The Crossword Centre Clue-Writing Competition

CCCWC August competition voters’ comments

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A clue to FAIRY / POINT (Right & Left).
66 comments were received for this competition (from 7 competitors, 1 other)
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Comments on the competition
1.
Some quite good sound clues, interspersed with a fair amount of surface nonsense,of which 31 is a prime example
 
Comments on the clues
1. A puckish type, student goes out rather often – primarily into drink, full stop
1.Not sure a full stop is a point. Both dots but not the same thing.
2.Student goes out rather – cryptic reading doesn’t indicate L leaves from FAIRLY
2. After work going back home on time is an important thing if Ray is boisterous and a fantastic being
1.Too long – “and” as connector doesn’t work . Definition doesn’t gel with the rest of the surface
3. Content hippo in the headland; this creature of folklore moving far in the unknown.
1.Unfortunately the semi-colon creates a clear break between the two parts
2.Cryptic reading is not right – content hippo… isn’t the same as content of hippo… I of Point doesn’t come through
5. Cook, excellent in the middle, impish fielder in top form
1.A fielder isn't necessarily the same as a fielding position.
2.Cook hardly lasts till the middle order nowadays !
6. Cook's enthralling, excellent brownie fudge in top spot (5,5)
1.Well constructed
2.I wish all the explanations were as enthralling as this one.
7. Delicate part of affair – you tentatively opt in for a critical moment
1.Nicely connected
8. Delicate with good reason, after losing left pedal and cycling into verge
1.Somewhat laboured surface it seems
2.Nice surface. I don’t quite agree that because ‘on the verge of’ = ‘on the point of’ that a verge is a point
3.Right pedal or left ?
9. Elemental, being of air, yet showing power blasting into matter.
1.Nice idea, but the definition is somewhat spoilt because of the comma. Think one can accept misleading commas in wordplay but not in def
2.The cryptic grammar of FAIRY doesn’t work for me
3.Quite an obscure def for fairy.
12. Fay's brownie set to cook in pot
1.DDs in right & left a tad too easy but legal perhaps. However not convinced that set equals point
2.Not keen on double defs that use the same sense of the word twice
3.Fay and brownie a bit too close in meaning for a double def.
4.A fay and a brownie are words meaning fairy. If only a cookie was a fairy.
13. Female and sprightly she's often seen on Christmas tree, set out in top position.
1.Nice but for the comma separating the two parts
2.Good all round clue with a coherent surface
3.Merit but just outside of the points as I'm not sure an Xmas fairy would be sprightly, when she's just sitting there.
14. Fine and delicate Moth seen in the field on tip off
1.Some indicator to show def by example would have been better. Shouldn't tip-off be hyphenated?
2.Def by example needs a ‘perhaps’ or similar
15. Fine and light angel finds nothing in measure to show (5)(5)
1.'Finds' used as a linking word, hence the two parts not very seamless
16. Folklore creature just unknown in expo in this state!
1.Works, but can't make much of the surface
17. Fudge in top spot just topped my brownie
1.I like the combination of fudge and brownie
2.Top marks – an excellent lesson in producing a concise, readable L&R clue.
3.Like the correct positioning of topped. “Top”appearing twice in the surface could have been avoided
19. Holding in beer gut, aim rather to shed pounds for sylph-like figure
1.A quality R&L clue with clever wordplay
21. It's mostly nitrogen and oxygen in the empty friendly pixy coalmine containing oxygen and nitrogen. That's a fact.
1.Can't make any sense of this surface
2.The clever idea rather gets in the way the rest of the clue
3.I do not understand and that's a fact.
4.I've seen PhD theses shorter than this.
22. It's one of the distributor's contacts providing current Dutch fee for an alternative brownie
1.Apart from the surface being rather strange, there is nothing cryptic about POINT, or I'm missing the point
2.Not really a double def if it uses the same meaning twice
23. Mark's top in cooking delicate dish, excellent inside
1.Neat double clue. Chambers has persuaded me that fry = dish
24. Mr Waugh said, "Just before you start, Mark, it's silly fielding very close to the bat"
1.'You start' is hardly the 'start of you'. Comma between the two parts creates a break
2.The indirect definition isn’t very fair on the solver
3.Indirect homophone somewhat unfair; in any event it should lead to something like "Oberon, for instance".
25. Oberon, for example, justly left out stage issue
1.Assuming stage/issue is DD for POINT. DDs always the easy way out, at least different parts of speech would have been more creative
26. Perhaps Tinker Bell just has Wendy's ultimate aim – end of Hook?
1.A nicely combined pair of clues
27. Queen's rightly left out, a measure containing zero purpose.
1.Perhaps objectionable from a PC perspective, coupled with the comma that makes the two parts not seamless
28. Screw tip on end of jewelry just before ring is made by one (5 5)
1.Not a very naturally reading surface
2.The two clues shouldn’t overlap
3.END should not be doing double duty.
29. Spirit expo likely to end with new pinot punch line
1.Unfortunately the 'with' becomes a connector for the two parts, not seamless
30. Spirit is just an unknown quantity with nothing in beer to indicate quality
1.Not seamless due to the 'with'
2.‘With’ doesn’t have a role in either clue that I can see
3.WITH feels like it's linking the two parts rather than being part of one of the clues. QUALITY feels like it's there purely for the surface.
31. Stir fry some Quebecian Poutine; European take-away with a twist, at the bottom of the garden.
1.Some Quebecian = IA is unfair.
2.Explanation seems a bit obscure.
32. Strong light used in kitchen washes softly into living area
1.A nice surface, my only crib being a brand name being used as definition, and not even indicated as an example
2.Not sure about the anagram indicator for INTO
3."Used in kitchen" is a bit vague.
33. Suggest twist in plot, killing many just before end of gory kind of tale
1.Wouldn't suggest be 'point to'?
34. Time and place being false and imaginary, as in Cinderella
1.'being' seems extraneous, apart from constituting the not so desirable break between right and left. F/False not in Chambers
2.Wikipedia's list of fairies might have assisted here.
35. Tinker Bell cracks last smithery (one fine American piece), then repairs pot in question.
1.1)r=piece? anyway individually listing all letters not so elegant; 2) Comma and 'then' being very obvious breaks between R&L
2.Not sure where the R in fairy is coming from, and THEN is not part of either clue.
36. Top in clueing, object reasonably having got left out, becoming delicate
1.Don't see how "clueing" is an anagrind.
37. Transcendental figure, small (fairly, not large), not pi surprisingly, in which this follows the first figure
1.Pity about using 'fairly', gives just about all the letters in right order; Third comma inserts a break between the right and left parts
2.Clever, but the theme is a bit overworked
38. Unfair? Yes, it involves slight suspect top spin, spelling dismissal of occasionally silly cricketer
1.A bit clunky but just imaginative enough for a couple of points.