CCCWC January competition voters’ comments
Clue no. 22: Marriage in ruins at Cana: Lord's executed first of these
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A clue to MIRACLE.
4 comments refer to this clue
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| Comments on the competition |
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| 1. |
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| I would love to have given 5 points to 11 because of its conciseness and a theme no-one else found but it needs a PERHAPS at the start to make it work properly. It's just one example of a miracle; and also Chambers doesn't exactly support hand of God as a miracle Also liked 25 but not sure STREAKING is a good enough anag indicator 22 is nice but it's very easy to write that sort of clue and even easier to solve |
| 2. |
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Praise: I dumped any ideas that I had already rejected for my own lousy clue, so Claim re, re claim etc was rather too easy but 11's foul was a nicely judged misleading contextually well placed anagram indicator, and made me change my mind.
19 scored because I value brevity and had to figure out how tough it would be if we didn't already know the answer...
22 I liked but thought executed was rather strained to make the initial letters work. (Though what on earth could replace it is anyone's guess.)
30 I thought the gap between this and many was beautifully disguised
40 got on my list even though I felt blooming a slightly dodgy anagram indicator, just beating 24, where 'means' was very clever but I felt streched a point for middle (average, yes, but middle? - isn't that median?)
41 More brevity, but club a little obscure (compared to 'many drivers) and missed chance to incorporate driver.
45 I almost missed the subtle distinction of 'sings' not 'sing'.
Fainter praise:
Well, my own, obviously; then
3 L for Liberal not left?
16 smoky = smokey = too stretched
27 Flattering and deserved but overworked compound?
28 definition?
32 care? why?
36 High may help the biblical context but spoils the cryptic clue
39 should not contain 'a' 'a'? |
| 3. |
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| Good to see a long list again with some very good clues and a variety of approaches. I thought however there were some composite anagrams that were very long indeed and would not have been much fun to solve I'd say. Some of the definitions (esp the 'wonder' ones) were maybe just a little too obvious. Votes, 1 pt (5th) 6 a well-chosen indicator and nicely brief 2pts (4th) 34 a slightly better one using a similar idea. 3rd (3pts) 48 - a pleasing &lit. 2nd (4pts) 3 Very original idea to use Bush like that at the start of the clue. My winner 5pts 22 While first letters can be too easy sometimes, this is very well constructed and read very well as a surface while giving a precise cryptic route to the answer. |
| 4. |
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I eliminated those where I thought the link words or anagram indicators were dodgy, the Smokey Robinson references (too obscure for me; might have been worth doing if we were cluing 'miracles' plural) and a few that I didn't really understand even with the explanations. Given the high submission rate, that still left quite a lot, so plenty of perfectly serviceable clues have gone unscored. Surprised that no-one went for the "Motorway unusually clear..." construction. That aside:
Four pts to no. 3: a nice disguised reference to a specific miracle, and a good surface reading. Three pts to no. 22: most of the &lits seemed strained but this one worked; also 'initials' clues can be very obvious but this one managed not to be. Two points to no. 30: RAC in MILE was a blindingly obvious construction, but this version of it was succinct and joined the def. to the subsidiary neatly. One pt to each of the following: No. 43: a clever use of mathematical notation to make a compound anagram, and didn't suffer (as several other compound anagrams did) from long-windedness. No. 38: 'sort of' nicely used both to indicate 'type of' and as anagram indicator, and the &lit def. was not bad. No. 11: 'claim re' is a bit of a giveaway anagram, but the image of Maradona was nicely conjured. No. 6: much the same reasoning. No. 13: def. was a bit pedestrian but kudos due to the only person to risk a 'hidden', and it works fine. No 8: Another capable compound anagram, not TOO long, and nice construction around the religious subject matter. |
