CCCWC May 2015 competition results
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42 clues entered. 38 votes cast (35 competitors, 3 others).
MARKET (SPONGE) (Wrong Number)
Thanks to all those voters who, with a late flurry, pushed the numbers up to a very respectable total. This month's winner coming with a very late run to squeeze home by a very narrow margin, is Luciano – his second victory of the year – well done indeed!
The unlucky runner-up was our podium mainstay Dave Parfitt! Dave has extended his run of top 5 finishes to 6 (without a win!) which is amazing – where will it end? Bad luck on just missing out again – two excellent clues to top the list this month.
A little way back in third was John N – nice to see you back on the honours board, John – another to take advantage of the bum meaning of sponge!
Congratulations to Barry who achieved his first podium finish of this year in 4th spot, and similarly to Anthony who managed his first ever podium, completing the list in 5th place.
Many thanks to all, I believe I was generous with the choice of clue words, but this is a tough clue type to deal with so well done!
| Pos | No. | Name | Clue | Explanation | Points | Merits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 35 | Luciano Ward | Start to make bum take bottles back to liquor store | M + [R in TAKE*]; M (start to Make); AKET (bum TAKE); inclusion indic = bottles; R (back to liquoR); store = def; extra def = bum | 44.5 | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | 18 | Dave Parfitt | Fair Kate M gets drunk with Queen! | KATEM anag. including R; fair = 'a large market'; sponge = drunk | 43 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | 2 | John Nicholson | Bum team starts to regret keeper’s sale | (TEAM R K)*; bum | 34 | 2 | 1 |
| 4 | 34 | Barry Solomons | Sign at centre of fete – 'cake stalls here'. | sign/mark..f(et)e…sponge cake…market stalls | 30.5 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | 38 | Anthony Nannini | Take box in opera house or stalls? (6) | Take=sponge Take box in opera house= M(ark)ET , or stalls?= definition | 30 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | 40 | Margaret Irvine | Trade vehicle reversing, laden with cake, about to go | (ca)ke in tram rev, market def=trad; sponge def=cake | 28 | 3 | 1 |
| 7 | 37 | Todd Konkel | Suffering net loss, drunk tentmaker leaves bazaar | (TENTMAKER)* – NET; drunk (n.) | 24 | 1 | 3 |
| 8 | 14 | Tom Borland | Demand that Primark etc. could absorb | Hidden in PRIMARK ETC; def. Demand; absorb = sponge | 20 | 4 | 2 |
| 9 | 23 | Anthony Bradley | Make racket about losing cake trade | Anag. (about) MAKE RACKET —CAKE; def: trade; cake | 19.5 | 0 | 4 |
| 10 | 41 | Robert Vere | Where original maker finds excited taker | m + (taker)*, Taker=sponge | 15.5 | 0 | 4 |
| 11 | 11 | Demand drunk toolmaker cleans out foul loo (6) | (TOOLMAKER)* – (LOO)*; DRUNK | 14.5 | 1 | 3 | |
| 12 | 1 | Blot out alien in bazaar! (6) | MARKET WITH "MARK" REMOVED IS "ET". MARKET = BAZAAR. "BLOT" IS ONE WORD DEFINITION FOR "SPONGE". | 14 | 1 | 3 | |
| 12 | 7 | Celebrate like drunk after wife leaves to shop | MARK + (w)ET(=tipsy); drunk | 14 | 1 | 2 | |
| 12 | 8 | Clientele chose to leave mother's cake mixture. | Def: clientele. Composite anagram MOTHERSCAKE less CHOSE. Cake=sponge. | 14 | 1 | 3 | |
| 15 | 9 | Deal cabinetmaker cut in half when drunk | drunk; anag. of (cabine)tmaker; deal2 = piece of wood | 13 | 2 | 2 | |
| 16 | 27 | Money taker's bum bargain | M+anag; bum | 12 | 2 | 3 | |
| 17 | 4 | Cake about to be cut in store in popular demand | (ca)KE inside MART; CAKE; def=popular demand | 11 | 0 | 2 | |
| 18 | 32 | Scour Mr. Keta at Billingsgate, for one. | scour; anag(mrketa)+def=B.Fish(Market);Mr Keta=male salmon | 10 | 0 | 5 | |
| 19 | 5 | Cake, topped with tamari oddly, in jumble sale | (c)AKE + T(a)M(a)R(i) jumbled; cake | 9 | 0 | 2 | |
| 19 | 25 | Met to take up ship trade (6) | Trade, M(ARK)ET, take up | 9 | 1 | 5 | |
| 21 | 31 | Promote type of cake maker broadcast on television primarily | Type of cake = sponge. Promote = market. MAKER* + T(elevision) | 8 | 0 | 7 | |
| 22 | 22 | Make first of toes assimilate start of rhyme to get here | Make + t around r, &lit; assimilate (ref. 'This little piggy went to market …') | 6.5 | 1 | 3 | |
| 22 | 42 | Where you might clean up? | 'clean up' in the sense of grabbing a bargain/profit. Sponge = clean | 6.5 | 1 | 3 | |
| 24 | 28 | Mop top box set missing one side of Beatles for Sale | m(op) + ark(=box) + (s)et Definition: Sale sponge = mop | 5.5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 25 | 6 | Canvas loafer maker cobbled on last of walnut | Canvas = MARKET loafer = SPONGE /maker* cobbled (mended shoes OR patched together) walnu(t) (last = wood or metal shoemaking form) | 5 | 0 | 5 | |
| 25 | 29 | Police take in cougher – I say, is that a common thing for Europe? | M(ARK)ET coffer hom; take in = sponge | 5 | 0 | 5 | |
| 25 | 39 | Taker is beaten up after beginning to mooch shop (6) | anag of TAKER after M(ooch); shop = defn of market; mooch = sponge | 5 | 0 | 3 | |
| 28 | 12 | Demand Dutch boy eats half of cake? | MA<ke>RT; cake [MART is a common Dutch given name] | 4 | 0 | 2 | |
| 29 | 10 | Decided to wipe daughter off top trade fair (6) | MARKE[d] T (wipe, syn of SPONGE), 'fair' is def. | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
| 29 | 33 | Sell sign wet, without an initial wipe (6) | sign=mark + et (wet – w which is an initial wipe) def. sell; wipe and wet | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| 31 | 17 | Dun from drunk mate made nonsensical demand (6) | (DRUNKMATE – DUN)*; made nonsensical = anagram indicator; demand = definition (as in 'demand/market for x'); DRUNK = SPONGE; ['Dun' is a demand for payment] | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| 31 | 36 | Store's first mop taker is not satisfied(6) | To follow Toot's directions:mop used for sponge! direct = store, first Mop = M, taker = ARKET ; "not satisfied" = anagram indicator. (Toots musta been in bad humor when he devised this torture) :) | 2 | 0 | 4 | |
| 33 | 26 | Model maker, drunk earlier on, stalls prototype | Model = T; MAKER; drunk = anagrind for MAKER*, earlier on = positioning indicator, DRUNK = def. for SPONGE (noun), stalls = def. for MARKET and verb for main clue, prototype = exemplar. | 1.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 34 | 16 | Drunk ultimately interrupting to spoil film showing in Rialto | K(drunk ultimately) within MAR(spoil) ET(film) – drunk one-word definition of SPONGE | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| 34 | 20 | Here you can buy; old German bread, clean German film,……. | O G bread (deutschMARK) clean German (rub-out deutsch) + film ET. CLEAN (SPONGE) | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 36 | 15 | Demand use of backside to cake queen and king. | Demand = market. backside = TEAM >> MAET cake (SPONGE) = inclusion indicator queen = R, king = K >>>> MA(RK)ET | 0.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 36 | 19 | 'Flea' may describe this parasite, ultimately infecting male model | SPONGE = PARASITE; Def = "'Flea' may describe this" (flea market); [parasit]E inside (infecting) MARK (male) + T (model) | 0.5 | 1 | 3 | |
| 38 | 3 | Business situation encountered by Mr Carney? Minimum of money needed to go down the drain | Mark + (m)et, drain, ref. Mark C., Governor of the Bank of England | 0 | 1 | 3 | |
| 38 | 13 | Demand head of Marie Antoinette reduced to eating slice of cake? | KE in M A R T. Cake = sponge. | 0 | 2 | 5 | |
| 38 | 21 | Make Australian drunk with shots of absinthe, rum and tequila. Forget A.A.! Going there might turn him violent | ((MAKE + A(ustralian) + A(bsinthe) + R(um) + T(equila)) – A – A)*. A.i.: “Drunk” = SPONGE. “Go to market” is Australian slang for “become violent”. | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| 38 | 24 | Manipulative knavish traders primarily live off buying and selling | First letters mkt+are* (and=live); anagrind = off; buying and selling = market; 2nd def live = sponge | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 38 | 30 | Promote bum team that includes Robson and Keegan, to start with? That's fair, too! | Def/r+k in anag of m,a,e,t/bum = anag indicator, and "sponge"…..and another def, for good measure. | 0 | 0 | 4 |