| Comments on the competition |
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| 1. |
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#19. 5 points. Funny, clever, short.
#43. 4 points. Unusual indicator for deleting PI from EMPIRICAL, but I buy it.
#30. 3 points. Good surface reading and nice definition.
#11. 2 points. Not a soccer/football fan, but this seems like a clever play on a "hand" foul vis-a-vis "Hand of God". (Surely a Monty Python reference? "Ain't you never seen the Hand of God before?")
#13. 1 point. A good container clue; wasn't sure if there was a missing comma after "Kashmir" - that would have made it read better, I think. |
| 2. |
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| It It seemed to me that this word called for something light and witty, after the torture of TINSEL/BAUBLE. I thought clues 19 and 11 best exemplified this, and I'm giving the nod (5 points) to clue 19, which is lovely. 4 points to clue 11, which also made me smile. Third place and 3 points I give to clue 38, not least for an original theme. Fourth place I give to clue 6, which is very neat, and fifth place to clue 40, which I thought the best of the insurance claim efforts. Well done to the composers of all these. Near misses for clues 2,7,29, 36, 39 and 43. |
| 3. |
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Of the 47 clues, I was able very quickly to come up with a short-list of 11. Bearing in mind the clue word, I was a little surprised by how uninspiring some of the clues were. Poor surface readings abounded on many of the sound clues. However, as always, there were also a few brilliant ones.
Two that didn't quite make my short-list but are worthy of comment are:
11. 'Hand of God' claim re foul - This would be a fantastic clue if 'Hand of God' meant miracle, but Chambers does not seem to define it so.
43. Wonder if empirical formula = pi(x) - An interesting idea indeed, but I don't think it *quite* works.
My short-list:
3. Bush remarkably inflamed, for instance, by Liberal America's endless stirring - Excellent clue with misleading definition and associated surface reading.
6. Dodgy claim re bleeding statue? - Nice idea, but better executed in clue 34.
7. Email leaders of Roman church about possible grounds for canonization - Decent surface reading and a slightly different slant on the definition.
14. In problematical situation a class idiot's not going to be considered a prodigy! - A different approach. not sure it merited an exclamation mark.
19. LA, crime-free?! - Made me laugh, but on reconsideration not quite correct grammatically and perhaps pushing things a bit too far as a definition.
20. Law-breaker, perhaps, reversing vehicle in the distance - Interesting definition in a natural surface reading. Simple and fairly elegant.
30. One rarely sees this many drivers in a race - I liked the definition and, after some thought, 'many drivers' for RAC.
34. Preposterous claim re supernatural event - Straightforward and elegant.
35. Rehabilitation of this ever-blind: incredible marvel! - Best of the composite anagrams by far and not too contrived in trying to obtain an &lit clue. 'Ever-blind' is slightly weak.
42. Wonder drug seized by porter on remote station - Great way to bring in 'Wonder' as the definition. Completely misleading context for all parts of the clue and a very plausible surface reading.
48. What a martyr's original relic might generate? - Neat &lit clue. In my opinion it misses out slightly to some of the others because it is a bit too direct (i.e. no misleading context). |
| 4. |
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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! |
| 5. |
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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. |
