| Comments on the clues |
|---|
| 1. Alpen, mashed with no end of jam in, is not a dish one might fancy. |
| 1. | Surface a bit clunky | | 2. | Too complicated an anagram | | 3. | 'jam with no end' = ja. OK, but what's 'no end of jam'? |
|
| 2. An Alpine trip over Jungfrau's peak may not appeal to some guys? |
| 1. | 'over' – does it mean 'including'? not sure; 'peak' may be the highest point but not the front of something | | 2. | What is the definition? – "may not appeal to some guys" – doesn't work, | | 3. | Def not 'quite there' one feels | | 4. | Not quite sure "over" works as an indicator for "around". Definition not quite there. | | 5. | Don't see that 'may not appeal' is an adj. or noun (= plain-jane). |
|
| 3. An unattractive woman is extraordinarily appealing in tight jeans after that gin peg is quashed! (5-4) |
| 1. | not clear what a gin peg is, or how quashed (in the surface reading) | | 2. | Really needs to indicate that an anagram the of 'that gin peg' is subtracted. | | 3. | What's a gin peg? | | 4. | Too complex. | | 5. | Surface not appealing | | 6. | Surface makes no sense to me |
|
| 4. Average complainant has no quarrel with Jeannie's oddness (9, hyphened) |
| 1. | 'oddness' doesn't mean 'the odd letters of', in my view | | 2. | Clever idea, but Jeannie is too close to Jane for my liking. | | 3. | 'oddities' might have worked, 'oddness' not really |
|
| 5. Basic fighting: Ninja leap |
| 1. | nice and simple, works well. | | 2. | I marked this up as it is the same idea as my clue :) | | 3. | Works, but in the surface, can ninja leap really be considered basic fighting? |
|
| 6. Battered Nepali, lacking energy, gets followed by Tarzan’s woman! Or an unattractive woman? |
| 1. | Surface reading is nonsense – what does it mean? | | 2. | Disconnected surface? |
|
| 7. Calamity after Palin gaffe is not uncommon |
| 1. | 'gaffe' doesn't work as an anagram indicator for me | | 2. | Calamity is only one example of a Jane. Needs a 'perhaps' or similar. | | 3. | Calamity does not define "Jane" | | 4. | A nice idea. But Palin's gaffes, while mocked, were hardly ever calamitous. | | 5. | Signalling for Jane is a tad weak, and not a fan of nounal anagram indicators | | 6. | Neat but definition seems a bit off | | 7. | 'gaffe' is a noun: it doesn't indicate an anagram |
|
| 8. Calamity, namely, follows short Alpine quake – no great shakes |
| 1. | 'quake' doesn't work as an anagram indicator for me here | | 2. | Works technically, but in the surface, how can a calamity be 'no great shakes'? Or if wrt short quake, how the calamity? |
|
| 9. Chucking the old jalapeño in cooking that's a bit bland |
| 1. | the standout clue – sound and interesting, with a great surface reading | | 2. | Almost very good. That 'the old' bit works, but feels awkward. | | 3. | Works quite nicely | | 4. | Very nice smooth clue with a plausible surface. 5 from me. |
|
| 10. Clumsy ninja leap, miss, no knockout it seems |
| 1. | Punctuation could be better, but the best of the ninja leaps. | | 2. | I suppose there must have been some clumsy ninja… |
|
| 11. Cool month in smooth drab |
| 1. | What does the surface mean? | | 2. | I'm not clear what this is getting at? | | 3. | There seems to be one N extra? | | 4. | Surface makes no sense at all to me. |
|
| 12. Edited French article in Japan, describing a lass of homely appearance. |
| 1. | Strange ideas spring to mind reading the surface. | | 2. | I'm not convinced. Why are we in Japan reading French journalism? What was edited? | | 3. | Not a fan of indirect anagrams unfortunately | | 4. | Weak surface, and French article could be "le, la or les" so unfair to solvers |
|
| 13. Even houses in Japan's capital are basic |
| 1. | Good surface. | | 2. | Good misleading wordplay | | 3. | Nice idea, but the connector for equivalence requires 'is' instead of 'are' – resultant grammar dilemma | | 4. | It is a shame that 'even' also means PLAIN which detracts slightly from what for me would have been the winner. Still worth points though. |
|
| 14. Fighter heading off to board aircraft with ordinary girl |
| 1. | unfortunately the 'with' is superfluous | | 2. | An straightforward story, but a bit random. | | 3. | Have seen this exact wording elsewhere recently, perhaps same author, but would have been better with different entry |
|
| 15. Homely type surprising ninja with leap |
| 1. | Marked up as same idea as my clue – the surface reading is a bit unlikely, though | | 2. | Not a convincing surface |
|
| 16. Honestly, coin given to ordinary woman! (6-5) |
| 1. | Couldn't get hold of a surface meaning that reads naturally | | 2. | Honestly is an adverb; plain is an adjective. Surface unconvincing, |
|
| 17. Horribly pale in Jan – and the other months? |
| 1. | can't see this working as an &lit | | 2. | Pale and plain are different things – a question mark isn't enough to make up for it. | | 3. | Didn't get it, what have I missed? Apologies if this turns out to be the cleverest clue | | 4. | Not an "& lit". Requires some better definition. | | 5. | Don't see how it's '& lit.' (in which ALL the words are both the wordplay AND the def.) |
|
| 18. I plan about a month and finally propose to the simple girl next door (5-4) |
| 1. | The makings of a nice clue: but next-door girls are DEFINITELY not necessarily plain. |
|
| 19. I’d got in on Japanese chorus line, dancing. See her or such doing it? No! (5,4) |
| 1. | Is there such a thing as a Japanese chorus line? | | 2. | Far, far too complex. | | 3. | Bit contrived one feels | | 4. | 18 letters of added fodder is probably a bit much. | | 5. | The clue was for the word with the hyphen. Merit for comp anag although needs a better def. |
|
| 20. It's an obvious calamity – girl's somewhat ugly |
| 1. | The hyphen ruins this. Plus Doris Day was gorgeous, so sort of makes the clue an 'inverse'. | | 2. | 'an' clearly is not grammatical to indicate 'plain'. Don't quite agree with the def also, does not necessarily imply ugly |
|
| 21. It's not unusual to line Japan up. |
| 1. | This clue is certainly unusual. | | 2. | I rarely line Japan up – is it more common that I am led to believe? | | 3. | Construction appears forced | | 4. | Up isn't an anagram indicator. |
|
| 22. Janine's lap-dancing routine |
| 1. | the hyphen connects the anagram indicator too closely to the fodder, for me | | 2. | like the simple clue. Not sure about the hyphen linking to anagrind | | 3. | 0.5 for the original definition. | | 4. | I'm not a fan of having to deconstruct a hyphenated word. | | 5. | apostrophe s in the middle of fodder is intrusive, otherwise a nice clue | | 6. | Spoilt by the extra and s. | | 7. | Just that 'S which spoils it. | | 8. | Surface nice but you've presented 'lap-dancing' as one word: so it makes no logical sense (as a clue). |
|
| 23. Japan Line flies to orient, “no-frills” |
| 1. | Better without 'flies' in my view. | | 2. | Since there is nothing called Japan Line, appears contrived, though the technical part works and the idea is good | | 3. | "to orient" is unnecessary | | 4. | Lovely concise clue. |
|
| 24. Japan line-out is lacking sophistication |
| 1. | the hyphen connects the anagram indicator too closely to the fodder, for me (good idea though) | | 2. | Good, but I'm not a fan of having to deconstruct a hyphenated word. | | 3. | Neat surface but.. needs 'line out' not 'line-out' in the real clue: the (one) word makes no sense. |
|
| 25. Jean-Marie Le Pen, ignoring mere European head, observes mousy girl |
| 1. | Surface is a bit weak, and the anagram of the subtracted letters isn't indicated. | | 2. | I like a nice convincing surface – this is too random for me | | 3. | Nice spot but the surface is a bit meaningless and there's no anagram indicator | | 4. | Observes is not a fair anagram indicator | | 5. | Where is anagram indicator? | | 6. | 'mere E' is out of order so must indicate it's an anagram to remove. |
|
| 26. Journal again empty during Alpine rambling, nothing to write home about |
| 1. | Best of the Alpine clues thanks to a clever definition. | | 2. | Good effort. | | 3. | Not too keen on obscure one-letter abbreviations even if they are in Chambers. But, that aside, imaginative and nicely misleading surface | | 4. | Nice clue, works well | | 5. | Very nice clue and very different. |
|
| 27. Life in Japan if lacking variation is so? |
| 1. | 'variation' is a nounal anagram indicator, but not bad otherwise | | 2. | Excellent surface. | | 3. | Not a fan of nounal anagram indicators. Could have easily been 'in variety' and perhaps also improved the surface? | | 4. | I don't think you could plausibly describe life as 'plain-Jane' | | 5. | 'variation' is a noun so doesn't work logically. Needs to be 'in variation' to make sense (as a clue). |
|
| 28. Life in Japan, if not relaxed, is simple |
| 1. | 'if not' doesn't equal 'without if' | | 2. | A good try, but 27 is much better | | 3. | Quite a nice clue | | 4. | Nice idea, but 'if not' = 'not if' ?? |
|
| 29. Mediocre student got in trouble – he sketched ships day after day |
| 1. | referring to Fred Jane is quite obscure, and 'day after day' seems to have no part to play | | 2. | Not sure how 'day after day' contributes to the wordplay | | 3. | A quirky reference which works really well |
|
| 30. Modelling such clothes, ordinary rather than jolliest in design, can exhibit no panache |
| 1. | I can't work this one out. What is the anagram material? | | 2. | Too complex for me. | | 3. | Surface reading very artificial. And an &lit should be a little more realistic | | 4. | It takes quite a bit of algebra to get to (NO PANACHE + JOLLIEST -CLOTHES -O(rdinary))* | | 5. | Too complicated a comp anag for me! |
|
| 31. Mountain climbing during New Year takes energy, unlike oil painting |
| 1. | Nicely constructed. Needs to be a down clue. | | 2. | Some leaps of faith here? | | 3. | Poor surface, and not sure either clue or definition is fair to solvers |
|
| 32. No oil painting of headless warrior in flat |
| 1. | A bit random – am I supposed to be surprised by the absence of such an item? | | 2. | Works technically, but for the surface to be convincing, should there necessarily be one such? | | 3. | Weak surface, and does plane really = flat? |
|
| 33. No-frills alpine break to take in January |
| 1. | 'break' is either a nounal anagram indicator, or in the wrong person I think ('breaks' would work) | | 2. | Needs to be 'alpine breaks' – it's a single word | | 3. | Hurrah for a clue that I can understand! | | 4. | What a pity it wasn't 'breaks'! | | 5. | Anagram indicator should have been 'breaks'. Would have still worked for the surface too | | 6. | Here the word 'alpine' breaks. |
|
| 34. No-frills carrier takes on board a trained assassin, losing case |
| 1. | A bit random for me – did he make them regret it? | | 2. | The 'losing case' bit seems almost like an afterthought; and is this a reference to luggage? or a civil suit? |
|
| 35. No-frills rhyming couplet? |
| 1. | This isn't a clue, it's a riddle. | | 2. | More precision please. | | 3. | Def doesn't seem adequate |
|
| 36. No-frills woman, naked, made Tarzan horny (5,4) |
| 1. | 'made Tarzan horny' is not a suitable definition or substitute for JANE | | 2. | I bet cheetah did too (and she was always naked). | | 3. | I don't recall Jane Porter ever being described quite like this? On the racy side, but for me the grammar looks questionable… | | 4. | Wordplay for Jane a bit patchy |
|
| 37. Non-spicy jalapeno in gumbo, taking nothing out (5-4) |
| 1. | 9 serves up the jalapeno more convincingly | | 2. | Similar to 9 but that worked much better. Not convinced with the anagram indicator | | 3. | gumbo is a noun |
|
| 38. Not fancy lap dance with German ,no? Yes ! (5-4) |
| 1. | Grammar issues plus a bit convoluted with the German – an indirect anagram. | | 2. | An interesting effort. (The random punctuation spacing is distracting.) | | 3. | More than half in German? 'german' to be applied to both the words? Indirect anagram. Grammar in anagram indication a bit suspect. | | 4. | lap dances with.. |
|
| 39. Ordinary jail – a pen rebuilt to house sixth of prisoners |
| 1. | Nice clue, the letter selection extension forces it a bit. 1.5 points | | 2. | Nice to see something different. | | 3. | Surface not exciting |
|
| 40. Ordinary killer has head removed during smooth operation (5-4) |
| 1. | 'smooth operation' doesn't seem an adequate definition or substitute for PLANE | | 2. | As opposed to a mad killer? | | 3. | 'operation' seems out of place, gratuitous |
|
| 41. Out in the open, Tarzan's gal appears quite ordinary. |
| 1. | Jane Porter ordinary? Surely not. | | 2. | Simple and nice clue |
|
| 42. Pedestrian turned pale when outside in January |
| 1. | nice choice of synonym | | 2. | Good surface and misleading def. | | 3. | Simple and effective. | | 4. | Very nicely constructed, perhaps just a small niggle: wouldn't a pedestrian be outside anyway? Another c/c indicator might have been better | | 5. | Superb, one of the best clues I remember in these competitions. |
|
| 43. Plot including trendy judge a bit unremarkable. |
| 1. | can't find bit=e in my Chambers | | 2. | Think you've misread Chambers! E doesn't mean bit. | | 3. | This clue's author needs to read the Chambers def of E more carefully! | | 4. | Oh dear, misled by the Chambers app! 'Bit' is not a definition of E. | | 5. | Didn't figure out the 'bit' bit (my Chambers crossword dictionary doesn't show this), but accepting |
|
| 44. Quake in Nepal? Jain observed no great shakes! |
| 1. | 'quake' doesn't work as an anagram indicator for me here | | 2. | Clever surface and definition | | 3. | Interesting. | | 4. | 'Quake' if used as verb can't be used in the imperative. If used as a noun, well, not my cup of tea | | 5. | Very good idea. Link-word 'observed' arguably redundant. A witty clue doesn't need a "This is funny" exclamation mark. Still, I like it. |
|
| 46. Run-of-the-mill and lacking spice, beginners jellied aspics not edible. |
| 1. | surface meaning is obscure (without the apostrophe), and an aspic is a jelly anyway | | 2. | Surely a bland jellied aspic is still edible? | | 3. | Surface not so convincing |
|
| 47. Sadly judge inane pal unremarkable |
| 1. | I am going to try to fit this in a conversation at work tomorrow. | | 2. | Works technically, but surface doesn't do much |
|
| 48. She doesn't ninja leap, perhaps (9) |
| 1. | why wouldn't a plain Jane 'ninja leap'? | | 2. | Too great a ninja-leap for me. | | 3. | Bit of a stretch perhaps | | 4. | Structure not quite right for a semi-&lit and the definition is very vague |
|
| 49. Simply dressed in plaid jeans, dismissing fashion |
| 1. | 'dismissing' is too libertarian, and 'fashion' won't work unless it's a direct instruction to shape something (before, not after the fodder) | | 2. | I'm not comfortable with deconstructing words like this. | | 3. | Liked the 'lift and separate' technique used. Unfortunately in my book, fashion needs to be used in the imperative and preceding the fodder |
|
| 50. Sounds like a new specialist aerospace publication is unremarkable |
| 1. | not clear how the PLAIN part is clued, or whether it relates to 'a new' | | 2. | Couldn't unravel this one, apologies (though I get the JIG reference) | | 3. | The publication is Jane's, not Jane. Don't think this works on any level. |
|
| 51. There's no justice, but she could turn out to be unpaintable? |
| 1. | Unpainted maybe, but not unpaintable | | 2. | Get the drift, but can't quite agree with the 'unpaintable' part as 'n o p'. Merit | | 3. | Impossible |
|
| 52. Undecorated abode, joint needing a bit of window dressing |
| 1. | concatenating 'abode' (a formal word) with the slangy 'joint' seems a bit jarring, though the concept is cunning | | 2. | Unique and clever – expertly done | | 3. | Leaving aside other points perhaps, first impression was the unlikely contrast between 'abode' and 'joint' – one might have said 'pad' |
|
| 53. Unfashionable dressed in a pale New Jersey! |
| 1. | A good effort, but the caps spoil it. | | 2. | the capitals give it away somewhat | | 3. | Alas, the need to capitalise NJ ruins this. |
|
| 54. Uninitiated martial artist splits tree to achieve standard |
| 1. | Surface seems quite contradictory |
|
| 55. Unremarkable month in Alpine resort |
| 1. | 'resort' doesn't work unless it is a direct instruction to amend something (before, not after the fodder) | | 2. | Not keen on the anagram indicator. Should be 'Alpine's resort' or similar for grammatical wordplay. | | 3. | There are 12 months… | | 4. | Find it difficult to agree with 'resort' after fodder as a grammatically correct anagram indicator, though have seen it being used |
|
| 56. Unremarkable ninja collapsed when caught by flying leap |
| 1. | I'm afraid I'm fed up with ninjas now. Alphabetical order has not been kind to you in this respect. | | 2. | Surface not convincing |
|
| 57. Vanilla rum pie a la nutty nectarine jelly, for starters. |
| 1. | What? | | 2. | Heston may approve, but too fanciful for me… |
|
