| Comments on the clues |
|---|
| 1. 50% off Mercedes handed to dealer |
| 1. | "X% off" in the context of car dealership is a nice idea | | 2. | Neat, succinct and simple. | | 3. | Hmm shouldn't the discount go to the customer? |
|
| 3. A trader intended to tour Roman Catholic hospital |
| 1. | Not convinced by 'to tour' to indicate containment. It's not adding anything to the surface either: 'go around' would be fine |
|
| 4. Aimed to go around church hiding ladder at the back of one stocking? |
| 1. | 'of' as connecting word is used incorrectly here from grammatical point of view | | 2. | shame but you left 'of one stocking' for the definition which does not work. 'In one stocking' would hve been ok with 'in' as an ok linkword | | 3. | Not a very plausible story |
|
| 6. Bourgeois sea song |
| 1. | The double duty seems to unfairly taxing on the bourgeoisie – non, mon frere robespierre |
|
| 7. Corrupt narc conspired with deranged meth dealer. |
| 1. | Good idea but a bit too convoluted – I prefer the simpler 30 | | 2. | partial anagrams need to add up separately – like this, it is disestablishmentarian | | 3. | 'involved with' might have been better? |
|
| 8. Dealer in meth and cocaine ran away |
| 1. | Away is not an anagram indicator I would use |
|
| 10. Dealer intended to get rich after robbing one (8) |
| 1. | Nice story conjured – well composed |
|
| 11. Dealer offers smart car with gas under the bonnet |
| 1. | Car dealer story a good idea but not sure about 'under' to indicate containment, and wording of surface seems unlikely to me |
|
| 13. Dealer uncovered parchments all over the place |
| 1. | Nice and accurate, points here. | | 2. | good find, well composed |
|
| 14. Dealer’s name given to crackhead regularly held by police |
| 1. | "… given by …" slightly better maybe. Very good all the same. | | 2. | nested programming… too advanced for this? |
|
| 15. Diatribe by millions on the net about child trafficker (8) |
| 1. | Millions going on a diatribe seems odd – more of an individual pursuit? |
|
| 16. Écoutez! Un cave du vin négociant, peut être? |
| 1. | Seriously? | | 2. | When you say the meaningful sentence in a Nice way, it would be 'Écoutez! Un caviste, peut-être?' and that won't work like this | | 3. | ? | | 4. | Mein Gott was bedeudet das? |
|
| 17. Hard worker behind car commercial |
| 1. | Concise & accurate. Points here. |
|
| 18. He collaborates with an ivory trader |
| 1. | Doesn't work without capitalisation for Ivory | | 2. | Best of the Ivory ones. | | 3. | it needs to be Ivory here, not ivory |
|
| 19. He sells sparkling Cremant (second to Champagne) |
| 1. | Good clue worth some points. |
|
| 21. High-class carrier hasn't completely lost heart to dealer |
| 1. | why use 'completely' when clue works without it as well? because of the apostrophe?? ah, too much fairness. too much. | | 2. | Struggling to parse "hasn't completely lost heart (to)" – why "completely"? |
|
| 23. Italian wine is not stocked by the French drink wholesaler |
| 1. | A bit too hard for me – I'd prefer direct indication of CHIANTI but love "is not stocked" | | 2. | Doesn’t need “the” | | 3. | idea fine but I think maybe spoiled by 'the' | | 4. | Original and clever wordplay – my winner. |
|
| 24. Letter after the fifth of April released tranche for trader |
| 1. | A point for innovation! |
|
| 25. Manchester , having dropped two points, is out for someone on the market (8) |
| 1. | there's 4 points in the fodder n.e.s.e. | | 2. | clue does not quite make sense to me | | 3. | Lovely surface. Not sure if just ‘two points’ is specific enough? | | 4. | What does the surface mean? |
|
| 26. March 10 could provide a retailer ( 8 ) |
| 1. | Not convinced with 10=ten for anagramming, if nothing else it is certainly indirect | | 2. | I could forgive the indirectness of 10=TEN anagram fodder if only the surface made sense |
|
| 27. Maybe Jeff Bezos uses charm and networking (8) |
| 1. | anagram is all kinds of indirect and unfair (also, Amazon is/could be a merchant – Bezos is a stakeholder in it) | | 2. | The Bezos DBE feels a bit arbitrary – is he notoriously charming? (or charm-less?) |
|
| 28. Most common gossip about new businessman (8) |
|
| 29. Mr. A Tench; pie seller |
| 1. | Not sure about pie as anagrind. | | 2. | goof effort |
|
| 30. Narc gets mixed up with meth dealer |
| 1. | Best drug dealer clue | | 2. | Similar to and better than my offering. |
|
| 33. Nice sea song for a sort of navy |
|
| 34. Occupation of Taiwan by Chinese occupying force |
| 1. | Original surface, spoiled by occupation+occupying. Second of these could have been "invading", would have been much better. |
|
| 35. One buying or selling luxury car hasn't scratched the back of Lexus |
|
| 36. One connected with ivory trader? (8) |
| 1. | I ought to be capitalised | | 2. | Ivory would need capitalisation | | 3. | Capital needed in Ivory? |
|
| 37. One like Antonio has a sort of charm but the net is closing in around him |
| 1. | Many redundant words – but, the, him |
|
| 38. One might sell crémant supply around end of March |
| 1. | Not convinced that supply works as anagrind | | 2. | A vintage I hope! Votes here. |
|
| 39. One risks life for a friend’s match, nearly, nearly, losing a pound in play! (8) |
| 1. | "losing pound in play" is very nice in a TMOV clue, but the rest feels strained |
|
| 40. One trading for German car hasn’t got Sierra going |
| 1. | Let down by surface clue not really having meaning | | 2. | similar idea, equally well composed | | 3. | "got (S) going" is a little awkward |
|
| 41. One who sells what Harry Potter heard in the bath? |
| 1. | I'm sure there's an audience for a whole puzzle of HP themed clues – but it's not for me sorry | | 2. | A touch specialized perhaps. | | 3. | very nice effort |
|
| 43. Partner of ivory trader |
| 1. | “I” needs capitalisation | | 2. | Have to repeat the capitalisation issue in Ivory | | 3. | Capital needed in Ivory? |
|
| 44. Perhaps Antonio is this richest man in play? |
| 1. | so close, but no cigar – Is this Antonio perhaps richest man in play – was the way to go if at all |
|
| 45. Perhaps sailor's French sea song |
| 1. | Stretching the definition possibly, but I rated it. Points here. |
|
| 46. R.E.M. making a comeback with song for commercial |
| 1. | Rare definition but completely valid. I hope this clue will do well. | | 2. | hope this comes true – fingers crossed – take points – wish it was jingle instead of song |
|
| 47. Seller dealing with parchment not originally proven (8) |
|
| 48. Séte sea shanty supplier? |
| 1. | I am a Nice guy myself | | 2. | admirably brief, but shanty=chant is a bit disappointing given the former must come from the latter |
|
| 49. Shared a room with a view with ivory trader. |
| 1. | Amazed at the number of non-capitalised Ivories |
|
| 52. She sells sea shells to Cornish worker |
| 1. | Nice one | | 2. | Lovely idea. I'd prefer 'shell' singular, and maybe MER needs a frenchifier | | 3. | Wonderful. | | 4. | Shame – I think MER needs a French indicator. "… French sea shells …" would have been more accurate | | 5. | 'shell' would be a better indicator? |
|
| 54. Song by R.E.M about a dealer |
| 1. | a dealer is such an uninspired definition after such good wordplay – but take points |
|
| 55. Stephen somebody? Hawking? His job? |
| 1. | Very silly :) | | 2. | excellent seed of an idea – you should hone it further | | 3. | Clever |
|
| 56. Ten march madly to the office to confront Stephen |
| 1. | "to the office to confront" neither wordplay nor definition |
|
| 59. The man running stores on revolving credit? |
| 1. | +1 | | 2. | Very nice | | 3. | Decent & lit. Points here. | | 4. | wow! terrific!! white flag!!! i salute your bodacious awesomeness… | | 5. | ON? | | 6. | This grew on me |
|
| 60. Tory Piers confronted: admitted undisciplined raunch wasn't acceptable |
| 1. | MP resigning after having affair with his staff? Seems very quaint in BJ's Britain |
|
| 62. Vendor's mother can leave nothing out of place |
| 1. | Not keen on linkword. IS is not the meaning of the apostrophe here. |
|
| 63. Who sells fancy French drink for a pound? |
| 1. | My favourite | | 2. | Original, clever wordplay – my runner-up. | | 3. | Clever, points from me. |
|
| 64. Workers gulp last bit of ginger tea! Time to meet Shylock, say (8) |
| 1. | Right play, wrong character – isn't Antonio the merchant of the title? | | 2. | Allow me to be the 94th person to point out that Shylock wasn't the merchant. |
|
