CCCWC February competition voters’ comments
Clue no. 30: Retrospective of paintings, etc, etc - no place for severed head of cow or confounded fish in tanks?
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A clue to TETRA.
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| Comments on the competition |
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| 1. |
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Although TETRA offers many good possibilities for building the word from components, partial anagrams or as a concealed word, I felt that if the clue contained the simple definition 'fish' it made the clue too simple for a five-letter word, however good the surface reading might be. Thus, I ruled out 7-18, 18, 23, 25, 26, 30-33, 40 and 42.
Clue 1 was spared on this score by its clever link to another definition. Similarly, clue 6 with its ambiguous 'fishy' and red nose reference survived the initial trawl.
Clues related to the fish definition that avoided the word 'fish', used oblique references related to tanks, scales, swimming, fishing, small fry, bite and net - with varying degree of success.
Of these, I found clue 5 with its 'chromatic scales', its additional clever 'four' definition reference and entire surface reading the most satisfactory, then clue 34. While clue 28 also had a good misleading surface reading, I found 'one in a tank' a little clumsy.
Of the clues that related solely to the 'four' definition I found clues 4, 20, 17 and 35 the most enjoyable.
I was unfamiliar with the definition used by clue 38, but found the construction somewhat insipid, despite the &lit, while clue 22's surface reading to get to Spenser's plant seemed a little contrived. |
| 2. |
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| 1st= (3 points each): 24. "Odd glimpses of The Eternal that could come to those fishing on lake?" [not sure if the question mark is really necessary, but an old idea done very well] and 32. "Seconds from stifling Ken, Otto brazenly eats a fish" [remarkably fortunate but extremely clever] 3rd (2 points): 21. "It's great foremost in tank, less good battered!" [unnecessary exclam but a nice idea excellently done] 4th= (1.5 points each): 11. "Fish paste.Traditional sandwiches!" [messy punctuation - a dash would I think have improved it, but otherwise an excellent hidden, the best of several], 30. "Retrospective of paintings, etc, etc - no place for severed head of cow or confounded fish in tanks?" [too long and cumbersome, but a very good idea that just about works], 37. "Tank group offensive, supported by gunners" [rather banal wordplay but a very nice definition which is I think OK: is it the name of a group?] and 43. "Who's this we find swimming in fresh hot waters?" [almost a very good comp. anag., marred by the "hot", which suggests the water that comes from a hot tap]. 8th = (0.5 points each): 3. "Brilliant swimmer's caught in elaborate trap" [unexciting but sound] and 9. "Fish in batter topped with dressing" [quite nice, but the anagram indicator is a bit weak] |
