CCCWC April 2013 competition results
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52 clues entered. 47 votes cast (42 competitors, 5 others).
NEBULAR
A runaway winner this month. Dave Parfitt is no stranger to the podium and his excellent clue headed the field by some way – well done Dave! – and well done David! – Mr Harry pops onto the podium for his first visit this year, just heading up a very tightly packed chasing group.
A tie for 3rd spot with Roslyn making her first appearance since her top spot at the end of 2011, and Trevor making a very welcome return to competition after far too long a break – 5th place goes to Luciano.
Congratulations to all for making the effort in what was a much tougher challenge!
| Pos | No. | Name | Clue | Explanation | Points | Merits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Dave Parfitt | Being of heavenly appearance, Lauren Bacall initially modelled | LAUREN + B(acall) anag.; 'nebula' in Chambers = 'a faint, misty appearance in the heavens…' | 77 | 0 | 8 |
| 2 | 51 | David Harry | With cloud unable to disperse, heading for rain | Unable*, r | 38 | 3 | 4 |
| 3 | 2 | Roslyn Rougvie | Abandoned lunar base as forgotten as the distant stars | Anag. of lunar base minus as; def =as the distant stars | 37 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 46 | Trevor Crowther | That ends leaving turntable playing "Misty" | Anag of TURNTABLE – TT. Ref ending of film 'Play Misty for me' | 37 | 2 | 5 |
| 5 | 41 | Luciano Ward | Oil that's spread over backs of certain heavenly bodies? | LUBE (oil) that has (that's) RAN (spread) over (about) = RALUBEN; RALUBEN backs = NEBULAR; def = of certain heavenly bodies | 34 | 1 | 8 |
| 6 | 15 | Mike Baker | Craft unable to find pier without confusion; it's misty | Anag. UNABLE + (pie)R; pie2 = confusion | 28.5 | 4 | 5 |
| 7 | 38 | Margaret Irvine | Monstrous carbuncle Charlie completely overlooked in distant haze | carbuncle* minus Cs, ref Prince Charles' quote | 23 | 3 | 7 |
| 8 | 50 | John Tozer | Urban landscape's outline softens in a mist | anag. of urban l(andscap)e; def. 'in a mist' | 21 | 1 | 5 |
| 9 | 10 | Max Woghiren | Close to catching endless mass of interstellar dust | def: "of interstellar dust"; NE(BUL)AR (close to = NEAR, endless mass = BUL(k)) | 20.5 | 1 | 4 |
| 10 | 42 | Tim Moorey | Republican unable to be shifted on the issue of guns | anag incl R nebula = liquid in spray (gun); on = about; failure of Obama initiative | 20 | 1 | 7 |
| 11 | 21 | It is unclear how to reform New Labour without leaving them. | Def + "how to reform"* NE(W) LAB(O)UR – W/O "without leaving". | 19 | 3 | 6 | |
| 12 | 14 | Crablike, for instance, able to run obliquely to left | (ABLETORUN-TO)* Ref. The Crab Nebula | 18.5 | 2 | 6 | |
| 12 | 24 | Kiss ignored new lurex ban applying to star groups (7) | LUREXBAN* – X(Kiss), "applying to star groups" is the definition | 18.5 | 1 | 5 | |
| 14 | 34 | Like where lots of stars congregate, unable to get close to door for jostling | Anag unable + r | 17.5 | 1 | 4 | |
| 15 | 45 | Such a faint opacity (without bad pain) could make cornea a bit faulty | compound anagram & lit. | 17 | 1 | 8 | |
| 16 | 7 | Blue ran badly, giving off a cloudy appearance. | Anag/def. | 14 | 1 | 5 | |
| 16 | 52 | With points forming a blur | N + E (points) + (A BLUR)* &lit | 14 | 1 | 6 | |
| 18 | 17 | Form of a space blur? | &lit; (A EN BLUR)*; EN is a space, in printing; anagrind = "Form of" | 13.5 | 2 | 9 | |
| 19 | 37 | Misty blue rain with one missing at sea | Def = misty; (blue rain – i)* | 13 | 1 | 1 | |
| 20 | 22 | It's cloudy for stargazers, can't observe all of Taurus when in close proximity? | Cloudy = Ne(BUL)ar… Taurus = Bull.. close prox.= Near | 12.5 | 2 | 4 | |
| 21 | 29 | Like a little glowing object, shrouded in gases | &lit clue, with the wordplay being: Little glowing object = bul (bulb, shortened, with bulb itself a colloquial shortening of lightbulb). The gases are Neon (Ne) and Argon (Ar), with their usual periodic table symbols. 'Like' is there to give the &lit meaning the right part of speech, and is a spoken redundancy, like, when it comes to the wordplay | 12 | 2 | 8 | |
| 22 | 26 | Left, adopting mostly pretentious talk, lacking clarity | NEAR=Left; adopting(containment indicator); BUL=mostly bull(pretentious talk); ref Labour's unclear alternative to present government policy | 11 | 1 | 5 | |
| 23 | 3 | Almost bottles a lot of rubbish of cloudy appearance | BUL(L) in NEAR | 10.5 | 0 | 4 | |
| 23 | 36 | Misty, blear, unsettled | blear, un anag. & lit. | 10.5 | 1 | 8 | |
| 25 | 43 | Resembling a cloud – bulk almost entirely surrounded by neon and argon (7) | Def: Resembling a cloud NE(BULK – K)AR | 9.5 | 2 | 4 | |
| 26 | 8 | Boss unable to rule as a result of eye defect | UNABLE* (boss=to make a mess of) + R gives (as a result) NEBULAR (of eye defect) | 9 | 0 | 4 | |
| 27 | 31 | Like faint heavenly mist in the northeast; a blur dispersed. | def.+anag. | 8 | 1 | 2 | |
| 28 | 13 | Crab in space is sadly unable to run | unable* r. Definition "Crab in space is" refers to Crab Nebula. | 7.5 | 1 | 6 | |
| 28 | 20 | Holy book unites left and right leaders: cloudy result. | Holy book=NEB (New English Bible), ULAR (initials) = definition | 7.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 30 | 16 | Endless blarney you said misleadingly lacking clarity | (blarne + u)* = nebular; misleadingly = anagram indicator; lacking clarity = definition. | 7 | 1 | 6 | |
| 30 | 25 | Learn about taking backup on cloud | learn* containing bu (backup). Cloud refers to cloud computing. Nebular(cloudy)- on cloud (sense specific). (Tad technical ) & lit.! | 7 | 0 | 9 | |
| 30 | 49 | Unable to move right like a group of ancient stars. | Anagram of unable followed by right(R) definition:like a group of ancient stars | 7 | 0 | 3 | |
| 33 | 44 | Somewhat hazy – to lure and nab… | Anagram lure+nab; hazy= nebular | 6.5 | 0 | 7 | |
| 34 | 11 | Cloudlike mass almost hindered approach | BUL(K) = mass (almost) inside NEAR = approach; def: Cloudlike; surface alluding to a plane about to land | 6 | 1 | 3 | |
| 35 | 19 | Hazy areas looking like a blur (7) | direct = hazy; areas = n e (north and east) a blur = bular (looking like = anagram indicator) | 5.5 | 0 | 8 | |
| 36 | 1 | … as Horsehead is close to bringing oil up for energy (7) | NEAR with LUBE reversed instead of E. Horsehead is another name for the nodding donkey type of oil pump, also referring to the Horsehead Nebula. | 5 | 0 | 6 | |
| 36 | 5 | Ban rule change concerning horse's head? | BANRULE*; definition – adjective referring to 'Horsehead' as one example of a nebula | 5 | 1 | 6 | |
| 36 | 30 | Like a misty cloud close-by surrounding 75% of the constellation Taurus | NEAR around BUL(L) | 5 | 0 | 4 | |
| 39 | 27 | Lift off leads new exploration beyond Uranus, looking at region resembling a cloud | Lift off leads (remove 1st letters) = N E B U L A R; def = resembling a cloud | 4.5 | 0 | 6 | |
| 40 | 39 | New evidence basically upholds Laplace's astronomic rationale. | Acrostic | 4 | 0 | 8 | |
| 40 | 40 | Of slight cloudiness spread round circling scattered blue | RAN (rev) round BLUE* | 4 | 1 | 5 | |
| 42 | 32 | Like many stars, Laura doesn't have a problem after a bill is presented | NEB (bill) + LAUR(A) anag. | 3.5 | 0 | 8 | |
| 43 | 9 | burnable mixture: bout of gassy bodies | bURNABLE* [bout parses as b out] | 2 | 0 | 8 | |
| 43 | 35 | Maybe lunar perturbation, skipping a month, is to do with gaseous cloud. | "Maybe lunar" minus May (skipping a month) and def. "perturbation" indicates new order. | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| 45 | 12 | Cloudy with rain – I'm missing blue terribly | Def=cloudy, anagram (terribly) of RAIN with I missing and BLUE | 1.5 | 0 | 8 | |
| 46 | 47 | The nature of a slight mist is almost to hide some rubbish (6) | The nature of a slight mist (definition) is almost (NEAR) to hide some rubbish (BUL – truncation of BULL), giving NE BUL AR | 0.5 | 0 | 5 | |
| 47 | 4 | As lacklustre bunch, British upper class overwhelmed by renal disorder | As lacklustre bunch = def. B U in RENAL anag. [upper class (noun and adjective) unhyphenated in Collins] | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| 47 | 18 | Galaxy's economical, carrying reduced weight | BUL(K) = reduced weight in NEAR = economical; def. Galaxy's, ref. Ford Galaxy | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| 47 | 23 | It's not clear domestic help's to be provided after 62.5% state cutback | It's not clear = def.; NEB(-raska) + U(niversal) + domestic help = LAR (god of a house) | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| 47 | 28 | Light mostly divides to approach like a misty appearance in the sky | BUL[B] inside NEAR | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| 47 | 33 | Like sort of cloud splashing rain, masking blue out? Not I | anag. in anag. less i, semi & lit. | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| 47 | 48 | This endless mass, amdist all that is close at hand is stardust | Endless mass (BULK, losing final letter), inside NEAR (close at hand) is stardust (NEBULAR) | 0 | 0 | 7 |