CCCWC Christmas Special 2019 competition results
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37 clues entered. 27 votes cast (24 competitors, 3 others).
Christmas Cocktails (Right & Left)
A different look to the podium in the Christmas Cocktail Special. A first win for S.Sreeni after a third place in October, so congratulations and welcome to the winner's enclosure!
Rather appropriately, there was a fair amount of bubbly on the podium and Neelima provided a glug in second spot, following up a 4th place in September.
Neil rounded off a successful first year in our competition with his 3rd top 5 finish, incorporating two neat anagrams in a concise clue – well done!
More bubbly from Satyen with a 5th podium finish for the year – another with a successful campaign!
The final spot goes to Vinit, who completes the year with 3 podium finishes…
THE ANNUAL COMPETITION
Hearty congratulations to Steve Randall who was a runaway winner for 2019! 2 wins, 5 other podium placings and over the year he finished in the top 10 on 10 out of 12 occasions – the model of consistency and a well-deserved winner!
Closer bunching further back with Tom Borland, John Tozer and Don Manley coming 2nd, 3rd and 4th, followed by Pete Milne and Satyen Nabar tying for 5th.
Well done to all and the slate is wiped clean for 2020 – GOOD LUCK!
| Pos | No. | Name | Clue | Explanation | Points | Merits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | S.Sreeni | Bubbly cocktail of peach with cut mango, mint and essence of matured rum liqueur (9)(9) | Left is CHAMPAGNE. Def: Bubbly. Anag (PEACH+MANG(-o) with “cocktail of” as anag. ind. Right is COINTREAU. Def: Liqueur COIN (mint – verb as in coin a phrase)+ anag of -m(ATURE)-d with Rum as Anag.ind. | 33 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | 8 | Neelima | Bubbly girl kept by mean chap, sadly a neurotic, turned to drink (9)(9) | R&L separation: Bubbly girl kept by mean chap, sadly // a neurotic, turned to drink; LEFT: Bubbly girl kept by mean chap, sadly; def=bubbly, girl=G, kept by=container-ind, (MEAN CHAP)*, sadly=anagram-ind; RIGHT: a neurotic, turned to drink; (A NEUROTIC)*, turned=anagram-ind, to=connector, def=drink; Surface: story of a kept woman taking to drink | 28 | 1 | 4 |
| 3 | 22 | Neil Mondal | French region's map change ruined a Nice tour; supply drink | French region = definition for Champagne, *(map change); *(a Nice tour), drink = definition | 25.5 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | 12 | Satyen Nabar | Bubbly winner's date drinks new liqueur with funny reaction for all to see | Bubbly= Champagne, CHAMP + AGE around N (new), liqueur= Cointreau, REACTION* + U (for all to see) | 23.5 | 1 | 2 |
| 5 | 32 | Vinit Wankhede | Victor and Agnes mostly drink liqueur at our nice club | Victor = CHAMP + AGNE (Agnes mostly), drink = defn // liqueur = defn at our nice = ATOURNICE = fodder, club = anagrind | 20.5 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 | 27 | Tom Borland | Moan about barren ground, fruit a pale yellow, mangy peach after year spent spraying | CRY (moan) round *BARREN; fruit = cranberry; *MANG(Y) + PEACH; a pale yellow = champagne | 17.5 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | 37 | John Doylend | Without hesitation substituted cheap magnum in place of wine liqueur (ice ran out unfortunately) (9,9) | Anagrams of CHEAPMAGNUM – UM (substituted) and ICERANOUT (unfortunately); defs "place of wine" (Champagne) and "liqueur" (Cointreau) | 17 | 2 | 2 |
| 8 | 29 | Terry Neale | Play game regularly with panache, getting some bubbly orange drink creation prepared by university | Play = anagrind; game regularly with panache = g + m + panache* (champagne); getting = link word to def; some bubbly = def / orange drink = def (cointreau); creation* = cointrea; prepared = anagrind; by university = + u | 13.5 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | 3 | Steve Randall | Actioner shot around posh part of cosmopolitan region has hero Cagney robbing banks | ACTIONER* around U (posh) = COINTREAU (part of cosmopolitan) / CHAMPAGNE (region) has CHAMP (hero) + [c]AGNE[y] | 12 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | 4 | Bhalchandra Pasupathy | Airing open wine to make out with a nicer drink | Champagne = ~champaign(open), def wine / Cointreau = (out a nicer)*, def drink. Ref Chambers | 11 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | 33 | Victor has time to consume new bubbly liqueur that's producing the beginning of unforgettable reaction | CHAMP/AG<N>E [CHAMPAGNE bubbly] and UREACTION* [COINTREAU liqueur] | 10.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 12 | 19 | Drink fizzy tonic water in Reims after a bit of robust bubbly, whipped ganache and slices of mouthwatering pastries | COINTREAU (drink) (TONIC anag with EAU after R); CHAMPAGNE (bubbly) (GANACHE + M + P anag) | 10 | 1 | 1 | |
| 13 | 14 | Carer with Bryn's new fruit liqueur, drunk to cure an infection, primarily. | CRANBERRY: (CARER BRYN)*; def = fruit. COINTREAU: def = liqueur; (TO CURE AN I)*. | 9.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 13 | 36 | Winner's corner having a good bubbly drink unfortunately ice ran out | CHAMPAGNE – Indirect: CHAMP + NE [winner's ('s=has) corner (NE)] having (container ind.) A G(ood) Direct: bubbly COINTREAU – Direct: drink Indirect: unfortunately (anag. ind) ice ran out (anag. fodder) | 9.5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 15 | 23 | Going astray, change Pam for bubbly cutie Nora, unsteady in drink | Anagram CHANGE PAM = champagne, bubbly = definition; anagram CUTIE NORA = cointreau, drink = definition | 8.5 | 2 | 1 | |
| 16 | 35 | Vintage fashion mag, cheap and new, worried a neurotic contributor to Cosmopolitan | Vintage: CHAMPAGNE; vintage = wine (poetically) [ODE 1.2] | fashion: anagrind | mag, cheap and new: MAG CHEAP N; fodder || worried: anagrind (Chambers) | a neurotic: A NEUROTIC; fodder | contributor to Cosmopolitan: COINTREAU; a key ingredient of the cocktail [International Bartenders Association] || SURFACE: Cosmopolitan = the fashion mag | 8 | 0 | 2 | |
| 17 | 30 | Pop vocalist’s faux anguish spilled out in a record? Not half, it’s bittersweet and heady | CHAMPAGNE / COINTREAU; ‘sham pain’, pop informal name for champagne; anag. of out in a rec(ord) | 7.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 18 | 11 | Bubbly winner, cricketer Jonathan, endlessly neurotic, with a distilled orange drink | CHAMP + AGNE(W); NEUROTIC + A anagram | 7 | 1 | ||
| 19 | 34 | Victor takes his time grasping new, bubbly type of bog – gets sort of red | CHAMP+AG(N)E/CRANBERRY (double def.) | 6.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 20 | 5 | Angers spirit? A neurotic's convulsed with simulated agony, they say, becoming bubbly. | Angers spirit = Cointreau (spirit made in Angers, France)/anag (a neurotic)/simulated agony = sham pain (homophone) = Champagne/bubbly = Champagne. | 6 | 0 | 1 | |
| 20 | 31 | Sadly neurotic after swallowing a liqueur with bubbly, to feign distress we hear. | Neurotic (anag)..COINTRE(a)U..SHAM/to feign PAIN/distress. | 6 | 1 | 4 | |
| 22 | 2 | A winter fest, you’ll have heard, is made merrier by black and white Russians. | A winter fest, ie Christmas = Yule (you’ll homophone); Black and White Russians are both vodka based cocktails | 5 | 0 | 5 | |
| 23 | 10 | Bubbly Meghan involved with PC and a harassed auctioneer loses tip of emerald – it's found in between the sheets | (MEGHAN + PC + A)* / (AUCTIONEER – E)* bubbly=champagne / between the sheets is a cointreau cocktail. | 4.5 | 0 | ||
| 24 | 13 | Campaign not one he planned for bubbly liqueur a true icon blended | campa(i)gnhe*: atrueicon*. | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| 24 | 17 | Corruptly Simpkin, we hear, pretended sheet of stamps confused non-European auctioneer. It's essentially orange. | Simpkin – corruption of champagne. Sham pane -> champagne [note: pretended is verb for surface reading, adjective for wordplay]. Cointreau anag of auctioneer-e. | 3 | 0 | 1 | |
| 26 | 6 | Best bubbly a true icon mixed with ice and tequila for margarita | Best & Bubbly (both meanings for champagne), a true icon (anagram for Cointreau) mixed (indicator for anagram) with ice and tequila for Margarita (straight clue for Cointreau as this is how it is used) | 2.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 27 | 26 | I'm drunk and spirited, awful loveless roué, action man grabbing married 'holy' woman being bubbly | anag.minus o, m in chap Agnes (name means 'holy') | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
| 28 | 9 | Bubbly Guy, me (half-cut) and little Agnes are in court with no end of beer, drunk at Xmas! | Chap(m)agne / Cointreau – anag of 'are in court minus 'r') | 1.5 | 1 | 1 | |
| 28 | 20 | Drink making a neurotic bubbly, leads to party adopting mood change, correct | COINTREAU=A+NEUROTIC anag; bubbly=weepy/CHAMPAGNE=P+A+M+anag+CHANGE | 1.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 30 | 1 | A characteristic of Margarita's treatment of a neurotic horse in French country region | Cointreau , definition + treatment (anagrind) + a neurotic (anagram fodder) horse in French country (c(h)ampagne) + region = definition | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 30 | 15 | Chap (man), e.g., stirred bubbly liqueur a true icon shook | Both anagrams | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 32 | 16 | Cordial captain selected for three Italian "golden" clubs fled the best, in singular fashion – the sauce! | CO+IN+TRE+AU/C+RAN+BERRY (singular of berries) | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 32 | 18 | Cosmopolitan French quarter – ice ran out, re-ordered Charlie's drink? Fizz! | Cointreau (made in France) is 1 of 4 ingredients in a classic Cosmopolitan cocktail (surface refers New Orleans famous French Quarter); Anagram of 'Ice ran out'; indicator = re-ordered; ref: champagne Charlie; Fizz = bubbly/polite exclamation of annoyance. | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 32 | 21 | French drinks producing fuddled neurotica and sad dampening ignoring drunken din after tea | NEUROTICA* + CHA and (DAMPENING* less DIN)* | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 32 | 24 | Hearing foul tales may make a certain coward merry. | Foul tales = homophone for fowl tails = cocktails; coward, ie Noel = Christmas | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| 32 | 25 | ILL town sounds like a wine liqueur cocktail a true icon. | ILL town (CHAMPAIGN) cocktail of "a true icon". Hence champagne, Cointreau. | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 32 | 28 | Nice guy Alexander McQueen starts ordering cheap sparkling wine for all after avant-garde creation featured in Cosmopolitan | Nice guy Alexander McQueen starts – NGAM (part fodder); ordering – anagrind; cheap – CHEAP (rest fodder); sparkling wine – def1 (CHAMPAGNE); for all – U; after – position indicator; avant-garde – anagrind; creation – fodder; featured in Cosmopolitan – def2 (COINTREAU), Cointreau is an ingredient of a Cosmopolitan, which is also a fashion mag | 0 | 1 | 4 |