CCCWC September 2015 competition results
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57 clues entered. 46 votes cast (41 competitors, 5 others).
SOUNDER
As expected this month, some clues were sounder than others and the competition saw a very unusual occurrence. A runaway winner – not that unusual – but the winner was a first time entrant! Well done Aakash – a wonderfully natural surface to your winning clue!
The rest of the podium though was closely bunched. Luciano has already had 3 wins this year and just missed out on a 4th with his runner-up spot – neat wordplay.
Teyrnon achieves his 2nd podium of the year with third place – a simple, neat anagram that was also deployed by Ava back in 5th – first time we have seen Ava in a few years! – well done to those two.
Margaret secures 4th position in what is a very consistent year for her, and moves into joint 4th in the Annual Competition.
Thanks to all competitors as usual for another fine month.
| Pos | No. | Name | Clue | Explanation | Points | Merits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 57 | Aakash Sridhar | What's better – new or used mobile? | anag. [n(-ew) or used]* def: what's better | 53 | 1 | 6 |
| 2 | 21 | Luciano Ward | Fitter undoes screws close to dishwasher | UNDOES* (indicated by 'screws') + R (close to dishwasheR) | 39 | 3 | 4 |
| 3 | 20 | Teyrnon Powell | Faster US drone being developed? | anagram; sounder = faster (re. sleep) | 35.5 | 2 | 5 |
| 4 | 37 | Margaret Irvine | More reliable chap doing the plumbing? | 2 defs | 34 | 2 | 5 |
| 5 | 50 | Ava Hong | Safer as a result of US drone deployment? | (US+DRONE)* Def:safer | 33 | 2 | 4 |
| 6 | 29 | Tom Borland | In case of worn-out part, ring plumber? | O = ring in SUNDER = (obs.) part; def. plumber? | 29.5 | 1 | 4 |
| 7 | 22 | Dominic Baggott | For measuring depth of dunes or drifts | An anagram (‘drifts’) of ‘dunes or’ | 22.5 | 0 | 4 |
| 8 | 10 | Jeffery Robinson | Appallingly rude son's a pig | (RUDE SON)* | 21 | 4 | 2 |
| 9 | 49 | Dave Parfitt | Rude son is out of order, the little swine! | RUDESON anag.; def. = a young boar (Chambers) | 20.5 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 | 53 | Paul Coulter | Tear around – nothing's healthier | S(O)UNDER | 20 | 0 | 3 |
| 11 | 56 | Well, Queen Elizabeth lasts longer! (7) | SOUNDER = lasts longer. well = SOUND (healthy); Queen Elizabeth = ER (my thanks to the Queen for making my crypt possible!!) | 19 | 0 | 3 | |
| 12 | 8 | Alien red sun engulfs the last of Pluto – it's more solid now | S(O)UNDER (red sun)* | 17 | 1 | 4 | |
| 13 | 4 | A lot of pigs also understand to some extent | alSO UNDERstand | 15.5 | 0 | 3 | |
| 14 | 3 | A group of oinkers nursed sow's middle higgledy-piggledy. | def+ang of nursed+o | 15 | 0 | 4 | |
| 15 | 51 | Send our engineer. He'll do the plumbing | Send our= anag fodder , engineer= anag indicator. + def (one who takes sounds= one who plumbs) | 14 | 2 | 5 | |
| 16 | 6 | A young boar does run around (7) | does+run anagram | 12.5 | 2 | 1 | |
| 17 | 35 | Maybe siren song's beginning our end at sea | S + anag | 12 | 0 | 2 | |
| 17 | 43 | One measures, to a great extent, beneath the surface (7) | Extended definition (One measures), to a great extent = SO (as in "so" deep), beneath the surface = UNDER, Sounder measures depth | 12 | 2 | 3 | |
| 19 | 31 | Inhabitant of Essex town loses the group of wild pigs. | Sou(the)nder, def. group of wild pigs. | 11.5 | 1 | 5 | |
| 20 | 27 | Herd of does run around (7) | Anag. ref: female deer / pig herd | 10.5 | 0 | 3 | |
| 21 | 11 | Better part carried over | SUNDER(part) outside O(over); def: better | 10 | 1 | 3 | |
| 22 | 41 | One in Paris goes after staff officer – the German pig! | staff officer = SO, one in Paris = UN, the German = DER, pig=def (cf Chambers) | 9.5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 22 | 44 | One probing the depths is submerged inhaling oxygen | O in 'S + UNDER | 9.5 | 2 | 3 | |
| 24 | 32 | It's no use, Doctor, changing to be healthier | anag. of no use Dr | 8.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 25 | 28 | Ignoring borders, our drone's destroyed a young swine | anag incl (o)u(r); killing of Reyaad Khan within Syria by RAF drone | 8 | 2 | 3 | |
| 25 | 39 | More wholesome, thus a French dessert (eclairs) rates tops. | definition; thus=so, a French=un, tops=d+e+r | 8 | 0 | 2 | |
| 27 | 16 | Dreadfully rude son – a young hog! | RUDE SON* | 6 | 4 | 1 | |
| 27 | 26 | Herd hearing hesitation. (7) | Definition (SOUNDER = HERD) with wordplay SOUND (HEARING) + ER (HESITATION). | 6 | 1 | 3 | |
| 27 | 54 | Thus, down below, it comes in view – A means to plumb the ocean blue. | Thus down below = so under and def. | 6 | 1 | 4 | |
| 30 | 13 | Comparatively fit guard regularly does pole dancing. | anag [g]U[a]R[d](regularly) DOES N(=pole) | 5.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 30 | 48 | Rotter swaps bit of bacon for special herd of pigs (7) | BOUNDER swaps B for S | 5.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 32 | 23 | Gadarene one rushed downhill, thus getting into a submerged state | so + under, ref. herd of pigs drowning in Matt. 8:32 | 5 | 1 | 3 | |
| 32 | 52 | Speaker, perhaps, which might give out crackling? | Double def (a speaker may sound, a young boar or group of pigs might provide crackling). | 5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 34 | 36 | More consistent, maybe, but team's netting nothing, and is losing ground. | Def/S(o)underland = (football) team minus "land" = ground. | 4.5 | 0 | 3 | |
| 34 | 46 | Pigs? No! Dave heartlessly entered tart. | Pigs = def. (N)o. (D)av(E) heartlessly entered tart (SOUR) | 4.5 | 0 | 3 | |
| 36 | 7 | Aha! Two foreign articles for a code? | Aha (expression for SO); two foreign articles (UN – 'a' in French and DER – 'the' in German) for a code (SOUNDER). | 4 | 1 | 3 | |
| 36 | 12 | Builder fellow becomes society plumber | Founder with S for F | 4 | 1 | 2 | |
| 36 | 33 | Lead in 1972 movie (7) | Double definition sounder = lead (Bradford's dictionary) sounder = one of top 1972 movies | 4 | 0 | 3 | |
| 39 | 9 | American drone could be more reliable | (US+DRONE)* Def: more reliable | 3.5 | 0 | 3 | |
| 39 | 42 | One measures depth of water or dunes disperse | Def = one measures depth of water; anagram = OR DUNES; anagrind = disperse | 3.5 | 0 | 4 | |
| 39 | 55 | Trigger happy US drone? | Trig adj=sound; happy=*indicator(see CCD); *us drone; trigger happy=taking risk of starting war | 3.5 | 0 | 3 | |
| 42 | 5 | A tremendous olio – could be much better without meat. | Anagram "a tremendous – meat" def: "Much better" | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| 42 | 18 | End up separating inharmonious herd of pigs | END* in SOUR | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
| 42 | 38 | More reliable one to go into depth | Double definition: more reliable/one to go into depth (person or device) | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| 42 | 40 | Noise maker in National Union of Students heads up socialist revolution | (National Union of Students heads=NUOS; up=reversal) + (socialist=RED; revolution=reversal) | 3 | 0 | 2 | |
| 46 | 25 | Healthier shade of Socialism’s returning after common sense has introduced extreme changes of direction | nous with N and S exchanged at ends + red (rev.); ref. demise of ‘New Labour’ | 2.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 47 | 14 | Deeper, very below! (7) | Def.: deeper – as in sounder sleep Wordplay: SO (very) + UNDER (below) | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
| 47 | 19 | Examine casualty with American probing apparatus | SOUND + ER (emergency room in US = casualty) | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
| 47 | 34 | Leaving tripe out, mixed purer diet's no healthier. | Anagram of PURERDIETSNO less TRIPE: definition is HEALTHIER. | 2 | 0 | 4 | |
| 50 | 2 | A group of animals that does run around wildly | Ana. does +run = sounder group of wild animals | 1.5 | 0 | 3 | |
| 51 | 30 | Increasingly appropriate property of music entertainer on vacation | Def: increasingly (more) appropriate (fit/sound); SOUND (property of music) + E[ntertaine]R (on vacation) | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 52 | 1 | A dog that liked hunting pigs. | Sounder is the dog who hunts in the book/film of the same name. Sounder=(herd of) pigs | 0.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 52 | 15 | Dogs' Home address Spooner's given should be assumed to be more reliable | 'Down, Sir!' / Sounder | 0.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 52 | 45 | One who’s sometimes deep, yet, is a pig | double definition – diver/pig | 0.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 55 | 17 | Drunk roused with trapped gas, from bed one might fathom (7) | gas = N (trapped = containment indicator) // drunk = anagrind ROUSED* // from bed one might fathom = def. (one that fathoms from the sea bed) | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| 55 | 24 | Green pig's bladder with jester hiding behind it. It's no joke! | SOUND (Chambers4) + (jest)ER. "It's" = "It has". Def: "Green [ie, young] pig". | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 55 | 47 | Result of awful drone joining us, bore maybe heard? | (anag) drone + us…bore/boar – ref: young boar | 0 | 1 | 3 |