| Comments on the competition |
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| 1. |
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| Some excellent clues. I particularly liked the simplicity of 30. |
| 2. |
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Clue 27 appealed but I did not like the extra t starting the two words 'to taste'
Clue 32 was economical and appropriate
The word was nicely hidden in clue 22 |
| 3. |
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| I found few to choose from. Many seemed unsound, usually in terms of the syntax of single letter indicators; I didn't feel that an unqualified "drink" was precise enough as a definition; and I had previously decided that T + OKAY was too obvious and justified only by something really good. My favourite was 39, although I did wonder whether the zoo surface might have alternatively utilised the gecko definition in some way. I did vote for 36, although I'm not generally comfortable with this sort of in-house offering – but the spot was both clever and unique in the list. 9 deserves some sort of award for highest explanation-to-clue ratio. The "spotted lizard" of 26 was elegant, but I think that once we move into Roget we're clutching at straws as regards synonyms. |
| 4. |
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| I don't know about MCJOB, but TOKAY certainly defeated the anagram fiends – just a single one, which must be a first. T + OKAY was the most obvious treatment, so a clue using this wordplay needed something special to distinguish it, and only 36 managed this in a sufficiently misleading, if rather closed-shop, sort of way. I liked 17 for its several puns and coherent surface, and 24 was the best of the Tays. 33 won me over with a clever idea, though I guess a gecko's tail is attached to a gecko's bum rather than a whole gecko. Finally 15 and 41 were the most satisfying of the rest. A couple of devices I couldn't accept: "A drink, we hear" for the letter T (it doesn't sound like 'tea' when it's in 'tokay'); "pieces of Bartok and Kodaly" (much too vague); and "right out of Tolkien" for to(l)k(ien) (very indirect). |
| 5. |
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Apart from discounting a few for unsoundness and some others for being a little bland or too convoluted, it was quite hard work to decide on the best clues. In the end for my top place clues I chose ones where the definition was more precise than simply ‘drink’ or even ‘wine’, as well as the usual criteria such as surface reading.
Top place was 5. Although ‘ka in toy’ was an obvious treatment used by several entrants (and one I’d considered myself), this clue was elegant – sound with a good surface reading and a fuller definition. Next was 4, with a slightly amusing surface reading and a clever construction. For third place I chose 35, although the surface reading I thought was very slightly strained.
Honourable mentions (1 point each) go to 33 which made me laugh and seems to be sound enough, although a slightly strange way to present the definition; to 14 for a brave attempt at an &lit. (although I’d say slightly unsound unless Bartok was known to have drunk Tokay – a ? and leaving off “beloved of Hungarians” would have made it better, in my opinion); and to 39 for an interesting ‘picture’.
I also quite liked 1, 15 and 19, but the weaker (although sound) definitions moved them down my list. I appreciated the topicality of 36, but the ‘it’s’ used for linking I thought also diluted it. The use of 'essence' at 9 was an interesting idea but did not quite work for me in the way the clue was written. |
| 6. |
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| Essays in the explanations as well as in the clues this time, eh? Treading the balance between the oversimple and the overcompliacted is often difficult when clueing short words, and the agony shows here. The nice tribute to RCT stuck out a mile for me. |
| 7. |
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| There were fewer examples than of late of serious unsoundness among this month’s offerings, but a fair number of rather pedestrian clues, in some cases relying upon well-worn devices unrelieved by an original and convincing surface. One or two were spoiled by carelessness. For instance, in 26, even if one accepts the slightly dubious evidence of Roget that “Okay” can mean “middle of the road” (which surely requires hyphens to produce roughly this sense), it can hardly mean “the middle of the road”, and the “the” before “junction” would also have been better omitted. 30, on the other hand, has a delightfully zany surface, but the use of “That” rather than “This” mars the definition. Nor is the clue, as claimed, a double definition – “drunk” as opposed to “drink” cannot define TOKAY. Something along the lines of “Is this lizard drunk?” would have conveyed the basic idea more soundly, though the surface would, admittedly, not have been nearly as strong. 36 (0.5 point) is an excellent idea, but it was, I think, a mistake to use capitals for “barperson”, which mars the definition; inverted commas would have been better. Also, although “Okay” can mean “very good”, it doesn’t really mean “it’s very good”. I’m not fully convinced that 31 (0.5 point) works; arguably the wordplay produces BARAY. In 41 (1 point), the “extremely tasty” device is rather hackneyed (even if, arguably, grammatically unsound, for all that it is very widely accepted), but the clue is otherwise quite neat. 14 (2 points) is the best of the hiddens with an appropriate surface (even if I can find no evidence that Bartok was a fan of Tokay). 4 (3 points) is ingenious and original, if a little on the long side, and 5 (3 points) simple, but elegant. But the pick of the bunch for me was 33 (5 points) – sound, concise, clever and original. |
| 8. |
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1st= (2.5 points each) 33 (excellent idea, but arguably the gecko's tail is attached to the gecko minus the tail, which means the definition is not quite right; but a small point: very clever clue), 35 (my only doubt was a certain cumbersomeness} and 36 (lovely, but for this to work we need to see the Azed clue conpetition as 'What could come from BARPERSON', which is just OK I think)
4th= (1.5 points each) 1 (very good, but a marginally odd surface), 4 (my only criticism was the tortuous way in which a single letter is clued; but lovely surface) and 9 (very good, with several nice layers, but I suppose one could carp and say that Tokay need not itself be a vintage wine)
7th (1 point) 41 ('Wine' as a definition is a bit thin, but otherwise rather good)
8th= (0.5 points each) 19 (was less than certain about 'today' = 'for the time being', and marginally odd surface, but otherwise good), 24 (simple but good), 27 (likewise) and 39 (wasn't sure that a 'wine prank' is very satisfactory, but otherwise good) |
