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CCCWC January competition voters’ comments
 
Clue no. 7: Audacious drug run done with network of tunnels (11)

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A clue to UNDERGROUND.
8 comments refer to this clue (from 7 competitors, 0 others)
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Here is the text

Comments on the clue
1.I really like this except for the 'with' link – 'in' would have worked with the surface
2.I like the surface but audacious doesn’t indicate an anagram to me
3.I like this but 'audacious' is a cheeky anagram indicator so only half a point
4.I associate a network of tunnels more with warfare than drug running, but admittedly I have no experience of either.
5.“With” is redundant and doesn’t seem to work well as a connector
6.Clever idea, smooth surface, better executed than 15. Might "in" have been an improvement upon "with"?
7.Not convinced that 'audacious' qualifies as an anagram indicator for an otherwise very good 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.