The Crossword Centre Clue-Writing Competition

CCCWC May competition voters’ comments
 
Clue no. 22: God’s grace embraces purity without pity

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A clue to MERCURY.
4 comments refer to this clue (from 3 competitors, 0 others)
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Here is the text

Comments on the clue
1.Needs to be 'embracing'.
2.It’s an odd sort of grace that’s without pity
3.cryptic grammar iffy, otherwise very good clue.
 
Comments on the competition
1.
A bumper entry with a range of different clue types not all of them working for me on the cryptic and surface grammar levels. For example, clues 21 and 22 use 's as a possessive in the surface story but as the link word 'is' in the cryptic. In my view, for the cryptic grammar to read correctly 'protects' in clue 21 needs to become 'protecting' and 'embraces' in clue 22 to become 'embracing'. Similarly, 'embodies' in clue 1 needs to be 'embodying' for it to make grammatical sense cryptically. All otherwise very good clues. I do hope I am not the one man out of step with the regiment on this!

There were also some (too) loosely defined references to Freddie Mercury which I discounted.

Of the remaining clues, I liked clue 44 the best and gave it 5 points. It read better than clue 45 to which I gave 3 points. I liked clue 55 for the surface story and off-beat definition that might be just a little bit too broad and gave it 2 points and I gave 2 points to clue 42 for its different approach. Clues 5 9 and 49 all attracted 1 point each.