I'm not sure that winding a rope round the spinner would give sufficient leverage for manual starting, but the rope trick is easy when you know how. The method was well known from WW1 and used when the Huck vehicle-mounted starter was not available.
In winter 1939/40 my father was serving with 142 Sqn at Berry-au-Bac, France, in temperatures below -10C. With the squadron on readiness, the Merlin engines in their Fairey Battles had to be run every hour to prevent the oil from solidifying. Starting was by trolley-acc, a bank of batteries on a small handcart, charged by a small generator which could not keep up with so many starts. The engine was primed and pulled through nine blades by hand to suck the mixture into the cylinders, then a rope lashed to a leather cap placed over the propellor tip. At the call “Three on the cap ... contact ... two-six, HEAVE” three airmen would pull the rope to turn the engine, the cap being thrown clear as the Merlin fired.