CCCWC February 2014 competition results
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58 clues entered. 45 votes cast (39 competitors, 6 others).
REALITY TV
This month's leaderboard has a slightly different look to it, although our winner previously topped the list as recently as last September. Congratulations to Tom on succeeding in the "trivial telly" battle! Equally, commiserations to Simon on just missing out – his maiden victory here can't be too far away!
Deserved reward for Kathy's regular efforts with a 3rd place – I make that her 4th different podium finish – just the elusive 1st to complete the set now!
Well done Bhalchandra, who achieved 4th spot, celebrating his first anniversary of clue entries with a first podium!
The final placing went to Alastair – another new name on the podium – welcome and congratulations!
As always, thanks to all for your efforts – and I hope there is some encouragement here for you to aim for those top slots!
| Pos | No. | Name | Clue | Explanation | Points | Merits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 34 | Tom Borland | Sort of trivial telly I'll avoid | * TRIVIAL TELLY minus ILL | 66 | 0 | 3 |
| 2 | 39 | Simon Shaw | This I'll fancy constitutes trivial telly | Composite anagram & lit. | 46 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 | 5 | Kathy Martin | Bizarre try at live entertainment? | "bizarre" indicator for anag. | 32.5 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | 14 | Bhalchandra Pasupathy | Fly-on-the-wall shows generally blend art with levity | (art+levity)* | 31.5 | 2 | 1 |
| 5 | 11 | Alastair Skene | Contrived, vile try at airing daily life? | &lit "Contrived" indicates anag. of "vile try at"; definition "airing daily life" but also whole clue, | 27.5 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | 31 | Luciano Ward | Shows like Big Brother corrupt laity with time, clergyman claims | [LAITY T anag] in REV (clergyman) | 26 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | 12 | Steve Randall | Demonstratively evicting bad guys enlivened Big Brother perhaps | Definition: Big Brother perhaps Wordplay: (demonstratively – demons)* (enlivened) | 23 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | 22 | Vinit Wankhede | Many view it as totally hollow and vile art form! (7,2) | TY+VILETART * | 23 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | 49 | Margaret Irvine | Unfortunate try at live broadcast? | anag, unfortunate as anagrind, broadcast as def | 22.5 | 1 | 3 |
| 10 | 9 | Dave Parfitt | Broadcasting of vile and tarty characters? | VILE + TARTY all anag. & lit. | 22 | 3 | 3 |
| 11 | 13 | Diabolically evil tyrant lacking direction could be Big Brother (7,2) | Diabolically – anagrind of 'evil tyrant'- anagram fodder, lacking – deletion indicator of direction (n)orth, could be Big Brother – definition | 20.5 | 2 | 5 | |
| 12 | 7 | Broadcast tat, verily? | anag. & lit. | 16.5 | 4 | 1 | |
| 12 | 38 | The Mole, say, and Badger, live with Ratty | liveRatty*; The Mole was a 2001 reality TV show. | 16.5 | 1 | 5 | |
| 14 | 46 | Truth's top of thoughtcrimes against Big Brother, say | truth=REALITY + T(houghtcrimes – written as one word in '1984') + against=V – and BB is a genre example | 16 | 2 | 1 | |
| 15 | 50 | Vandalised tyre with vital footage recorded on a security camera? | Anag. tyre + vital. | 15.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 16 | 25 | Popular entertainment that's manipulated, tarty – and live? | TARTYLIVE*. tarty: "vulgar, cheaply and blatantly provocative" (Chambers) | 15 | 2 | 1 | |
| 17 | 27 | Production of, oddly, least verity? | &lit: (L[e]A[s]T VERITY)*. Refers to the ironic façade/lack of reality in so many of these shows. | 14 | 0 | 2 | |
| 18 | 52 | Verily, tat is broadcast as popular entertainment. | Verily tat > Reality TV – is broadcast* , popular entertainment = def. | 13.5 | 5 | 1 | |
| 19 | 28 | Programme about authentic Italian young transvestites? | REAL + IT + Y + TV | 13 | 0 | 2 | |
| 20 | 57 | Where you'll often see wannabe celebs at live broadcast try to get involved? | (anag)…at live/try | 12.5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 21 | 36 | Tarty, vile broadcast? | (TARTY VILE)* &lit. (Arguably a subjective view of the genre, but surely befitting fare such as The Only Way Is Essex!) | 10.5 | 2 | 2 | |
| 22 | 19 | LCD television set | Cryptic Def: LCD = lowest common denominator & 'set' = group/genre. | 9.5 | 2 | 3 | |
| 23 | 51 | Vary title; recast show! | vary title (recast= anag), show (defn: to present (a play, film, etc.). | 9 | 0 | 2 | |
| 24 | 3 | Alt.verity broadcast? | Anagram &lit.; alt.verity coined in the manner of alt.country, alt.rock etc. See alt.2 in Chambers | 8 | 0 | ||
| 25 | 16 | Ill with this could be as a result of wretched trivial telly | Comp anag. ILL + REALITY TV > TRIVIAL TELLY | 7 | 0 | 1 | |
| 26 | 1 | A show that's an evil try at entertainment? | Def. show and entertainment and anag"evil try at" for Reality Tv | 6.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 26 | 10 | Cavorting attractively but lacking almost all diplomacy – a route to celebrity? | Anagram of ATTRACTIVELY (cavorting the indicator) minus TAC (but lacking almost all TACT = diplomacy). Definition: a route to celebrity? | 6.5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 28 | 17 | I'm a celebrity, get me out of special relativity! (7,2) | An allusion to a famous example of the genre, and also an instruction to get me (I) out of an anagram (special) of RELATIVITY | 6 | 2 | 2 | |
| 28 | 44 | True lives on the box; contrived art combined with frisky levity | ART* + LEVITY* | 6 | 0 | 1 | |
| 30 | 8 | Broadcast with demons being exorcised demonstratively could be this | anag less demons &lit | 5.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 30 | 54 | Very popular Channel 3 programmes with trashy coverage | REAL+I(TrashY) TV (& lit.) [real = very, in popular usage] | 5.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 32 | 20 | Levity art form? | Anag & lit; levity=trivialty | 5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 33 | 55 | Vile and tarty broadcast? | &lit (vile tarty)* | 4.5 | 3 | 2 | |
| 34 | 4 | As seen in live broadcast with ratty characters? | Anagram of LIVE RATTY indicated by broadcast | 4 | 1 | 1 | |
| 34 | 37 | The Jersey Shore, not O.C., Travelocity screwed up (7,2) | "Jersey Shore" is an example of REALITY TV and (TRAVELOCITY – OC) ANAGRAMMED is REALITY TV | 4 | 0 | 1 | |
| 34 | 48 | Tyre changing overwhelms the greatest cross-dresser in television genre. | Tyre changing overwhelms the greatest = RE[ALI]TY; Cross-dresser = TV (transvestite). Def = in television genre (in = popular). Surface alludes to the type of reality TV that removes celebrities from their comfort zones. | 4 | 0 | 1 | |
| 37 | 21 | Live try at acting actually taking place (7,2) | direct = actually taking place. live try at = anagram of reality tv (acting = indicator) | 3.5 | 1 | 1 | |
| 37 | 45 | True soap opera brought to light in a very tense bust up | lit in anag. of a very t | 3.5 | 0 | ||
| 37 | 56 | Vile tarty broadcast? | Anagram and &lit | 3.5 | 3 | 1 | |
| 40 | 32 | Shows the ordinary & everyday travel chaos around city from 2 till 4. | 'Shows the ordinary & everyday' (def) : travel (anag) around (c)ity (2nd to 4th letters) | 3 | 0 | 2 | |
| 40 | 35 | Tarty live broadcast | anagram &lit | 3 | 2 | 3 | |
| 40 | 53 | Veritably awful broadcast initially cancelled. Time needed instead for Extreme Makeover (7 2) | Veritably = anag fodder , awful =anag indicator , broadcast initially cancelled= remove b, Time needed instead = add t, Extreme Makeover = definition | 3 | 0 | 1 | |
| 43 | 23 | Obnoxious tat, verily | Anag. 'tat verily' & lit. | 2.5 | 3 | 3 | |
| 43 | 58 | Without any scripts, this programming textbook leaves beginners with a very poor grasp of the subject! | def: Without any scripts, this programming / wordplay: (T[extbook] L[eaves] + A VERY)* containing IT (the subject — either "Information Technology," or if you prefer simply "it," i.e. the subject at hand) | 2.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 45 | 18 | Irately reformatted preset programmes. | Anag (irately) before "set" (= TV)/def. | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| 46 | 33 | Some entertainment programming gone viral yet? Tory leader’s hooked! | Anagram of "viral yet" + T (= leader of Tory). | 1.5 | 2 | ||
| 46 | 40 | TILT: a very daft kind of show | (Tilt a very)* | 1.5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 48 | 15 | Froth arising from 7-Up? About a litre yet to be emptied into channel. | About = RE, A litre = A L, Yet to be emptied = YT, Into = position indicator, Channel = ITV, RE-AL- IT-Y T-V. Cryptic definition – 7 Up was the first ever reality TV programme, and could therefore be said to be responsible for creating the 'froth' (Big Brother, I'm a Celebrity, etc) that followed. | 1 | 3 | 1 | |
| 48 | 47 | Try at live programming with oxymoronic “Life Scenarios" (7,2) | try at live*/programming=anagrind /definition: oxymoronic life scenarios" | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 50 | 26 | Possibly objective means of viewing people? (7,2) | 'Possibly objective'=(type of)REALITY as in 'objective reality' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objective_reality] and objective='the lens or combination of lenses forming the image in a camera' [Collins] ; 'means of viewing people'=TV; the whole clue=definition (&littish) | 0.5 | 1 | 1 | |
| 50 | 41 | Trailblazing and yet very watchable? | This is not a strict Ximenian clue. It's not in the style of the Times but in the style of the Guardian. You know, that's where unofficial = Kofi Annan. Semi&lit. (trail + yet +v)*; blazing = anagrind; watchable = def, and the whole clue is the def. | 0.5 | 0 | 4 | |
| 52 | 2 | "About time" admits ageing fighter with yen to box; "Last man standing?" | RE(ALI)T + Y(yen) box = TV. Last Man Standing is a BBC Reality TV series. | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 52 | 6 | Broadcast essentially titillates with very little learning to be taken away (9, two words) | [(ti)TILLAT(es)VERY]*-L. "little" = a little bit of. | 0 | 0 | ||
| 52 | 24 | Phoney live ratty time-waster. | anag(phoney)+def | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 52 | 29 | Semi-informative yet trivial broadcast. | anagram = "yet triv(i)al" (semi-informative indicates half the i's), anagrind = broadcast; &lit | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 52 | 30 | Show live ratty broadcast (7,2) | Anagram of LIVE RATTY indicated by broadcast. 'Show' is the definition | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 52 | 42 | Trevor, shaken, has no alternative but to cover Italy riots in fly-on-the-wall documentary (7, 2) | Trevor = fodder 1 No alternative = minus "or" Shaken = anagrind 1 Italy = fodder 2 Riots = anagrind 2 Fly-on-the-wall documentary = def | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 52 | 43 | Trivial (one's not involved), yet broadcast | (TRIVIAL minus I + YET)*. Ai = broadcast | 0 | 0 | 1 |