CCCWC January 2022 competition results
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75 clues entered. 54 votes cast (51 competitors, 3 others).
UNDERGROUND
So, to the first competition of 2022 – and some new names in the frame.
Congratulations to Seerat who has achieved a first victory after commencing competition last year. A neat and concise clue and a surface reading with a hint of mystery…a very convincing win – well done!
Second place went to John Appleton – no stranger to the podium (last one in July 2021) with another double definition, the second one beautifully cryptic.
Myrtilus continued a consistent streak in the five months they have been competing. Another very nice surface along with some neat wordplay.
Another new name next – Oliver achieves fourth place after just three entries – a nice surface reading again!
Andy Smith is another who has had a consistent run over the past year or so and continues that with a fifth place. An amusing surface reading that reflects my own golfing ability!
Thanks to all for getting the new year off to a great start – onwards and upwards to February!
| Pos | No. | Name | Clue | Explanation | Points | Merits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 | Seerat Hazir | How to get to Victoria’s Secret? (11) | DD/CD | 81.5 | 0 | 8 |
| 2 | 47 | John Appleton | Resistance not entirely crushed? | Double def. | 43 | 4 | 5 |
| 3 | 25 | Myrtilus | Hidden guns shelled the German base | [g]un[s] ('shelled'), Der, base=ground (e.g. grounded/based in fact) | 42 | 1 | 6 |
| 4 | 7 | Oliver | Audacious drug run done with network of tunnels (11) | Anagram: drug run done. Def: network of tunnels | 37.5 | 7 | 8 |
| 5 | 32 | Andy Smith | Inferior golf – all eighteen holes bunkered | UNDER + G(olf) + ROUND. Bunker = underground shelter. | 37 | 6 | 5 |
| 6 | 51 | Ed Hall | Rude Northern German ordered drinks for all of us? Where’s mine? (11) | Anagram of RUDE + N (northern) + G (German), ROUND = drinks for all of us? “Where’s mine?” = definition (ref coal mine etc) | 36.5 | 2 | 4 |
| 7 | 45 | Tom Borland | Pose on red rug nude, not keeping one's rear concealed | *ON RED RUG NUD(e); def. concealed | 30.5 | 5 | 2 |
| 8 | 8 | Luciano Ward | Behind closed doors, frisky nude starts to rouse gents with dance | NUDE anag + R+G + ROUND (kind of dance); def = behind closed doors | 27.5 | 1 | 6 |
| 9 | 30 | Alastair Gerrard | In hiding, posh despicable Andrew, stripped of wings, has ban from usual activities | Definition is In hiding. U (posh) + anagram of (a)NDRE(w) (stripped of wings) + GROUND (ban from usual activities – in Chambers). Reference to some hypothetical posh person called Andrew who used to fly. | 27 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | 75 | Joe Rees | Where's mine? (11) | cryptic definition (a mine is underground) | 27 | 8 | 2 |
| 11 | 15 | Drug run done by arrangement in secret (11) | Definition: Secret. Anno: DRUGRUNDONE*. Anagrind: by arrangement | 26 | 5 | 3 | |
| 11 | 55 | Secret mole's location | Double definition | 26 | 3 | 3 | |
| 13 | 20 | Foul dungeon – murder for me here? | comp. anag; dungeon + murder = me + underground | 22.5 | 2 | 1 | |
| 14 | 3 | After dune collapses, beachgoer ultimately gets crushed here | (DUNE)* + R + GROUND; "gets" serves as a connective element while smoothing the surface | 16 | 1 | 1 | |
| 15 | 56 | Secret resistance movement not adequately crushed | Double definition | 15.5 | 5 | 3 | |
| 15 | 61 | The German plot to follow one from the French Resistance | The German = DER; plot = GROUND; one from the French = UN Resistance = definition (adjective as in resistance movement) | 15.5 | 4 | 2 | |
| 17 | 42 | Our drug den busted, last of heroin found inside – hidden here. | undergrou(n)d..our drug den (anag)…last of heroi(n) | 15 | 0 | 2 | |
| 18 | 73 | Where miners are coarse (11) | DD Not ground enough vs coal mine location – surface: plain speaking of coal miners. | 14 | 3 | ||
| 19 | 31 | In the grave, urned perhaps? | In the grave = definition; under ground could produce urned | 13 | 1 | 3 | |
| 20 | 11 | Clue set to go down well? | Answer as wordplay for GO: Under G, round. Def by example | 12.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 20 | 67 | Tuber mostly seen here! (11) | Tuber (e.g. potato) grows underground mostly, a tuber (one who travels in The Tube) can be seen in the TUBE(-r) "mostly" which is Underground – &littish CD | 12.5 | 2 | 4 | |
| 22 | 1 | A French socialist uprising: good honest resistance | UN + RED<- (down clue) + G + ROUND ; def = resistance. Ref French Revolution | 11.5 | 3 | 2 | |
| 22 | 6 | Articles of Europe bring down resistance organisation | articles of Europe = UN + DER; bring down = GROUND; resistance organisation = def. | 11.5 | 2 | 2 | |
| 22 | 70 | Urned? | These days urns are often buried therefore underground | 11.5 | 4 | 3 | |
| 25 | 23 | Group's leader shot after a French communist uprising, leading to anti-government resistance | Group's leader = g; shot = round; after = positional indicator; a French = un; communist uprising = red (reversed); leading to = link to def; anti-government resistance = def. | 11 | 1 | 2 | |
| 26 | 37 | Lumpy ‘gravy’? | i.e. ‘under-ground’ and ‘like a grave’ (cf. wavy) | 10.5 | 1 | 4 | |
| 27 | 58 | Subway mostly serve a sandwich | serve[= undergo] minus o + round[= a sandwich]. ref. Subway Sandwich shops | 8.5 | 4 | 2 | |
| 28 | 72 | What lies below is primarily unsurprising: Nadine's first to defend our garden parties without hint of atonement (11) | Def: what lies below. Wordplay: UN (primarily unsurprising, Nadine's) + D (first to defend) + (OURGARDEN)* without the A (hint of atonement). Surface: anyone who's seen Ms Dorries' recent interviews will presumably understand! | 7.5 | 1 | 3 | |
| 29 | 26 | How mafiosi allegedly make their cappuccino? | Riddle: mafiosi = underground; cappuccino made with coarse grind, ie “under ground” | 7 | 0 | 2 | |
| 30 | 9 | Being thrown in dungeon ends in utter despair here | anag (being thrown in) of DUNGEON + U[tte]R D[espai]R, def is whole clue | 6.5 | 2 | 4 | |
| 30 | 43 | Partisans and German casualty arrive at stadium | UND+ER+GROUND | 6.5 | 2 | ||
| 30 | 44 | Pierre and Gunter’s articles on real estate describe Mafia dealings | Pierre (French) Gunter (German) articles = un + der; real estate = ground; (def) Mafia dealings | 6.5 | 1 | 1 | |
| 30 | 53 | Ruined, fears Garbo, ruined: every other character should be dropped and buried. | rUiNeDfEaRsGaRbOrUiNeD: def buried. | 6.5 | 3 | 1 | |
| 34 | 2 | A rebellious group too coarse, we surmise? | 2 defs incl. fanciful def. for not ground (powdered)sufficiently | 6 | 3 | 1 | |
| 34 | 24 | Gruesome dungeon murder left me shaken and sunken (11) | dungeonmurder* – me | 6 | 1 | 4 | |
| 34 | 34 | Like excessively large coffee granules in a tube? | Under-ground (hence not small enough). | 6 | 3 | 1 | |
| 37 | 50 | Royal limited by experience regularly turned against establishment | Royal limited by experience = UNDERG(R)O + UND (regularly turned) | 5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 38 | 21 | Global force beat up red then crushed resistance. | Global force [UN] beat up red [DER] then crushed [GROUND] resistance (definition) | 4.5 | 1 | 1 | |
| 38 | 65 | Tube is too large | Tube = underground; too large = not ground enough = underground | 4.5 | 0 | 4 | |
| 40 | 29 | Illegal drug one chopped up and used, once or twice, casually | Letter bank clue (anagram of the letters D, R, U, G, O, N and E, each used once or twice) / Def = illegal | 4 | 0 | 1 | |
| 40 | 52 | Ruined cryptic clue when one's forgotten to indicate hidden (11) | UNDERGROUND = UNDER* = RU(i)NED* | 4 | 1 | 1 | |
| 40 | 68 | Two foreign articles land a transport system | UN + DER + (land) GROUND | 4 | 0 | 2 | |
| 43 | 57 | Secretly run to drug den, perhaps wanting a bit of tranquillity | (RUN TO DRUG DEN)* – T(ranquillity) | 3.5 | 1 | 1 | |
| 44 | 35 | Local one, District originally, runs lines such as Circle | &lit. UN (Local one) + D + R goes inside (“lines”) EG ROUND (such as Circle; a round is a circle). London Underground started as the District Railway, now has Circle line etc. | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| 44 | 59 | The German base after a French subversive (11) | Def: subversive DER (the german) +GROUND (base – in the verbal form eg to base) after UN (a french) | 3 | 1 | ||
| 44 | 60 | The German nun cooked with gourd, insufficiently pulverized | (DER + NUN + GOURD)*, defn = not ground enough | 3 | 0 | 4 | |
| 47 | 38 | Nude criminal runs in front of entrance of garden near metro (11) | Anagram of NUDE (criminal being anagrind) + R (runs, cricket reference) in front of G (initial letter from garden, 'entrance of' being first letter selection indicator) + ROUND (near as in around/about) Definition = Metro | 2.5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 48 | 13 | Cryptically somewhere wonderful where wolf is delivered ? (10) | Anagram of wonderful minus the letters of wolf with ground as the indicator. Is then a semi andlit. | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
| 48 | 64 | Tube is insufficiently hollowed out | "insufficiently" = UNDER; "hollowed out" = past tense of GRIND (e.g., when grinding a concave lens); "Tube" = lit. | 2 | 1 | 4 | |
| 50 | 19 | First recorded location of Wellington or Tobermory, perhaps? | Cryptic Definition. Wellington and Tobermory are Wombles. The opening word of their first song was 'Underground, (Overground, Wombling Free)'. | 1.5 | 3 | 3 | |
| 50 | 36 | Location of buried relic that is runed? (11) | Location of buried relic = def / that is = link / runed = (UNDER)*ground | 1.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 50 | 39 | Nuder below the surface | Reverse anagram of Nuder. Definition = below the surface | 1.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 53 | 5 | Alternative lifestyle's possibly nuder (11) | Definition = Alternative lifestyle = UNDERGROUND; possibly nuder = cryptic definition for (UNDER)* GROUND; Surface uses nuder in sense of "more nude" | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 53 | 10 | Buried nuder cryptically? | ddef. Nuder is (under)*, or underground with ground as anagram indicator | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 53 | 17 | Ed, run for it! | It = anagrind of Ed run | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
| 53 | 28 | Hush-hush meeting place for Barking man and Tooting woman? | Hush-hush (definition, i.e. secret), London Underground stations (Barking, Tooting Bec or Tooting Broadway) | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 53 | 63 | Therefore, with Russian front held either side and in Berlin, lay low? | Therefore = ERGO Russian front = R (held ie inserted in ERGO) And in Berlin = UND UND is either side of ERG(R)O Lay low = definition as a verb (as in cables and pipes) | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 53 | 71 | Victoria’s a French Revolutionary in retreat, and was pulverized! | Victoria (Underground Line and Statiion, def)’s a French (Un) Revolutionary (red), in retreat (der), and was pulverized (ground)! | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| 53 | 74 | Where you may find a root tube (11) | Double def | 1 | 1 | 5 | |
| 60 | 18 | Fine after falling short of anti-establishment tendencies | GROUND (fine) after UNDER (falling short) | 0.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 60 | 22 | Go in hiding ? (11) | #down clue. Wordplay is GO= UNDER G, O(round) in a down clue. Definition IN HIDING (hidden). The “?” indicates some unusual wordplay | 0.5 | 1 | 1 | |
| 60 | 48 | Roger Bent and German couple harbour secret | ROGER* inside UND × 2 (and German couple harbour) = UND(ERGRO*)UND. Def: secret | 0.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 60 | 66 | Tube to pass through opening in order to withdraw bullet | UNDERG(O)ROUND, to pass through=undergo, less O(opening in order); bullet=round. def=Tube | 0.5 | 3 | 2 | |
| 64 | 4 | After separation, this makes rude companion finally reveal secret | UNDER*[ground as anagrind]=RUDE/N; definition as in secret/underground movement | 0 | 0 | ||
| 64 | 12 | Covert sub force ammunition. | Covert = def. Sub(under) force(G) ammunition(round) | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 64 | 14 | Disconcerted crusader abandons case in derelict dungeon, citing its location | CRUSADER minus CASE = RUDR, plus DUNGEON is anagram of UNDERGROUND, the location of a dungeon | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 64 | 16 | Drune? | In tribute to scrambled eggs, which I love. | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| 64 | 33 | Instruct subject to move forward out of sight (11) | Instruct = GROUND subject to = UNDER move forward = place UNDER in front of GROUND out of sight = definition | 0 | 1 | ||
| 64 | 40 | Nuder, in a secret place? | (under)* ground is anagrind | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 64 | 41 | Nuder secret? | Reverse Anagram of ‘nuder‘ with anagrind ‘ground’ = UNDERGROUND | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 64 | 46 | Red gun round was thrown in the basement (11) | Fodder: Red gun round Was thrown: Anagrind The basement: Underground | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 64 | 49 | Roger operates between two German Boolean operators beneath the surface | An anagram (operates) of ROGER is found inside UND and UND (two German Boolean operators) that is AND and AND in English giving the definition meaning beneath the surface | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| 64 | 54 | Rump-end PM leaving party with Lords possibly illegally? (11) | Anagram (party) of RUMP END without PM = UNDER + Lords, possibly = GROUND (cricket). Def. = illegally. | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| 64 | 62 | The racing car torn asunder ground to a halt… | Answer within clue – asunder ground | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| 64 | 69 | Unorthodox core of Barnaby Rudge changed game | Unorthodox = def., anag. of n (core of Barnaby) + Rudge, game = round | 0 | 1 | 2 |