CCCWC Christmas Special competition voters’ comments on Clue no. 3

CCCWC Christmas Special competition voters’ comments

Clue no. 3: A quick break off of 50 from an in form O'Sullivan.

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A clue to A “FIVE GOLD RINGS” word.
6 comments refer to this clue (from 4 competitors, 1 other)
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Comments on the clue

1.	A quick break off of 50; – is that right? Maybe it works cryptically, but not normal language (a quick starting break of 50); good idea, BTW
2.	don't like 'in form' as anagrind
3.	It would be a break of 50, not a break off of 50 – even if it was from the break off, which seems unlikely…
4.	Very clever surface – maybe a very slight quibble with the definition but excellent clue.
5.	Clever anagram but surface reading is spoiled by "off" ,'in form' isn't really an anagram indicator and the removal wordplay seems awkward.

Comments on the competition
1.
This month 42 entries clued 18 valid words, with a further 3 clueing FIVE GOLD RINGS (6, 21, 24). Appropriately, clue words subdivided neatly into groups of 5. More than half the clues (25) led to the 5 most popular words, or variations thereon: DEJA VU (1, 5, 8, 12, 13, 25, 42) (7), AVULS/E (9, 19, 31, 36) /D (18) /ION (3) (6), BRAVURA (7, 37, 40, 44) (4), NUNAVUT (28, 35, 38, 39) (4) and SHAVUOT (17, 32, 41, 45) (4). Another 5 clue words or variations resulted from a further 12 clues: CLAVUS (11, 14, 27) (3), HELIO/GRAVURE (43, 10, 30) (3), AVUNCULAR ([20, 33) (2), CLAVULATE (15, 34) (2), and FAVUS (22, 23) (2). There were 5 other singly represented clue words which were generally more obscure (A VUESTRA SALUD (4), CHAVUTTI THIRUMAL (26), DAVUTOGLU (2), GUSTAVUS (16) and LAGAVULIN (29)). The average length of the 18 different clue wards was 8.4 letters, dropping to 7.4 letters when their relative frequencies was taken into account. In general it appeared to be easier to construct a good clue, and thereby score more highly, when a shorter clue word was chosen (the best 5 clues all had answers of 5 or 6 letters).

Comments on the competition

This month 42 entries clued 18 valid words, with a further 3 clueing FIVE GOLD RINGS (6, 21, 24). Appropriately, clue words subdivided neatly into groups of 5. More than half the clues (25) led to the 5 most popular words, or variations thereon: DEJA VU (1, 5, 8, 12, 13, 25, 42*) (7), AVULS/E (9, 19, 31, 36*) /D (18) /ION (3) (6), BRAVURA (7, 37, 40*, 44) (4), NUNAVUT (28, 35*, 38, 39) (4) and SHAVUOT (17, 32, 41, 45*) (4). Another 5 clue words or variations resulted from a further 12 clues: CLAVUS (11, 14*, 27) (3), HELIO/GRAVURE (43, 10, 30*) (3), AVUNCULAR ([20, 33*) (2), CLAVULATE (15, 34*) (2), and FAVUS (22*, 23) (2). There were 5 other singly represented clue words which were generally more obscure (A VUESTRA SALUD (4), CHAVUTTI THIRUMAL (26), DAVUTOGLU (2), GUSTAVUS (16) and LAGAVULIN (29)). The average length of the 18 different clue wards was 8.4 letters, dropping to 7.4 letters when their relative frequencies was taken into account. In general it appeared to be easier to construct a good clue, and thereby score more highly, when a shorter clue word was chosen (the best 5 clues all had answers of 5 or 6 letters).

CCCWC Christmas Special competition voters’ comments Clue no. 3: A quick break off of 50 from an in form O'Sullivan.

CCCWC Christmas Special competition voters’ comments

Clue no. 3: A quick break off of 50 from an in form O'Sullivan.