CCCWC February 2022 competition results
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64 clues entered. 48 votes cast (43 competitors, 5 others).
DOLCE VITA
February's challenge resulted in a very close run competition…
…congratulations go to John Appleton, who came out top by a mere point and a half and follows up his second place last month – a very strong start to the year! John managed to find a simple anagram – that no-one else offered – but it worked so aptly with the definition to provide a convincing surface.
Just behind in second place was Phil Stephenson, first podium since last year, with a very neat &lit – well done Phil.
Not too far back in third spot was Nathan Townshend with another convincing surface in his clue.
Steve Randall returns to form clinching fourth place with the best of the clues that utilised "The Good Life", bringing back memories to those of us of a certain age!
Welcome to Sanket Anurag Shrivastava, a new name taking the final podium spot. Sanket's clue exploited the Covid potential and cleverly also included delta (variant). I didn't spot the Covid element when choosing the clue phrase, but I was surprised it didn't appear more than it did – I suppose it was hard to link it to the definition – it has hardly been DOLCE VITA for the last two years or so!
Thanks to everyone as always – good luck for March!
| Pos | No. | Name | Clue | Explanation | Points | Merits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 31 | John Appleton | Maybe Cato lived a fine life in Rome | (CATOLIVED)*; | 44.5 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | 26 | Phil Stephenson | It's lived at banks of Como lavishly | lived at C[om]o anagram & lit. | 43 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | 47 | Nathan Townshend | Sad valedictory lines recalled a life well lived | Sad = anagrind; valedictory = fodder; lines recalled = delete RY; a life well lived = definition | 36 | 3 | 5 |
| 4 | 9 | Steve Randall | Copyright violated in remake of The Good Life | anagram (in remake) of C + VIOLATED | 35.5 | 3 | 5 |
| 5 | 11 | Sanket Anurag Shrivastava | Decadent way of life died out with COVID Delta variant (5,4) | Anagram of [ coviddelta* – D (died) ] | 31 | 3 | 4 |
| 6 | 55 | John Tozer | Staff at No. 10 led it after working late with Covid? | anag.; ref. Partygate | 30 | 4 | 3 |
| 7 | 43 | Charlie Oakley | Practise active exercises after 50 for good life | Practise = DO, ACTIVE*, exercises – anagrind, after 50=L. Good life = definition. | 29.5 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | 52 | Joe Rees | Silly old Clarence's wings the heart of movie It's a Wonderful Life (5,4) | Silly old=OLD*; Clarence's wings=CE: the heart of movie=V; It's a=IT has A=ITA; Wonderful Life=definition (surface is a reference to the plot of the film) | 26 | 2 | 1 |
| 9 | 54 | Steve Hicks | Spoilt monarch regularly lived a bit of this | &lit. anag(.O.A.C. LIVED T) | 21 | 3 | 4 |
| 10 | 5 | Tony Harker | Cat I loved ran wild – a life of self-indulgence. | Anag CATILOVED | 20.5 | 3 | 1 |
| 11 | 18 | Fresh vocal edit for Happy Days | VOCAL EDIT anagram & lit | 19.5 | 3 | 2 | |
| 12 | 56 | Stray cat I loved had life of Riley | *CATILOVED | 19 | 1 | 4 | |
| 13 | 41 | Playboy's life models, unclothed, act excited about sex | Def=Playboy's life. Anagram (indicated by 'excited') of: [m]odel[s], act – around sex=Latin six=VI | 18 | 1 | 4 | |
| 14 | 57 | Sweet life of scruffy cat I loved | {CAT I LOVED} anagram | 17 | 3 | ||
| 15 | 16 | Extraordinary act – I loved "The good life" (5,4) | Def: The good life; ACTILOVED*; reference to the old British sitcom | 16.5 | 3 | 1 | |
| 15 | 64 | World ultimately free from wave of Covid delta, leading to a life of luxury! (5,4) | Anagram (wave of) of Covid delta minus D (world, ultimately) | 16.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 17 | 15 | Entertaining old cat lived fantastic life of luxury | anag (fantastic) of CATLIVED containing (entertaining) O / def = life of luxury | 13 | 2 | ||
| 17 | 51 | Setter's caught shooting up, introduced to dope by a lot of wealthy Italians | I'VE + C < (shooting up) in DOLT by A. Down clue. | 13 | 0 | 3 | |
| 17 | 63 | What’s lived at Cape Cod, embracing the essence of luxuriousness? | O (centre of luxuriOusness) in anag of LIVED AT C (abbr. of Cape); Cod = anag indicator (sham). &lit – ref. to Cape Cod, US exclusive holiday destination | 13 | 1 | 3 | |
| 20 | 37 | Perform debauched live act, enjoyed by all at a Roman orgy? | do/perform…live act (anag) | 11.5 | 2 | 2 | |
| 21 | 8 | Cold Play musical and Paris hit | DD: _; COLD* + EVITA (musical); Ryan hit = title of 1983 hit recording by Ryan Paris; (Cold Play – most successful band of 21st century. | 11 | 1 | 4 | |
| 21 | 58 | Terrible cold has Ms Peron holding on for sweet life | EVITA ("Ms Peron") holding on to DOLC (Anag. of "cold"). | 11 | 1 | 4 | |
| 23 | 22 | Having abandoned Corleone, lad Vito criminally finds life of luxury | Anagram ("criminally") of (CE + LAD VITO); in wordplay, "abandoned" = completely deserted, i.e., "Corleone" emptied of its inner letters; def: life of luxury. In The Godfather, young Vito Andolini flees the town of Corleone and becomes a wealthy mafia don. | 10.5 | 3 | 2 | |
| 23 | 48 | Saved from playing devil’s advocate in time of trouble? Just the opposite! | anag of 'devil’s advocate' minus 'saved' | 10.5 | 2 | ||
| 25 | 38 | Perform live act about hedonism | Do + anag. | 10 | 4 | 1 | |
| 25 | 46 | Roman indulgence represented by Ovid with éclat | *OVID + ECLAT; def. Roman indulgence | 10 | 1 | 2 | |
| 27 | 36 | Party, act, live crazy good life (5,4) | Party = DO; (ACT + LIVE)* = anagram fodder; Crazy = anagramind; Good life = definition | 9.5 | 2 | 1 | |
| 28 | 60 | Unimaginative clods living it up? (5,4) | Down clue. Hidden reversal | 8.5 | 2 | 4 | |
| 29 | 4 | Breaking code vital if you are to gain this indulgence | (CODE VITAL))* Definition Indulgence | 8 | 1 | 2 | |
| 30 | 50 | Self-indulgent luxury event attended by local council leaders, with musical accompaniment | Definition is self-indulgent luxury. DO LC EVITA | 7.5 | 1 | 3 | |
| 31 | 3 | After cold cocktail, Argentine first lady abandoned life. | cold cocktail [DOLC], Argentine first lady [EVITA] abandoned life [def] | 7 | 3 | 3 | |
| 31 | 42 | Playing devil's advocate saved lost version of The Good Life | (devil's advocate)* – saved. the good life is a version of dolce vita | 7 | 1 | 1 | |
| 31 | 45 | Refined old rogue active in a life full of indulgence (5, 4) | Fodder: old + active Anagrinds: refined + rogue Definition: A life full of indulgence | 7 | 2 | ||
| 34 | 40 | Perverted vice at old Roman orgies? (5, 4) | anagram of VICE AT OLD | 6.5 | 4 | ||
| 35 | 10 | Days of excess mingling late with Covid | (latecovid)* | 6 | 1 | 2 | |
| 35 | 21 | Happy Days musical inferior to old classic originally broadcast | Happy Days = def; EVITA after (OLD C)* (down clue); anagrind = broadcast. Reviews of the musical confirm the assertion! | 6 | 2 | 2 | |
| 35 | 39 | Perform vile act, going astray for life of luxury | DO + (VILE ACT)* | 6 | 2 | 1 | |
| 38 | 7 | Cold cocktail I've drunk thanks to life of luxury | COLD cocktail (anagram indicator) IVE drunk (anagram indicator). Thanks to = TA. Life of luxury = definition | 5.5 | 1 | ||
| 38 | 24 | Idiot backing musical, Italian version of The Good Life | CLOD backing + EVITA | 5.5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 38 | 44 | Reckless advice to inspire student to find life of hedonism | ADVICETO*(reckless) outside L [inspire student]{=}to find Def: life of hedonism | 5.5 | 2 | 2 | |
| 41 | 59 | Troubled valediction in sadly quitting a life of luxury | VALEDICTION* – IN* | 5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 42 | 27 | Kind of old active life of indulgence | OLDACTIVE*. Nostalgic take on the old days when technology didn't dominate our lives. People worked hard, ate voraciously, and drank well too! That normal thing looks like a life of indulgence to this new generation glued to mobile screens nearly full time. | 4.5 | 2 | 3 | |
| 43 | 53 | Social advancement means this can start | comp. anag & lit., recycled from my VHC in Azed 809! – 'this' was in italics | 4 | 1 | 5 | |
| 44 | 12 | Deplorably late covid changes to Italian lifestyle | Anagram of LATE COVID | 3.5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 44 | 61 | Unimaginative clods, upwardly mobile, have good life | substring (indicated by "have") reversed (indicated by "upwardly mobile") of UNIMAGINATIVECLODS. Definition is good life | 3.5 | 2 | 3 | |
| 46 | 23 | Hunk making a comeback fronts musical film (5,4) | Hunk making a comeback = CLOD< / Fronts = link / Musical = Evita / Film = Def | 3 | 2 | 5 | |
| 46 | 35 | Ordered vital decor – donor finally going to provide luxuriousness | Anagram of VITAL+DECOR minus R. Ref the Johnsons. | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| 48 | 19 | Funny old musical about Catholic’s easy life | *OLD + C + EVITA; easy life = def | 2.5 | 1 | 3 | |
| 49 | 29 | Life of luxury? Thanks – strangely, I'd love $100 first | Definition = "Life of luxury". (IDLOVEC)* in front of ("first") TA. C = $100; ta = "Thanks" | 2 | 1 | ||
| 50 | 33 | No end of condemnation for violent cad fiddling a life of luxury | violent cad = anagram fodder (minus 'n' [end of condemnation]); fiddling = anagrind; a life of luxury = def | 1.5 | 2 | ||
| 51 | 6 | Clothe Diva for a life of pleasure and luxury… | Definition: life of pleasure and luxury… anagram: "clothe diva" | 1 | 0 | 4 | |
| 51 | 28 | Late Covid ruined Conte's sweet life (5,4) | Anagram (ruined) of LATECOVID Last 3 words = def (Conte indicating an Italian phrase) | 1 | 5 | 2 | |
| 51 | 32 | Nitwit backed musical version of ‘The Good Life’ | CLOD rev + EVITA; def = version of ‘The Good Life’ (1970s TV show) | 1 | 1 | ||
| 54 | 17 | Federico's work party loves compassionate leaders Mrs Peron! | Federico's work = definition; party = DO; leaders indicates first letters of (L)oves (C)ompassionate; Mrs Peron = EVITA | 0.5 | 0 | 6 | |
| 54 | 20 | Halcyon time resulting from stupid fellow returning to Señora Perón’s side | Halcyon time – def. Dolce Vita – resulting from stupid fellow (clod) returning – dolc – to Señora Perón’s (Evita) side. Reference Agustin Magaldi | 0.5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 54 | 25 | Italian movie (ignore Hollywood setting) starred cat I loved | La Dolce Vita (Itlaian movie) minus LA (ignore Hollywood setting) (cat I loved)*, starred acting as anagrind like in cryptic crossword annotations | 0.5 | 2 | 3 | |
| 57 | 1 | A bounteous life in clover and it results in mutiny, deserting the navy. (5,4) | Def: A bounteous life. Anagrind-results in mutiny- CLOVER AND IT (minus RN-the navy) | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 57 | 2 | A primarily Latin course of life, to idle around? | (A cv to idle)* cv = cursus vitae | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 57 | 13 | Do evil act diplorably for pleasure seeking? (5 4) | Anno: anagram of ‘do evil act’. Def: pleasure seeking | 0 | 3 | 3 | |
| 57 | 14 | Ecstasy follows shivering cold — rather essential for the good life (5,4) | ‘Ecstasy’ = E | ‘shivering’ = anagrind | ‘shivering cold’ = DOLC | ‘follows’ = E after DOLC | ‘essential’ = VITAL | ‘rather essential’ = VITA | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| 57 | 30 | Lifestyle in which Claude, say, raised little Eva. | Lifestyle = definition, say Claude = clod, raised = dolc + Evita (a.k.a. little Eva) Suitable for a down clue. | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 57 | 34 | No other ranks besides actor I'd love for remake of "The Good Life" (5 4) | for remake of = anagram indicator, actor I'd love ,minus "or",(no other ranks besides)= anagram fodder + definition | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 57 | 49 | Self-indulgent life featuring sex in alcove with top disrobed frantically | IT in (ALCOVE + D)* | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| 57 | 62 | Vital code decoded sweet life in Rome | Anagram (decoded) of vital code; definition DOLCE VITA as sweet life in Italian language spoken in Rome | 0 | 1 | 1 |