| Comments on the competition |
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| 1. |
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| So many good clues this time! |
| 2. |
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| I found five clues to vote for, but did not award the full 15 points. This, with a few exceptions, was a poor lot! Many lacked credibility in both devilled and undeviled versions. |
| 3. |
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There seemed to be a lot of misunderstanding about how PD clues work. From wikipedia;
In Printer's Devilry clues, the surface can be ungrammatical or nonsensical, but the complete sentence should always be logical and natural. A common mistake when setting Printer's Devilry clues is to do the reverse and contrive a sentence which reads naturally on its surface, but which when combined with the answer produces a sentence that is not idiomatic and therefore is impossible to guess.
Many setters made this mistake; 11 26 53 57 and others. |
| 4. |
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The term “Printer’s Devilry” suggests a scenario in which a printer takes malicious pleasure in removing a sequence of letters in a text in such a way as significantly to alter the meaning, to an effect that is amusing, shocking or even insulting to a third party such as the author of the original text. Accordingly, in my view, in a Printer’s Devilry clue:
a. the undevilled version should make good sense and should either be in idiomatic English or at least be credible as something read or heard, eg, in a newspaper headline or as part of an overheard conversation;
b. the devilled version should also make good sense and, though the English may be rather looser, it should not be too wildly unidiomatic or lacking in credibility;
c. the meaning of the devilled version should be as far removed from that of the undevilled as possible, either starkly contradicting it or saying something completely different;
d. the difference should, as far as possible, be such as to raise a smile or, had it been achieved by that eponymous printer, to give him the malicious satisfaction that the title suggests;
e. it should be the transition from undevilled to devilled that achieves that effect and not the other way round, ie, it should be the devilled version that is amusing or shocking.
Clearly, it is far from easy to achieve all that,, and almost all of the clues submitted this month (including my own effort) failed to achieve one or, usually, more of the criteria set out above. In my view, the best of the bunch were 4, 1, 21, 36, 48 and 30. |
| 5. |
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| A different but very welcome and enjoyable challenge this month. Some very good and inventive entries that I thought told a good story in both versions and these received my votes. |
| Comments on the clues |
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| 7. Criminals would have touts to access the building |
| 1. | One of the better "vent" clues |
|
| 10. Despair at the man I actually trusted to run the country |
| 1. | Clever, topical, different and amusing. |
|
| 12. District nurtures top Arts in the country |
| 1. | Good pair of differing readings. |
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| 14. Farmer found his school days unfulfilling – no wheat tending classes |
| 1. | Very nice | | 2. | A classic PD clue. Well done. |
|
| 16. Felon hides loot he’s lifted to escape jail |
| 1. | My favourite of the ‘vent’ clues | | 2. | One of the better "vent" clues |
|
| 19. For elderly one sailing lots of masts aren't suitable. |
| 1. | Very good change of meaning and nicely topical. My favourite clue |
|
| 27. It's good to have a tonic; to stir one in gin |
| 1. | Undevilled version makes little sense |
|
| 29. Large chests attract many in the mating game |
| 1. | One of my favourites but this play on ‘mating game’ isn’t original otherwise I might have given it top marks | | 2. | No PD comp is complete without a large chests pun | | 3. | Different and amusing but the undevilled version is not quite so believable as a likely sentence. |
|
| 30. Major African newt concerned Livingstone |
| 1. | Very clever – my favourite of the newt clues |
|
| 31. Man I actually stop obsessing over, an unobtainable object of desire |
| 1. | Sounds like something maniacs wouldn't stop doing. |
|
| 32. Many art lovers' choice for a getaway last year |
| 1. | Clever wording reads very well in both versions and tells a good story – excellent. |
|
| 37. Odd times – odd is odd and odd and odd |
| 1. | I'm not sure how I would ever begin to solve this. | | 2. | Very odd (!) but good fun. Didn’t feel I could award it marks, though, with SEVEN coming right at the end of the clue |
|
| 38. One choice for a dirty weekend in Italy |
| 1. | Hard to choose between the Venice clues. This is just about the best. |
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| 39. Parenting: it's all academic at the end of the day |
| 1. | My favourite of the parents’ evening clues | | 2. | Nice punning. |
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| 40. Paris… A hedonistic house, 'specially for the fruitiest; I mated with Hélène – very thin, gin order for the most part |
| 1. | Ambitious. "I estimated with Helen"? |
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| 41. Peasants' Revolt — Wat changing English history |
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| 46. Shockingly, morality revealed in TV detective episode |
| 1. | Nice idea, but needs a better explanation of the venality |
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| 48. Teachers hate parenting as much as you |
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| 51. Virtual parenting is an unexpected success |
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| 53. Week of days to aver ice? |
| 1. | Undevilled version makes little sense |
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| 55. When lacking common parts, then diagrams look odd |
| 1. | Unfortunately similar to 42, which I preferred. |
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| 57. Young love rightly delights |
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