CCCWC August 2019 competition results
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48 clues entered. 40 votes cast (38 competitors, 2 others).
STERNUM
| Pos | No. | Name | Clue | Explanation | Points | Merits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 | Ramki Krishnan | Nurse starts to treat man's fractured bone (7) | NURSE + T-M (starts to treat man's) = anagram fodder. "fractured" = anagram indicator. Bone is def | 70 | 1 | 8 |
| 2 | 1 | Tom Borland | A bit of breast turns me on | *TURNS ME (on = tipsy in C) | 35.5 | 3 | 5 |
| 2 | 8 | Don Manley | Bone could be problem when eating bird | tern in sum | 35.5 | 4 | 2 |
| 4 | 13 | Steve Randall | Check over navy uniform, it's in the chest | STEM (check) over RN (navy) U (uniform – NATO alphabet) | 33 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | 24 | Neil Talbott | Jolting human's breast could give this a bash | &lit / composite anag: (HUMAN'S BREAST)* = (STERNUM A BASH)* | 32.5 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | 46 | John Tozer | What chest x-ray reveals is grim: lump inside | stern (l)um(p) | 31.5 | 2 | 5 |
| 7 | 7 | John Doylend | Bit of a chest problem after swallowing sea bird (7) | def: Bit of a chest. SUM (problem) after swallowing TERN (sea bird) | 30.5 | 2 | |
| 8 | 44 | Barry Solomons | Unrest over money found in chest? | unrest (anag) + m = money. | 23 | 0 | 4 |
| 9 | 37 | jimmosco@uwo.ca | Skeletal fragment discovered in eastern Umbria | Skeletal fragment (def); hidden word – eaSTERN UMbria | 20 | 2 | 2 |
| 10 | 19 | John Appleton | Harry S. Truman not one close to the bone | Anagrind = Harry; (S TRUM[a]N [th]E)* | 15 | 2 | 2 |
| 11 | 29 | Problem keeping bird at front of cage ? | S(tern)um +definition. Keeping = insertion indicator | 14.5 | 1 | 3 | |
| 12 | 42 | Turns me funny bone | Turns me (fodder); funny (anag. ind,); bone (def.) | 14 | 1 | 1 | |
| 13 | 45 | Western umpires pack a chest-protector | weSTERN UMpires, pack = include, & lit | 13.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 14 | 22 | It cages the heart of stiff upper-class maiden (7) | STERN + U + M : (It cages the heart = definition, of = link , stiff = STERN , upper-class = U , maiden = M ) | 9 | 0 | 2 | |
| 14 | 28 | One helps to inspire improbable test match run-chase, he’s dropping awkward catch and somehow losing The Ashes (7) | One helps to inspire (def – the sternum is essential to movement of rib cage during breathing) improbable (anagrind) test match run-chase he’s (extended fodder) dropping awkward catch (removing rearranged letters of CATCH from fodder) and somehow losing The Ashes (removing rearranged letters of THE ASHES from fodder) | 9 | 0 | 3 | |
| 16 | 17 | Gladiolus in the middle of this special set mourner oddly sent back | ste* m(o)u(r)n(e)r<. Gladiolus is the middle of sternum as well as flower | 8.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 17 | 27 | One dug on each side of this, to find a part of the chest. | Def.x2 (dug = "a woman's breast [Chambers]). [Implied suggestion of a treasure hunter's activity.] | 7.5 | 4 | 3 | |
| 17 | 32 | Rib anchor turns 'em around | Turns 'em = fodder. Around = anag. ind. | 7.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 19 | 30 | Processed muenster loses half its energy, but it sticks to your ribs | (MUENSTeR)* | 7 | 0 | 1 | |
| 19 | 48 | With ten rums drunk, a plate of insects is served up | TENRUMS anag; def = a plate of insects (sternum = 'a cuticular plate covering the ventral surface of a body segment of an arthropod') | 7 | 1 | 1 | |
| 21 | 16 | Front section of skeleton that edges ribs near upper middle | &lit (using first letters) | 6.5 | 1 | 5 | |
| 22 | 43 | Unrest! Kashmiris essentially hurt to the bone | (UNREST + M)*; topical ref to events in Kashmir | 6 | 2 | ||
| 23 | 35 | Seven-a-side's prop forward nuts me and runs off. | Def: SEVEN-A-SIDE'S (seven pairs of ribs are fixed to the sternum) PROP (rigid support) FORWARD (in front). NUTS + ME + R off* | 5 | 0 | 3 | |
| 23 | 38 | Society bird uncovered rump and breastbone | S TERN (r)UM(p) | 5 | 0 | ||
| 23 | 40 | Stop hiding cracked urn one's tucked away in the chest | Stop(=STEM) hiding (URN)*, definition | 5 | 1 | 1 | |
| 26 | 12 | Breastbone's stored in canister number three. | Hidden word | 4.5 | 0 | 4 | |
| 26 | 18 | grim greek character returned bone | grim = stern, greek character= mu returned = um , bone = sternum | 4.5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 28 | 5 | Attachment for seven ribs — in part a sinister number. | See Chambers entry for breastbone for justification of seven. (SINI)STERNUM(BER). | 4 | 2 | ||
| 29 | 10 | Bone that trendy idiot has fractured, between hip and skull (7) | reverse hidden clue: find a bone whose name, put between HIP and SKULL and split into two, gives a string meaning "trendy idiot" i.e. HIPSTER NUMSKULL. Technically also semi-all-in-one | 3 | 0 | 4 | |
| 29 | 11 | Bottom line when a set of three chops is the only plate that comes with ribs | TERN(a set of three) inside SUM(bottom line); The sternum is the plate to which the ribs are attached | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
| 29 | 21 | Hidden anatomy near cleavage turns me on | anagram (‘on’ = drunk) | 3 | 4 | 4 | |
| 29 | 33 | Sea bird in aggregate alights on mooring for ribs. | TERN in SUM = sternum (to which ribs are attached) | 3 | 0 | ||
| 33 | 4 | All over! – A bird revealed her central asset up front (7) | ALL = SUM, over (= covering), A BIRD = TERN, central asset up front = def.. … so S TERN UM. | 2.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 33 | 15 | Forbidding, with little hesitation, revealing part of the chest. | Forbidding = stern, little hesitation = um, the whole shows part of chest. | 2.5 | 1 | ||
| 33 | 47 | What’s in chest? Nothing, a pirate found, leaving useless treasure map on it | *O+A+PIRATE leaving *TREASURE MAP+ON+IT=STERNUM; found=moulded | 2.5 | 0 | 3 | |
| 36 | 14 | Faster numbing admits cardiologist’s entrance | 2 | 2 | |||
| 36 | 39 | Spymaster numbers helping to protect the centre? | Hidden; definition = 'helping to protect the centre?'; also doing double duty as hidden indicator; centre/heart | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| 36 | 41 | Tough skin behind bone (7) | Tough – Stern Behind – Bum, Skin (v) – remove skin, i.e., letter B | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| 39 | 9 | Bone stock has signs of run-off | def: Bone. STEM holds the letters of RUN* | 1.5 | 0 | ||
| 39 | 20 | Here beats the heart – perhaps behind sailor's back | "um" for perhaps behind stern | 1.5 | 0 | ||
| 39 | 25 | Mass covering bird’s bone (7) | SUM(mass) around (covering ) TERN (bird). Def bone | 1.5 | 2 | ||
| 39 | 36 | Skeletal component turns me loose | (turns me)* | 1.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 43 | 2 | A breastplate providing some bodily protection? | Breastplate = same as breastbone (long flat bony plate) = sternum: providing = link word to 2nd def; some bodily protection = sternum (which protects heart/lungs in humans – hence use of 'bodily') May also be read as all-in-one cryptic. Breastplate is also a piece of armour. | 0.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 43 | 3 | A metal alloy found inside a problem breastbone. | alloy (TERN) in problem (SUM) | 0.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 45 | 6 | Back team's back as one protecting vital parts (7) | STERN (back) UM (team's back, MU Manchester United, backwards). One protecting vital parts – definition. | 0 | 1 | ||
| 45 | 23 | It's grim and unforgivingly miserable at the front – it's hard (7) | grim = STERN then U and M; "at the front" may be borrowed to "extend" and hence tighten the broader definition "it's hard" (double duty? moi!) – thus indicating the bone at the front. | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 45 | 31 | Rest treatment with drug briefly given for heart protection | REST*/NUM(b) [to drug = to numb] | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 45 | 34 | Serves up skinned emus' and ures' tasteless hollow bone | {(e)MU(s) (a)N(d) (u)RE(s) T(asteles)S} all reversed | 0 | 0 | 2 |