2496: Depart Paddington – solution

The play was The Winter’s Tale by Shakespeare. The perimetric dramatis personae are MAMILLIUS, LEONTES, FLORIZEL, DORCAS, MOPSA, HERMIONE and ANTIGONUS; NODI (23) and DIPTERA (17) are anagrams of Dion and Perdita. THE WINTERS TALE (in the third row) was to be shaded. Title: ref. ‘Exit, pursued by a bear.’

First prize Totty Milne, Wells, Somerset
Runners-up Tom Taylor, Canterbury, Kent; John Carrington, Denchworth, Oxfordshire