CCCWC January 2016 competition results
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57 clues entered. 46 votes cast (41 competitors, 5 others).
PLAIN-JANE
A new competition year starts with some familiar names in the frame. Congratulations to Dave P who continues his fine form from last year with a beautifully constructed surface in his winning clue!
Well done to Tim, achieving 2nd place for the second month in a row with a lovely definition in his effort.
John Tozer takes third position, spotting some very nifty anagram fodder for his clue.
A very warm welcome to Bernard Grabowski who makes it to the lofty heights of the podium for the first time – well done Bernard!
Not to be left out of the party, last year's Annual Winner Luciano just squeezes into the final podium spot!
Well done to everyone for a far from plain-Jane start to the year – one down, eleven to go!
| Pos | No. | Name | Clue | Explanation | Points | Merits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 42 | Dave Parfitt | Pedestrian turned pale when outside in January | PALE anag. around IN JAN; Pedestrian = dull, commonplace = PLAIN-JANE (adj.) | 54 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | 26 | Tim Moorey | Journal again empty during Alpine rambling, nothing to write home about | J = journal (Chambers) + a(gai)n in anag Alpine | 49.5 | 2 | 5 |
| 3 | 9 | John Tozer | Chucking the old jalapeño in cooking that's a bit bland | anag. less O | 46.5 | 1 | 5 |
| 4 | 7 | Bernard Grabowski | Calamity after Palin gaffe is not uncommon | Def: Not uncommon. Wordplay: anag.(Palin) + (Calamity) Jane | 35 | 3 | 7 |
| 5 | 13 | Luciano Ward | Even houses in Japan's capital are basic | PLANE (even) contains [IN + J + A(abbrev for are)] | 31 | 0 | 5 |
| 6 | 55 | Margaret Irvine | Unremarkable month in Alpine resort | Jan in Alpine* | 27.5 | 2 | 4 |
| 7 | 45 | Don Manley | Resolution for Jan. : I plan termination of booze? Unattractive! | anag.incl. e | 23 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | 44 | Pete Milne | Quake in Nepal? Jain observed no great shakes! | Anagram of NEPAL+JAIN. Jains are religious people originally from India, next to Nepal. No great shakes = definition. | 20.5 | 2 | 5 |
| 9 | 2 | Barry Solomons | An Alpine trip over Jungfrau's peak may not appeal to some guys? | (anag) an Alpine…over (J)ungfrau's peak. | 20 | 2 | 5 |
| 9 | 41 | Todd Konkel | Out in the open, Tarzan's gal appears quite ordinary. | Out in the open = plain; Tarzan's gal = Jane. | 20 | 1 | 2 |
| 11 | 27 | Life in Japan if lacking variation is so? | Comp anag less if and semi-lit | 19 | 2 | 5 | |
| 12 | 56 | Unremarkable ninja collapsed when caught by flying leap | NINJA* in LEAP* | 16 | 1 | 2 | |
| 13 | 22 | Janine's lap-dancing routine | (JANINE + LAP)* ['s = has]; def = "routine" | 15.5 | 2 | 8 | |
| 13 | 24 | Japan line-out is lacking sophistication | JAPANLINE* (anag indicated by out). Lacking sophistication = plain-Jane (adj.). Rugby union surface reading. | 15.5 | 2 | 4 | |
| 13 | 28 | Life in Japan, if not relaxed, is simple | (LIFE IN JAPAN – IF)* | 15.5 | 1 | 5 | |
| 16 | 54 | Uninitiated martial artist splits tree to achieve standard | (N)INJA inside PLANE, definition is standard | 14.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 17 | 18 | I plan about a month and finally propose to the simple girl next door (5-4) | Plan about I is PLA (I) N + JAN(a month) + E (finally propose) | 14 | 0 | 1 | |
| 18 | 33 | No-frills alpine break to take in January | JAN in *ALPINE; def. No-frills | 13.5 | 1 | 6 | |
| 19 | 10 | Clumsy ninja leap, miss, no knockout it seems | (ninja leap)*; In def, 'miss' indicating young lady | 12 | 2 | 3 | |
| 20 | 15 | Homely type surprising ninja with leap | (NINJA + LEAP)* | 11 | 0 | 2 | |
| 20 | 34 | No-frills carrier takes on board a trained assassin, losing case | PLANE taking on board A + (N)INJ(A) | 11 | 0 | 2 | |
| 22 | 39 | Ordinary jail – a pen rebuilt to house sixth of prisoners | Ordinary = defn. Anagram of "jail a pen" containing N (sixth letter of prisoners) | 10.5 | 2 | 3 | |
| 23 | 23 | Japan Line flies to orient, “no-frills” | Japan Line = fodder/flies to orient <anagrind (moves to position correctly) /No-frills <def. | 10 | 0 | 4 | |
| 24 | 4 | Average complainant has no quarrel with Jeannie's oddness (9, hyphened) | Plaintiff – tiff + odd letters of Jeannie | 9.5 | 1 | 3 | |
| 25 | 14 | Fighter heading off to board aircraft with ordinary girl | (n)inja in plane | 9 | 1 | 3 | |
| 26 | 5 | Basic fighting: Ninja leap | Direct = basic; fighting = anagram indicator | 8 | 0 | 3 | |
| 26 | 46 | Run-of-the-mill and lacking spice, beginners jellied aspics not edible. | Def+ lacking spice(Chambers=plain)+jane | 8 | 0 | 4 | |
| 28 | 1 | Alpen, mashed with no end of jam in, is not a dish one might fancy. | Alpen (breakfast cereal) + ja(m) + in (anag)/def. | 7.5 | 0 | 3 | |
| 29 | 52 | Undecorated abode, joint needing a bit of window dressing | Lain (see abide 1 (pat) ) + J. in pane1 . Window dressing not hyphenated in ODE | 7 | 1 | 3 | |
| 30 | 32 | No oil painting of headless warrior in flat | (N)INJA in PLANE | 6 | 1 | 3 | |
| 31 | 3 | An unattractive woman is extraordinarily appealing in tight jeans after that gin peg is quashed! (5-4) | Definition: An unattractive woman Wordplay: [appealing in tight jeans – that gin peg is]* anagram indicator: extraordinarily, subtraction indicator: quashed | 5.5 | 1 | 6 | |
| 32 | 36 | No-frills woman, naked, made Tarzan horny (5,4) | Direct = No-frills woman, naked = plain, made Tarzan horny = Jane | 5 | 0 | 4 | |
| 33 | 49 | Simply dressed in plaid jeans, dismissing fashion | Anagram of "in plaid jeans" with "dis" missing, "fashion" being anagram indicator. | 4 | 1 | 3 | |
| 34 | 25 | Jean-Marie Le Pen, ignoring mere European head, observes mousy girl | Jean-Marie Le Pen, minus 'mere E'; definition = mousy girl | 3.5 | 1 | 7 | |
| 34 | 38 | Not fancy lap dance with German ,no? Yes ! (5-4) | Not fancy = definition. Lap + nein+ ja = anagram fodder, dance= anagram indicator. | 3.5 | 0 | 4 | |
| 34 | 40 | Ordinary killer has head removed during smooth operation (5-4) | Ordinary (definition); killer has head removed (ninja to inja); during smooth operation (inside plane). Thus: PLA INJA NE | 3.5 | 1 | 3 | |
| 37 | 19 | I’d got in on Japanese chorus line, dancing. See her or such doing it? No! (5,4) | Clue for PLAIN JANE without the hyphen. Comp. anag. IDGOTINONJAPANESECHORUSLINE* = SEEPLAINJANEORSUCHDOINGITNO | 3 | 1 | 5 | |
| 37 | 29 | Mediocre student got in trouble – he sketched ships day after day | P(L)AIN+JANE | 3 | 1 | 3 | |
| 37 | 31 | Mountain climbing during New Year takes energy, unlike oil painting | ALP reversed + IN JAN (during [the] New Year) + E(nergy), def. in adjectival sense (from 'she's no oil painting') | 3 | 1 | 3 | |
| 37 | 37 | Non-spicy jalapeno in gumbo, taking nothing out (5-4) | JALAPENO IN mixture, omitting O | 3 | 1 | 3 | |
| 41 | 8 | Calamity, namely, follows short Alpine quake – no great shakes | Def. no great shakes; (Calamity) Jane after alpin* | 2.5 | 2 | 2 | |
| 42 | 20 | It's an obvious calamity – girl's somewhat ugly | obvious = plain, calamity girl = Jane – somewhat ugly = Plain-Jane | 1.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 42 | 51 | There's no justice, but she could turn out to be unpaintable? | &lit. ref: she's no oil-painting. BUT PLAIN-JANE less J is an anagram of UNPAINTABLE | 1.5 | 3 | 3 | |
| 44 | 6 | Battered Nepali, lacking energy, gets followed by Tarzan’s woman! Or an unattractive woman? | Battered (ANAGRAM INDICATOR) Nepali without E is PLAIN, gets followed by Tarzan’s woman is JANE and PLAIN-JANE is an unattractive woman (DEFINITION) | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| 44 | 17 | Horribly pale in Jan – and the other months? | Anag. 'pale in Jan' & lit. | 1 | 1 | 5 | |
| 44 | 21 | It's not unusual to line Japan up. | def + LINE JAPAN up* | 1 | 0 | 4 | |
| 44 | 35 | No-frills rhyming couplet? | Definition: No-frills. Plain and Jane rhyme. | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| 44 | 47 | Sadly judge inane pal unremarkable | Compound anagram {J INANE PAL} | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 44 | 53 | Unfashionable dressed in a pale New Jersey! | *IN+A+PALE+NJ(US state) ind by 'dressed'; unfashionable=dowdy | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| 44 | 57 | Vanilla rum pie a la nutty nectarine jelly, for starters. | definition + anag. (rum) of pieala+nnj | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| 51 | 11 | Cool month in smooth drab | Cool (IN) month (JAN) in smooth (PLANE) drab (definition) | 0.5 | 0 | 4 | |
| 51 | 43 | Plot including trendy judge a bit unremarkable. | PLA(IN J A)N E: Plot->plan (trendy->in, judge->J, A), bit->E (according to Chambers). Definition is "unremarkable" | 0.5 | 1 | 5 | |
| 53 | 12 | Edited French article in Japan, describing a lass of homely appearance. | "Edited" = anagram indicator, "French article" = "le", plus "in Japan", followed by def. | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 53 | 16 | Honestly, coin given to ordinary woman! (6-5) | PLAIN (HONESTLY) + JANE (COIN) gives PLAIN-JANE (ORDINARY WOMAN). | 0 | 1 | 3 | |
| 53 | 30 | Modelling such clothes, ordinary rather than jolliest in design, can exhibit no panache | comp. anag. incl. o less anag., & lit. | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| 53 | 48 | She doesn't ninja leap, perhaps (9) | anagram & semi-&lit – would a plain Jane do this? | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 53 | 50 | Sounds like a new specialist aerospace publication is unremarkable | Ref.: Jane's Information Group; unremarkable = def. | 0 | 0 | 3 |