The Crossword Centre Clue-Writing Competition

CCCWC April competition voters’ comments
 
Clue no. 4: Affair destroying relationship? Not if marriage is this!

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

Comments on the clue
1.Wordplay is clever but too difficult
2.Such a good idea! But affair for operation? Hmmmmm
3."destroying" sounds more like an anagram indicator than a deletion indicator
 
Comments on the competition
1.
If there are too many almost identical clues it becomes extremely arbitrary to choose, so I'm afraid I removed all shOP ENtrance hiddens and NOPE anagrams before considering the rest. It doesn't necessarily mean they were poor clues, just uninspired. Does this happen more with a very short word to clue?
Lockdown surfaces I also felt were too specific to make a lasting good clue. And as ever there's no excuse for a meaningless surface.
Hidden clues with redundant words 9, 28, 44 are not good practice.
Also I personally feel it's unacceptable to be too indirect, not just with anagrams, which is a big no-no, but with removals (eg 8, 18). Even 4 which is another nice idea, just fails this one.