CCCWC July competition voters’ comments

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A clue to VINDALOO.
87 comments were received for this competition (from 16 competitors, 1 other)
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Comments on the competition
1.
I disallowed anything using 'Indian' to clue IND. This would be fine in (e.g.) the Listener but this is a "Chambers"-style abbreviation that shouldn't (in my opinion) be used in a 'daily' puzzle – what 'ordinary' crossword solver is going to know or guess this abbreviation without working back from the answer? Several clues had link words such as 'and' which didn't make sense because either the wordplay or definition was a sentence in its own right. Where brackets indicate the wordplay, the constructions '(X in Y) Z' or '(X in Y) and Z' are fine, as is '(X is in Y); Z', but not '(X is in Y) and Z'. The same applies if the definition is a sentence, such as 'This is a hot dish': '(X in Y); this is a hot dish' makes sense, but '(X in Y) and this is a hot dish' doesn't.
2.
The mass rush for the toilet became a bit tedious reading through the clues, and I found I couldn’t vote for any using that theme. In the end it was three comp. anags. and a couple of other variants that got my points.
3.
A fairly mediocre crop this time for me, with few decent efforts. Scatological surfaces scored no points.
4.
Wow…huge number of clues linking curry to the loo! Poor Vindaloo!

Comments on the clues

2. A very Indian potato gravy from Goa.

1.	What's the role of the leading 'A'? Not an &lit

3. Active volcano I'd not climbed originally, it's very hot

1.	Close; missed out because 'originally' is a bit forced in the surface reading and 'it's very hot' isn't quite enough as a definition.

5. Ali G's on the toilet after very hot curry (8)

1.	This was amusing and after some debate I decided the wordplay was just about acceptable.

6. Avoid hint of lemon on cooked dish

1.	I've never been convinced that 'hint of' is valid to indicate an initial. It's ok in the Listener but not for daily puzzles in my opinion.
2.	Nice simple wordplay. 'Dish' not a very exciting definition.

8. Curry: very hot day one's necessary

1.	The surface reading doesn't make sense here.

9. Devotionals set aside in preparation for curry

1.	In clues like this, 'set' itself needs an anagram indicator, unless it appears intact within the original (as with END from INNUENDO).

10. Din around a toilet after very spicy curry

1.	A sound clue, but not quite enough to make the points.

11. Dish, hot (very) Indian potato

1.	Surface reading is too stilted with 'very' out of place.

12. Dish to take away is hot – first you need a drink, then a toilet!

1.	Can't see this as an &lit
2.	Too wordy – brevity is key to cryptic clues.

13. Diverting via London briefly for hot meal

1.	Nice and simple with a convincing surface reading.
2.	Original anagram idea

17. Fabulous! I do love no end an Indian curry

1.	Surface is too stilted; exclamation mark is superfluous to cryptic reading.
2.	Can't see fabulous as an anagrind.

18. Famous Indian cricketer eating food, a Goan dish (8)

1.	I'm a big cricket fan and couldn't have told you Mankad's first name, so I'm going to have to rule this too obscure! Clue 28 is ok though.
2.	Too hard on solvers. Famous as Mankad, see explanation to 28.

19. First to visit a lavatory after eating Indian curry

1.	IND = India, not Indian?
2.	"eating" not really needed?

20. Five seek a toilet removing trace of foul curry

1.	I don't like 'trace of' meaning 'first letter of' in standard daily cryptic puzzles. I do like the Famous Five-style title!
2.	Seek = try to find; not find.

21. "French wine in aged ale"(John Curry) (8)

1.	'John Curry' is a very nice idea but unfortunately the clue is stilted and the indication of DA isn't acceptable.

22. Have wind, bloody guts churning from this!

1.	This is nearly very good, though I don't like 'X Y Z guts' meaning 'Guts of X Y and Z'.

23. Indian curry dish begins with French wine and finishes with Dutch-Hindi potato.

1.	Too wordy – see clue 16 for a more concise and elegant example using the same wordplay.
2.	Best of the aloo clues.

24. Indian food lover shows constitution of iron, fed this?

1.	Comp. anags are not everyone's cup of tea, but when they're done as beautifully as this one they can be hard to beat. Full marks!
2.	I'm in doubt over the actual anagram indication here, but it's is a brilliant composite anagram.
3.	This clue stands out in a rather mediocre bunch.
4.	Good comp anag fodder

26. Love hot marinading? This nightmare might result.

1.	No anagram indication.
2.	Why is a vindaloo a nightmare. 24 seems to be a better surface.
3.	Nice find – def. a bit whimsical but works for me
4.	Not sure what this clue is about.
5.	I do not understand clue or explanation.

27. Love Island? There is nothing in it after the French left in a tizzy but it can still be hot stuff (8)

1.	Too wordy.

28. Mankad nabs youth backing up and this could be lunch in India

1.	Nearly brilliant, but the link word 'and' ruins the grammar because the definition is a sentence – a colon instead would have fixed this.

30. Nice wine, dhal starter and Indian potatoes to accompany this?

1.	With 'starter of dhal' instead of the ungrammatical 'dahl starter' this would probably have scored points.

31. Northernmost Estonian island gets spicy Indian curry dish. (8)

1.	Disallowed owing to indirect anagram (and VAINDLOO is probably too obscure – nice find though).
2.	That seems to be an indirect anagram.
3.	Educational!
4.	I wouldn't know where it is if I had a doctorate in Estonian satellite geomorphogeny from Vaindloo University.
5.	Succinct.

32. Number five at the wicket, a young man making a comeback, gets a pair

1.	Good effort but 'Number' is much too loose as a definition.
2.	Nice wordplay but not convinced by number as definition
3.	Always a good idea to check what you have wrotten before posting.
4.	Nicely constructed wordplay but the definition is far too vague (or perhaps entirely incorrect).

33. Old boy, back surrounded by Italian wine, is hot stuff (8)

1.	What does 'back' mean in the surface reading here?

34. Old people are evicted from camp in North, making room for a W.C. – needed after eating this?

1.	Too reliant on Chambers and not suitable for a daily puzzle.

35. Onion, almost completely fried with a drop of vinegar and stuffed with peas curry (8)

1.	I don't like 'drop of' as an indicator of an initial letters – not suitable for a daily puzzle. This is ok otherwise but rather wordy.

36. Otto's flatus alarmingly leads to Otto's evacuation, shifting this?

1.	Baffling. Amongst other questions, how does 'alarmingly leads' give AL?

37. Perhaps Ivan when entertaining date, can make a spicy dish (8)

1.	The comma is out of place in the surface reading here.

38. Potential source of runs in Oval ground India love

1.	India = IND (IVR abbrev) is too obscure for a daily puzzle, but better than 'Indian' so I allowed this; it's a good and topical surface.
2.	Very witty surface – made me smile

39. Retiring boy is into Spanish wine, duck and spicy Indian curry

1.	Conjunctions like 'and' don't work as link words if either the wordplay or definition is a sentence in its own right, as here.

40. Ruby, oval-shaped, mounted in diamond ring

1.	Unfortunately 'diamonds' = D but not 'diamond'. I'm also not sure 'mounted' is used correctly to indicate containment here.
2.	Might solvers need more of a hint to the rhyming slang use of ruby?
3.	Original definition.

41. See home-boy that flipping loves hot-stuff!

1.	'that' is redundant
2.	'that' is ungrammatical in the cryptic reading.
3.	not sure "that flipping" quite works as a reversal indicator here

42. Six and dancing, John Curry!

1.	Accurate, concise and inventive – excellent. My only gripe is the exclamation mark which is superfluous to at least the cryptic reading.

43. So, Oval with India playing — is a ——— on offer?

1.	Very neat, and topical, with a fully accurate cryptic reading.
2.	Good surface reading

45. This and rice makes one drool in advance (8)

1.	Surprising that neither this entrant nor any other exploited the well-known VINDALOO AND RICE = LEONARDO DA VINCI anagram.
2.	I think 'one' = I in a composite anagram is a stretch. This was still pretty good, but there are better composite anags in this list.
3.	Nice comp. anag., but missed Leonardo da Vinci!
4.	Clever comp anag fodder, but would one really drool?
5.	Not bad – definition a bit vague
6.	I wonder if the creator of this considered "Leonardo da Vinci" as the anagram fodder – and maybe declined as I think it's quite a known one.

47. Very popular curry – old and quintessentially Goan! (8)

1.	'curry' as an imperative anagram indicator in the middle of wordplay doesn't make sense.
2.	Nice spot
3.	Cryptic reading requires ignoring the dash
4.	'quintessentially' means 'typically' and cannot refer to the middle letters (unlike 'essentially')

48. Very popular spicy dish, regularly taken "to go"?

1.	Not a bad &lit, but dal isn't necessarily a spicy dish.
2.	Dal isn't really a spicy dish – gets points though

49. Victory in a game inspires England at last (not everyone's hot favourite)

1.	Refreshingly different approach all to the lavatorial clues

50. Vidal Sassoon used to make spicy dish without sauce

1.	Would expect the deletion of sauce to come before the definition
2.	This doesn't quite work with the definition in the middle of the clue; '_this_ spicy dish' would have been closer.
3.	Nice comp anag fodder but surface doesn't really work

51. What might be very hot served alongside a bit of dhal and potato?

1.	Not sure why 'might be' is necessary to the wordplay here – there's no anagram or other 'randomness'. It's still a good clue though.
2.	"What might be…" typically indicates an anagram

53. Wine bottles old boy returned for an Indian

1.	Nice use of bottles, one of the more inventive and subtle wordplays in the list; 'an Indian' is just about ok as a definition.

54. Wine with crushed ladoo is hot stuff (8)

1.	'ladoo' is a nice idea but it's so obscure that it immediately jumps out as being anagram fodder.