I ran hard from the vixen.

CALENDAR: Lend a car to analyse—John Gilpin's friend with a difference—It's days are numbered—It may list either saints or sinners.

DAIE : 500 consumed here—Twin brother to Dabitur, according to Luther—You an both eat this and have it—One would hardly expect to find anything edible in a postmark—It would make a case about four—Fruit often found on family trees—What? She didn't keep it? And a palmist, too!

ALPHABET: Able path for beginners-.—Not the Aerated Bread Com- pany—Very like Swiss mountaineering, but don't make a habit of it!—The rough material of all literature—Sacred .river followed by a wager—Was it a Greek's first wager? '

ELYSIUM : A cathedral gives appropriate,, entry to an abode of bliss— Fen city leads to Paradise—Shakespeare said it was within the circuit of a crown—Lacks nought to make you smile.

WATCHFUL: Careful, don't spill the works—Jeweller's shop on the alert—A man of this cype presumably keeps his eyes on the clock.

DAUDET : One gets dud tea from a French literary source—Little Tommy thought he translated the letters of his friend Mill—Sounds like baking time.

DOCUMENTS: Can be used to make mounds, etc.—Dorothy L. Sayers kept them in a case—In most cases they are legal—Make an end to SCUM.

LOOSESTIUFE : Store of lies (anag.)—Lie softer so (anag.)—War, it seems, is immoral—Free fight afield—The Nazis' floral emblem— Flower derived from the soil of trees—Cry Havoc and — (more briefly).

MUG: This type of fool is a sticky proposition when hp stands on his head—Vessel, face or fool—On the shelf but still green—Reverse this and it becomes adhesive—Drink from it, return it and stick to it—His birth occurs monotonously every sixty seconds, so they say.

Innumerable entries contained one or two good ideas, at least a couple of dozen three good ones. A dozen were in the running for a prize. After what seemed to be the tenth reading, the two which appeared to stand out were those of Mr. T. C. Macaulay and Colonel H. P. Garwood, between whom, since there is nothing to choose between them, the prize-money is accordingly divided.

Apologies for a possible miscarriage of justice go to W. Aldersey Lewis, Mrs. M. R. Tragett, J. T. Christie, J. M. Synge, A. H. Cooper, P. R. Laird, Anthony Hem, E. M. Chan- non, M. R. Ridley, W. H. S. Truell, Mrs. H. 0. Hopkins, and Colonel F. A. Goddard.

Prize-winning Entries.

ALPHABET: A flutter on the sacred river.

HARRIDAN: Bluebeard's sister-in-law sounds worried.

WATCHFUL: Would justify Dogberry's refusal to engage a new recruit.

MUG: The Eucalyptus returns.

Diamrr: The beheaded French -writer is brave as a Roman.

T. C. MACAULAY.

ALPHABET: Letters which, suitably divided, might describe a tipster.' nap.

ELYSIUM : Emily joins us in the fields.'

WATCHFUL They are on either side of the Rhine near Strassbourg.

DAtmEr: Mr. Tulliver might have written his letters—had he known French.

CALENDAR: "He is the card or -- of gentry." Shakespeare_ H. P. GARWOOD.