| Comments on the competition |
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| 1. |
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Try this 4 size!
Kid given extended play's title role on Broadway. 6
The clues were in complexed or combinations of various types. |
| 2. |
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A vintage set of clues including several crackers, I thought. This didn't make for easy scoring, but after several changes of mind I plumped for:
First, clue 24. Not the most succinct, but an entirely plausible surface incorporating a neat &lit. 'opening last of the red' is very nice.
Second, clue 21. Again, a bit wordy but with a good and amusing surface. 'Safe opener' is excellent.
Third, clue 3. Very good surface and pleasing image, 'clotted' is a nice anagrind.
Fourth, clue 26. Admirably compact, the use of 'Raffles' in the surface may be a bit stretched but I liked the reference to the character.
Fifth, clue 17. The Coltrane and Bilk refs would have foxed me as a solver, but I can see that it all works well – although 'for which' is an obvious link.
Honourable mentions for clues 8, 11, 12 and 19. |
| 3. |
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| I thought everyone who entered rose to the extra challenge of Robert's Christmas special, and although there were no absolute crackers or vintage clues, the quality was high. I looked first for two decent clues with a fluent surface, which cut the list down by about half; then for an original idea or a Christmassy theme (biscuits and wine being a bit easy). I chose 17 as the most original, 21 and 23 for their misleading themes, and 8, 11 and 14 for clever definitions and wordplay. 24 would have won points had it not been for 'red=R' which I don't accept (and the explanation has 'right'). 10's 'wry vita' made me chuckle but it doesn't work for me as a cryptic indicator. I didn't object to 22 putting the join inside a word, but unfortunately as a result the second clue 'ck holds club…' makes no surface sense and so fails my 'two decent clues' filter. |
| 4. |
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| Not the easiest words to clue on their own, let alone to join together seamlessly! I couldn't find the ideal clue; most had minor faults, a couple of examples being: 16 the word 'needs' is padding, and the adjectival 'very fine' needs a noun. 18 Is okay-ish, but the surface read is nonsense. My highest mark was 4, with some 2s and 1s. On the whole, disappointing. |
| 5. |
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| A hard challenge, as reflected in many of entries – I can't give more than 13 points altogether. The requirements aren't really met by an implicit break, as in 13, or one that splits a word, as in 22. In 10 we are apparently meant to construe RYVITA as WRY VITA, i.e. an anagram of VITA – much too complicated, I'm afraid. I think 11 is the best clue, although people not knowing the story – an controversial joke on "Mock the Week" – may not fully appreciate it. And judging by some of the explanations, there is still confusion over what constitutes an "&lit". |
| 6. |
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| Many of the entries eliminated themselves either through unsoundness (surely we all accept that the cryptic reading must have correct syntax?) or by being too cumbersome and contrived. Three of interest to me: 34 attracted me, but I could find no justification for V = Vera. My apologies to the author if I've missed this, but (if so) I think it will attract enough votes for the absence of mine not to matter. The other two were 13 and 22, for a similar reason. Does "non-overlapping" allow for the situation in the former, where "drugs" is used to justify parts of both segments? Or the latter, where the break occurs within a word? Yes and no respectively in my view, although I'm happy to be corrected on this. Both were imaginative, at any rate. |
| 7. |
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Clue 29 appealed because it is beautifully concise but I was not sure about the naming of two crackers counting as double definition, or about the use of party as an anagram indicator.
The link in clue 11 is so smooth – obviously the touch of a master's hand. |
| 8. |
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| I didn't enter this one because I couldn't come up with an elegant clue – but I see I wasn't alone! I shan't be voting this time. |
| 9. |
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| Very hard to find five goodies from a generally poor selection, but my top choice (no. 21) I thought was a real cracker. It's worth pointing out though that the anagrind 'batting' doesn't work in quite the way its author intended (to be grammatically sound, bat(3) would need to be intransitive, but Chambers gives it only as a transitive verb). However, according to dictionary.com, 'bat' can also be an intransitive verb meaning 'to rush', which would seem to fit the bill. |
| 10. |
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| A very difficult challenge, and the strain showed! |
| 11. |
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This was a disappointing collection. Most of the clues with convincing surfaces contained serious flaws, while most of the sound clues had unconvincing or weak surfaces.
21 offers the best surface, the most interesting anagram and some ingenious wordplay, but is undone by the use of “batting” as an a.i. The word can indeed mean “fluttering”, but only as a transitive verb, which makes a nonsense of the use intended for it here; “bat” (imper.) might just have worked. 3 was also let down by it’s a.i. – “clotted” just doesn’t cut the mustard – and “cream, perhaps” for CRACKER is a bit iffy too. 23 is admirably economical and has an original and suitably misleading golfing surface, but “wedge” as a definition of CRACKER without even a “perhaps” or equivalent is, surely, not on. In 25, another concise clue with a good surface, VINTAGE simply doesn’t mean “of long standing”. In 24, otherwise a very good clue, “red” is used for R, which is not an accepted abbreviation.
My votes as follows:
4 points: 17 (I know too little of jazz to tell whether Van (??Morrison) is appropriate in the context, but this is otherwise concise and skillfully done).
3 points: 7 (spoiled by slightly iffy “Explosive” as definition of CRACKER, but an interesting and original surface and “Period” is excellent).
2 points each: 1 (a pretty weak surface, but pithy and the wordplay works); 6 (rather contorted syntax, but the clue is sound – as long as one ignores “in this case, following” in the explanation!), 29 (postulated menu hardly convincing &, personally, I like neither C = see nor the “slice of” device, though both are widely accepted).
1 point each (despite flaws): 21, 23 |
| 12. |
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Not a great selection this month, but at least two crackers.
1st (5 points) 21 — quite brilliant, it all fits together perfectly
2nd (3 points) 11 — very nice, although I'm not sure about the anagram indicator 'mess' — an imperative, I suppose — and I don't like the needless exclam
3rd = (2 points each) 17 — not sure that Acker Bilk is well-enough known, but otherwise good — and 8 — very nice, but although the surface is neat I'm not sure what it's saying
5th = (1 point each) 19, 24, 26 — all good but the surfaces are less good than those of the ones above. |
