CCCWC January competition voters’ comments
Clue no. 26: Spotted lizard in the middle of the road, just after the junction
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A clue to TOKAY.
2 comments refer to this clue (from 2 competitors, 0 others)
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| Comments on the competition |
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| 1. |
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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. |
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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. |
