Results Information   See results

Thanks to all those voters who, with a late flurry, pushed the numbers up to a very respectable total. This month's winner coming with a very late run to squeeze home by a very narrow margin, is Luciano – his second victory of the year – well done indeed!
 
The unlucky runner-up was our podium mainstay Dave Parfitt! Dave has extended his run of top 5 finishes to 6 (without a win!) which is amazing – where will it end? Bad luck on just missing out again – two excellent clues to top the list this month.
 
A little way back in third was John N – nice to see you back on the honours board, John – another to take advantage of the bum meaning of sponge!
 
Congratulations to Barry who achieved his first podium finish of this year in 4th spot, and similarly to Anthony who managed his first ever podium, completing the list in 5th place.
 
Many thanks to all, I believe I was generous with the choice of clue words, but this is a tough clue type to deal with so well done!

Voting Information

Voting is open until Midnight UK time on Wednesday 17th June.
 
Please award FIVE points maximum to the clue you judge best: FOUR points for second, THREE for third, TWO for fourth, down to ONE point for fifth; but otherwise you may distribute your votes as you see fit including ½ marks for split voting – as long as you award no more than 15 points IN TOTAL and no more than 5 points to any one clue…
 
…and of course you may NOT VOTE for your own clue!
 
COMMENTS:
 
Your comments in general and on individual clues, however much or little you write, are always most welcome! Please remember that if any particular clue or clues do not find favour with you, it is more helpful to offer constructive criticism – many of our members are keen to learn and hone their clue writing skills through our competition – feedback may be useful for their future efforts!

Entry Information

This month's task is a special clue type that we visit once in a while, WRONG NUMBER. For this challenge you need to compose a clue to MARKET(6) also containing a one-word definition of SPONGE.
 
A WRONG NUMBER clue is actually a standard cryptic clue to the main word (MARKET in this case), but in addition ONE word of this clue also defines another "key word" (SPONGE in this case).

NB, THE ONE-WORD DEFINITION OF "SPONGE" MUST ACTUALLY FORM PART OF THE CRYPTIC CLUE TO "MARKET", I.E. NOT TO BE REGARDED AS EXTRA, OR REDUNDANT TO YOUR CLUE FOR "MARKET".

By way of example here is a winning clue of this type from the Azed archives for the combination MAVIN (THONG):

Bird having to strip is in the buff (5)

EXPLANATION: MAVIN given by "mav(is) + in"; with "strip" also providing the one-word definition of THONG

It would be helpful to structure the explanation of your clue so that it is clear which word is providing the additional definition; so in the case of our example:

mav(is) + in; strip

Remember that whilst you are composing (and pondering) your clue effort, the entry interface allows you to "Save but don't submit". But even if you "Submit this clue" you are still able to amend – or even retract – your entry right up until the end.

BUT DON'T FORGET TO CLICK THE "SUBMIT THIS CLUE" BUTTON BEFORE THE CLOSING DATE!