The Crossword Centre Clue-Writing Competition
Home
You’re not logged in
 
Login
Enter or Vote
Register and join
Results pages
About CCCWC
Crossword Centre
Azed Slip Archive

CCCWC April competition voters’ comments
 
Clue no. 9: Bob Hope never hosted this golf tournament!

Back to competition result  |   All the comments  |   Other competitions

A clue to OPEN.
7 comments refer to this clue (from 7 competitors, 0 others)
Move your mouse pointer over any bold clue number to see the clue.

Here is the text

Comments on the clue
1.Not keen on past tense wordplay. The cryptic reading applies in the present.
2."Bob" is extraneous
3.A great clue but Bob doesn't serve any purpose. Unless one regards BobHope as an entity…
4.The hidden word indicator shouldn't be in the past tense
5.Nice context; "this" golf tournament needs a little more distinction
6.What's Bob doing here? Past tense awkward in cryptic reading.
 
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.