CCCWC January competition voters’ comments on Clue no. 51

CCCWC January competition voters’ comments

Clue no. 51: Rude Northern German ordered drinks for all of us? Where’s mine? (11)

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A clue to UNDERGROUND.
4 comments refer to this clue (from 3 competitors, 0 others)
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Comments on the clue

1.	Not bad but I prefer the simplicity of 75.
2.	Clever wordplay and definition smoothly combine for an entertaining surface.
3.	I liked the originality of this very well disguised clue.

Comments on the competition
1.
There were quite a few clues with common approaches and/or similar themes, so I awarded points (and merits) mostly to clues that chose the ground less traveled, my favorites being 8, 27, and 51. Unsurprisingly, there were several "tube" clues, including 34, 66, 74, 64, and 65, the latter two being a bit too similar to a previously published clue (by Chalmie in FT 16,336). We also had a "metro" (38), a "subway" (58), and a "transport system" (68). Other clues, such as 28 and 35, took a subtler approach to this theme, with 7, 27, and 67 doing so more cleverly/effectively and earning points or merits. Likewise, there were quite a few "resistance" clues, including 1, 6, 21, 23, 61, 47, and 56, the latter two being rather too similar to a previously published clue (by Brummie in Guardian 28,077). We also had a handful of "dungeon" clues: 9, 14, 20, and 24. Finally, many clues took the rather too easy/obvious offering of using "GROUND" (implicitly) as an anagrind for "UNDER." We had "drune" (16), "Ed, run" (17), "runed" (36), "urned" (31, 70), and the particularly popular "nuder" (5, 10, 39, 40, 41). Of these, 70 stood out for its boldness, succinctness, and effectiveness. (Although many (most?) urns are placed in columbaria, it is not uncommon for urns to be buried instead.) I am not a Ximenean, so I don't have a problem with "underground" cluing, e.g., "NUDER." But I expect some judges will object to this as "unfair" to the solver.

Comments on the competition

There were quite a few clues with common approaches and/or similar themes, so I awarded points (and merits) mostly to clues that chose the ground less traveled, my favorites being 8, 27, and 51.

Unsurprisingly, there were several "tube" clues, including 34, 66, 74, 64, and 65, the latter two being a bit too similar to a previously published clue (by Chalmie in FT 16,336). We also had a "metro" (38), a "subway" (58), and a "transport system" (68). Other clues, such as 28 and 35, took a subtler approach to this theme, with 7, 27, and 67 doing so more cleverly/effectively and earning points or merits.

Likewise, there were quite a few "resistance" clues, including 1, 6, 21, 23, 61, 47, and 56, the latter two being rather too similar to a previously published clue (by Brummie in Guardian 28,077).

We also had a handful of "dungeon" clues: 9, 14, 20, and 24.

Finally, many clues took the rather too easy/obvious offering of using "GROUND" (implicitly) as an anagrind for "UNDER." We had "drune" (16), "Ed, run" (17), "runed" (36), "urned" (31, 70), and the particularly popular "nuder" (5, 10, 39, 40, 41). Of these, 70 stood out for its boldness, succinctness, and effectiveness. (Although many (most?) urns are placed in columbaria, it is not uncommon for urns to be buried instead.) I am not a Ximenean, so I don't have a problem with "underground" cluing, e.g., "NUDER." But I expect some judges will object to this as "unfair" to the solver.

CCCWC January competition voters’ comments Clue no. 51: Rude Northern German ordered drinks for all of us? Where’s mine? (11)

CCCWC January competition voters’ comments

Clue no. 51: Rude Northern German ordered drinks for all of us? Where’s mine? (11)