CCCWC November competition voters’ comments on Clue no. 7

CCCWC November competition voters’ comments

Clue no. 7: Bring him Mud to remake into a cake

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A clue to HUMMINGBIRD.
3 comments refer to this clue (from 1 competitor, 1 other)
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Comments on the clue

1.	This doesn’t really hang together cryptically, and the bakery chain is unfamiliar.
2.	While the anagram works, the surface sense and the definition depend on obscurities that few would get without the writer's explanation.

Comments on the competition
1.
I struggled to find clues worth awarding points to. Many of them define the answer with an example (hermit, coquette, etc) without any indication of definition by example. I discounted all these. Predictably, many broke 'humming-bird' into its two components, which is not the best cluing practice unless the result is a stunner. None of the examples here are, but some are perfectly sound, and one shows wit and ingenuity in the definition 21. Because it also has a natural surface I ended up placing it at the top of my selection. An anagram possibly offered the best scope, though one that had the potential to be a very good clue is faulty 25. I thought 1 and 10 were the best of the anagram clues, coincidentally both based on BIRMINGHAM. Some clues contained obscure references that might escape many solvers. A clue that needs the compiler to explain obscure references is not a good clue in my opinion, especially for a clue competition – e.g 7, 12.

Comments on the competition

I struggled to find clues worth awarding points to. Many of them define the answer with an example (hermit, coquette, etc) without any indication of definition by example. I discounted all these. Predictably, many broke 'humming-bird' into its two components, which is not the best cluing practice unless the result is a stunner. None of the examples here are, but some are perfectly sound, and one shows wit and ingenuity in the definition 21. Because it also has a natural surface I ended up placing it at the top of my selection. An anagram possibly offered the best scope, though one that had the potential to be a very good clue is faulty 25. I thought 1 and 10 were the best of the anagram clues, coincidentally both based on BIRMINGHAM. Some clues contained obscure references that might escape many solvers. A clue that needs the compiler to explain obscure references is not a good clue in my opinion, especially for a clue competition – e.g 7, 12.

CCCWC November competition voters’ comments Clue no. 7: Bring him Mud to remake into a cake

CCCWC November competition voters’ comments

Clue no. 7: Bring him Mud to remake into a cake