CCCWC October 2014 competition results
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57 clues entered. 44 votes cast (40 competitors, 4 others).
CLOSE
I expected CLOSE to be close – and it was! Just half a point saw Derek Greenwood triumph to become another new name to welcome into the winner's enclosure – well done Derek!
The unlucky runner-up was Tom, but this result continues his fine run of form this year – commiserations Tom.
Third place went to one of the short double definition clues and lifted newcomer Tobias onto the podium with only his second clue entry – hearty congratulations Tobias!
Fourth spot went to regular Barry for his second top 5 finish of the year, and the final podium placing was shared by Margaret (although "Narrow victory for UKIP" may be fast becoming more accurate!!) and Richard Harvey following up his win in the PD competition the previous month.
Well done to all, and as ever with clue writing competitions, the cautionary lesson to sometimes look beyond the obvious!
Pos | No. | Name | Clue | Explanation | Points | Merits | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 39 | Derek Greenwood | Small room, though lacking central heating, is uncomfortably warm | Close(t) | 43.5 | 0 | 1 |
2 | 57 | Tom Borland | With Lidl's opening, Tesco is running out of time around here | *L(IDL) + (T)ESCO; def. around here | 43 | 1 | 5 |
3 | 41 | Tobias Hanbury | Sticky end | 33.5 | 3 | 4 | |
4 | 23 | Barry Solomons | For those starting college, lots of serious exams aren't far away. | those starting..(C)ollege..(L)ots..(O)f..(S)erious..(E)xams | 29.5 | 0 | 2 |
5 | 29 | Margaret Irvine | Narrow victory for Labour? | C(onservative) lose, ie. Labour win | 24.5 | 0 | 2 |
5 | 44 | Richard Harvey | Swinging couples at university shunned in the neighbourhood | DEFINITION: in the neighbourhood WORDPLAY: anagram (indicated by swinging) of COUPLES with UP (at university) rejected (shunned) | 24.5 | 2 | 1 |
7 | 26 | Peter Cargill | I left church embracing Lois Lane! | LOIS in CE(church) less I; lane=close; LL=Clark Kent(Superman)'s girlfriend whom he eventually marries in unspecified church! | 24 | 1 | 1 |
8 | 10 | Robin Gilbert | Breathless hush here – Colonel’s first to come to grief? | C(olonel) + LOSE. Ref. Newbolt’s Vitai Lampada: “There's a breathless hush in the Close tonight…the Colonel dead…” | 23 | 1 | 2 |
9 | 2 | Dave Parfitt | About to suffer defeat? The end is nigh! | C + LOSE and two definitions ('The end' and 'nigh'); 'is' indicates equality between the two definitions | 21 | 3 | 2 |
10 | 48 | Peter | The end is nigh | DD | 19 | 2 | 2 |
10 | 49 | Paul Coulter | The end is nigh | Double Definition | 19 | 2 | 3 |
12 | 11 | Careful approaching road block | 4 meanings; careful, euphemism for stingy | 17 | 0 | 2 | |
13 | 6 | Area outside of a cathedral or church holding worship in times gone by | CE around LOS | 15 | 1 | 2 | |
14 | 9 | Block quiet road near the end | Quadruple definition: Block/quiet road/near/the end | 13.5 | 0 | 2 | |
14 | 35 | Scallops we shared evenly made us like bosom pals | s-C-a-L-l-O-p-S- e-E; evenly = hidden alternately, like bosom pals = def. | 13.5 | 2 | 1 | |
16 | 47 | The End is nigh. | Double definition. | 13 | 2 | 3 | |
17 | 13 | Cigarless, ironically? | Close = fuggy, airless (hence possibly cigar FILLED); ironically 'close, but NO cigar' | 12.5 | 0 | 3 | |
18 | 56 | Where you'd find cathedral or church in which praise is old-fashioned | los in CE | 12 | 0 | 1 | |
19 | 4 | Adjourn court | Double definition http://www.chambers.co.uk/search.php?query=close&title=thes | 10.5 | 1 | 2 | |
19 | 5 | Agree to unite secretly in intimate encounter near the end of narrow passage | Octuple definition: agree/to unite/secretly/intimate/encounter/near/the end/narrow passage (all found in Chambers) | 10.5 | 0 | 5 | |
21 | 15 | Confirm a sale this fair man arranged | Composite anagram: CONFIRM A SALE = CLOSE + FAIR MAN | 10 | 0 | 2 | |
21 | 30 | Near a hundred are beaten. | Near: def., "C" 100, plus "lose": are beaten. | 10 | 1 | 1 | |
23 | 19 | Cosell rambling interminably … "SHUT UP!" | COSEL(-L)* rambling = anagrind, interminably = curtailment ind./SHUT UP! = definition (bigmouth Howard Cosell) | 9 | 0 | 2 | |
24 | 7 | Aroused, Cleo and Sidney, initially become inseparable! | Anagram Cleo + s | 8.5 | 0 | 1 | |
24 | 42 | Stuffy head can pound round sinuses; behind eyes primarily. | Stuffy=def+c+l(pound)+o(round)+s+e | 8.5 | 0 | 2 | |
26 | 36 | Short cover left our soldiers exposed at first. | Short=definition; first letter of next five words. | 8 | 3 | 2 | |
26 | 40 | Start to cry over shed, it's almost touching | C+LOSE in down clue | 8 | 1 | 1 | |
26 | 50 | The end is nigh ! | Double definition; http://restlesspilgrim.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/end-nigh.jpg | 8 | 2 | 2 | |
29 | 51 | Tight finish for England's youngest test player | triple definition | 7.5 | 0 | 2 | |
30 | 53 | Unruly lads to be ejected from 'Costa del Sol' resort's terrace? | Unruly – anagram indicator of: lads to, be ejected from – deletion indicator, Costa del Sol – anagram fodder, resort – anagram indicator, (is)terrace – definition | 7 | 1 | 3 | |
31 | 1 | A STORAGE CONTAINER THAT IS NOT QUITE SHUT. (NOT THE 4 LETTER ANSWER, BUT THE 5 LETTER ANSWER) | THIS DEFINITION AND WORDPLAY CAN HAVE TWO POSSIBLE ANSWERS DEPENDING ON HOW IT IS PARSED. AJAR (NOT QUITE SHUT) = (A + JAR) BUT ALSO CLOSE (SHUT) = (CLOSET – T, A STORAGE CONTAINER THAT IS NOT QUITE). I WAS JUST WONDERING, WHAT NAME IS GIVEN TO THIS TYPE OF STANDARD CRYPTIC CLUE? | 6.5 | 0 | 4 | |
31 | 55 | What Romeo gets to do to lover is secret | R (Romeo in phonetic alphabet) gets to 'close' loveR; close = secret | 6.5 | 1 | ||
33 | 22 | England captain turned around following tip from The Sun | def: Brian Close, {C after (th)E SOL}< (turned as adj) | 6 | 0 | 1 | |
33 | 45 | The end is near! | Double definition | 6 | 2 | 2 | |
33 | 46 | The end is near! | Double definition. "the end" = close, near = close | 6 | 2 | 1 | |
36 | 12 | Church setting for rising sun | Down clue. SOL (sun) reversed (rising) in CE (church). Setting (noun), as in jewellery. Dawn may be best seen from outside a church/cathedral rather than from within. Close = area around a church/cathedral. | 5.5 | 1 | 1 | |
37 | 17 | Conservative Left sides with 'oddballs' on Europe: the end is nigh | C l o(ddball)s E UKIP members 2 defs | 5 | 0 | 2 | |
37 | 20 | Disclosing centre of East End? | Centre of disCLOSing + E(ast); End is definition. | 5 | 0 | 1 | |
39 | 43 | Such a defeat can bring solace | Compound anagram; (CLOSE+A)=SOLACE | 4.5 | 0 | 1 | |
39 | 54 | Waning, as time progresses, lit wick is trimmed | Waning (n) = CLOSE; CLO(CKWI)SE – (WICK)*; LIT = DRUNK; Ref. candles | 4.5 | 0 | 1 | |
41 | 14 | Cole's ruined Dead End Street | COLES* ruined = anagrind, Dead End Street = def. ——— surface relates to Cheryl Cole having done a cover of the Kinks classic. | 4 | 1 | 1 | |
42 | 18 | Consummate out of the closet! | hidden. Chambers: close 2 | 2.5 | 0 | 3 | |
42 | 34 | Private company linked to top London social sciences university | Defn=private, co=company linking with LSE (London School of Economics) | 2.5 | 0 | 2 | |
44 | 16 | Congested street near Cathedral precinct shut for 5 terms | 5 terms (definitions) for close telling a story | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
44 | 27 | Intimate at hand | DD | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
44 | 33 | Outfit heard seal | Outfit = clothes (homophone of close) | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
44 | 38 | Shut up – secretive person may be here, getting end away | Def = shut up; CLOSET (where secretive person maybe) – T | 2 | 0 | ||
48 | 24 | Go down on head in class getting intimate | LOSE (go down) after(on) C(head in class); def=intimate | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
48 | 52 | Two see Kent courtyard. | see(C)+see(LO)+Kent(SE)=courtyard(CLOSE) | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
50 | 3 | Actor near to end of road? Start to convince to throw in the towel. | Quad definition [actor?=Glenn CLOSE] C/LOSE | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
50 | 8 | Astronaut finally 'gone': John Glenn stars in Mars Attack!? | CLOSET (john/toilet) – T = glenn CLOSE (who stars in "Mars Attack!") | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
50 | 21 | End is near | DD | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
50 | 25 | Having been enclosed behind veg, Anne expired; lack of air. | 'Having been enclosed' minus 'behind veg, Anne'; deletion indicator = 'expired' (ie, no longer valid); definition; 'lack of air'. Surface alludes to people trafficking. | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
50 | 28 | It's kind of Queen to finish off. | Close(t) queen/def/& lit (sort of!). | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
50 | 31 | Near squared? | Near = Close as 1. proximate, 2. cheap | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
50 | 32 | Nearly, not completely conceal | CLOSE(T) | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
50 | 37 | Shut end near mean, stuffy, dense actress | 7 synonyms | 0 | 0 | 3 |