CCCWC January competition voters’ comments
Clue no. 25: Millwall six down then streaking clear? That would be one
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A clue to MIRACLE.
3 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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| I was surprised to find that in contrast with some of the more difficult words, this fairly easy one seemed to cause so much trouble. There were many clues where the definition, if it could be found at all, was either vague (eg 2's 'to expect this is a bit much' (what, soup in a basket perhaps!) or 25's reference to Millwall, which is just fatuous opinion) or completely inaccurate (eg 4's 'breaking the natural law', which points to a verb, not the noun required). Apart from the spelling mistakes (5's 'marvelous and 31's 'message drom God' (I never actually received the clues; I had to search them and paste them into 'Word', so it is possible that these typos occurred then, in which case I humbly apologise), there was a fair bit of gibberish: 29 'One darner ultimately stopping monstrous camel achieving this' or 33 'Play with sermonical son parts'.(Uhh..!?) Come on, guys; if we're playing tennis, put the football away! A very disappointing lot! |
| 3. |
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I'm afraid I found most of what was offered to be either uninspiring or unacceptable for one reason or another. Many clues seemed cumbersome, which I thought wrong for a reasonably friendly word. Some of those I discarded were #2, #19, #24, #25, #40 and #44; although Chambers suggests that any surprising or unexpected event qualifies, clarity surely requires that what's described breaks natural law rather than merely being a pessimist's response to what isn't physically impossible. #24 has the additional weakness (sorry!) that the wordplay seemingly uses medians, not means. There were several entries containing padding or sections doing double duty (#17 - a shame because I liked "turbulent mill race", and #39) and some that required a change in word from wordplay to definition (such as #12 - artists or artists'?). #43 contained an attractive idea that I thought wasn't fully exploited.
My favourites (top to bottom) are
#11 "Re" is of course contrived, but worth it for the succinctness. Very elegant.
#7 Convincing surface and unambiguous definition.
#3 Although it reads clumsily, the picture is an attractive one
#30 I like the superficial blandness of the statement - the solver has no obvious way in.
#45 Very obvious solution - but then we're judging ideas, not simplicity! |
