The Crossword Centre Clue-Writing Competition

CCCWC September competition voters’ comments

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A clue to MUNGO.
104 comments were received for this competition (from 11 competitors, 0 others)
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Comments on the clues
1. Any cycling leaves young man knackered it’s often felt
1.Clever device to get rid of ANY
2.Clever; best of the bunch by a mile
2. Beano felt a waste
1.I like the Beano but the definition is a bit tortured
2.So is 'felt a waste' a mangled definition, or 'a waste' (or felt) padding? Also, mung bean is a bean, not mung (except in Hindi). Also, WP!
3. Cheap cloth manufactured under new government order, at first
1.I think acrostics are easy to write, so they need something extra like humour
2.Decent, workmanlike clue
4. Chewed on gum and felt wasted?
1.Good clue but 'chewed gum' is more natural than 'chewed on gum'
2.Good clue.
5. Chewing gum on fabric
1.Nicely minimal, perhaps too minimal in the definition?
2.Simple but effective, points here.
3.Good clue.
6. Exploding gun muffled by covering of merino wool and cotton
1.Adequate def?
2.Definition's a bit loose
7. Fashionable young men with no desire for inferior threads
1.Nice idea but just because something is fashionable doesn’t mean that it has actually been fashioned…
2.Lovely surface, but fashionable is not an anagrind. Amendable doesn't mean amend.
3.But you haven't told me you want me to fashion YOUNGMEN, just that I could! Nice surface and def though.
8. Felt fabric salvaged out of humungous pile
1.What's pile doing here?
2.Pile is superfluous here
3.what is the role of 'pile' in the clue?
9. Felt tawdry playing Among Us endlessly (5)
1.This got a point after I checked that 'Among Us' is a thing
2.Does tawdry mean what you want it to mean? Mungo is [what is used to make] cheap=inexpensive felt; tawdry is cheap=showy etc.
3.Tawdry felt doesn't work for me, it means showy but without worth, rather than worthless by itself
10. Felt united by charity
1.I like this but felt the definition needs more than just 'felt'
2.Quite a journey to get from lower case united to MU as it might be extracted from MUFC.
3.I like charity for NGO, but united (esp without the capital) is not enough for MU
11. Felt waste in beaker contains nitrogen and oxygen
1.Cryptic grammar: if you use a link word you need to be careful with verbs. Participle or infinitive only work here.
2.Wordplay works but the surface is not convincing
12. Flock to leave behind number in retreat
1.Very good use of 'flock', points here.
2.Nice def! Good clue.
13. Greek character heads relief program for Glaswegian patron
1.NGO surely runs the program, and isn't itself the program. Neat though.
2.The wordplay works but the surface doesn't
14. Gun shot old maiden dressed in cheap clothing (5)
1.GNUMO, UGNMO, UNGMO, NGUMO or NUGMO if rearranging the two fodder elements as described. Cloth not clothing too, unless I've missed a def.
2.This is a new word on me, but I can't find any reference to the clothing made from recycled fabric being called Mungo.
15. Gun's shot a second round leaving residue
1.Running fodder into indicator not ideal. Is there enough in the def?
2.Definition is a tough ask, like the wordplay though
16. Humungous core made from waste wool
1.What's the surface about?
2.I think it is waste wool, rather than being made of it.
3.Definition {from} wordplay would have worked
17. Jerry Park?
1.Two DBEs seems a cop out.
18. Letter from Greek welfare group named Glaswegian saint
1.Is this a plausible surface?
2.Not sure about 'named'
19. Low-quality fibre leads to one making ugly gastrointestinal noises, unfortunately
1.Very good (but allowing ourselves anagrams of first letters for short entries takes a lot of the skill out of the game?)
2.Most amusing, points here.
3.'Leads to' and 'unfortunately' are rather obvious indicators.
4.Chortle
20. Manchester United's new goalscorer's off-target headers felt substandard.
1.I like the headers
2.Substandard felt might be a definition. But felt substandard?!
3.Not at all bad. Points here.
21. Mongoose family takes a moment to surround retreating wildebeest
1.Good find. Family is herpestidae technically, and species mungos mungo. Is it ok to take just a bit of that?
2.Would the wildebeest even notice them?
3.'takes' feels superfluous here, otherwise good.
22. Monsieur cut a French green fabric of little worth? (5)
1.Quite liked this except I'm not totally convinced Green=Go.
2.Green = GO a little loose
3.Monsieur can be M by itself, and cut doesn't mean the same as abbreviated. I like the def though!
23. Mug with no pants, gets cheap fabric (5)
1.A bittersweet tale that made me smile.
2.Comma splice in surface
3.Doesn't need the comma, better without!
4.Why the comma?
24. Must broadly speaking bash on producing poor material
1.MUN is too obscure for my liking
25. Must travel abroad for cheap fabric ( 5 ) Travel =Go
1.Needs some kind of indicator for mun=must. Would have been better with 'Local must travel….'
2.You don't explain abroad. Padding? or reasonable ornamentation on travel? Hmm. Would be nice to know we need a TARDIS for must too.
3.If you must use must, it must have an archaism indicator. Abroad is superfluous.
4.MUN is too obscure for my liking
26. Not oddly, impugns good cloth wasted
1.Good spot but feels a bit forced
2.A little to strained for me
3.Who does?
27. Obligation to turn what's essentially wasted into new material
1.MUST (n) = obligation looks ok, and GO (n) = turn clearly is. But what's to doing? Dodgy juxtapostion indicator?
28. Poor young men longing to get free, cheap cloth from mill
1.Very like my clue so points awarded, only quibble is that cloth can't be both cheap and free!
2.Don't like the indirect pointer to yen in the anagram fodder … and even if ok, it probably needs an indicator that it's a fragmented yen
3.Surface unravels: the cloth can't both be free and cheap.
29. Pulled from loom, ungodly mass of fibres for reuse
1.The only ungodly surface that is natural. Nice clue.
30. Recycled bits of used gabardine – old made new?
1.Best of the acrostics, and a nice &lit too
2.Very good (but allowing ourselves anagrams of first letters for short entries takes a lot of the skill out of the game?)
3.A bit of one thing seems fair way to select a first letter. Bits of several to select several doesn't. Article perhaps critical? Nice though
31. Recycled cloth is primarily made using nice garments only (5)
1.Clear WP, but a stretch to say this is semi &lit: any old rubbish that can felt would do.
2.You make garments using recycled cloth – other way around does not read well.
32. Recycled material once more clothes antelope from the east.
1.Of course it does.
33. Recycled material produced from mill, unmistakably nondescript, generally old at first
1.Acrostics need to be pithy and funny. This one needs some more work.
34. Reused material among us, stripped and recycled
1.Surface?
35. Scraps from mill, unused no good offcuts?
1.How are first letters scraps, except by dubious convention? OK they're fragments, but odd bits left over rather than convenient first bits.
36. Scraps obtained from mill used nevertheless to manufacture waste product
1.Too much of a jump between 'manufacture waste product' and 'go'
2.Ditto 35's comment for scraps. And manufacture? It's just getting rid of it.
3.The other 'scraps' clue was stronger. Good idea though.
37. Second loads shotgun with woollen material (5)
1.Dodgy fodder/ indicator compound. And presumably some sort of tamping operation. Is that loading though?
38. Singer of 'In the Summertime' must, locally, be ranked with others
1.Surface suffers trying to get a viable synonym for GO. I'm not sure if you succeed.
2.Mungo Jerry is the name of the band, not the singer
40. This waste is recycled into e.g. woman's suit
1.This is very high quality material. Perhaps not my favourite, but the clue I wish I'd written.
2.Nice comp. anag. points here.
41. Um Bongo cocktail (after taking a shower) for the Glasgow man
1.You're asking to much of the solver with the shower reference.
2.I can see the logic behind 'taking a shower' = subtract BO, but I don't think I'd get it.
3.The BO deletion is quite an ask!
42. Van, hurling from New York, driven by man from Paris: an escape
1.Definition is too obscure.
2.Unsolvable? Multiplier effect of: unindicated example, tough anyway; flight-of-fancy link; unsupported abbreviation; loose GO synonym.
3.Too obscure for me
43. Waste from ungodly trousers (5)
1.Ungodly is a bit awkward, but the trousers are excellent.
2.Does the surface work? If the WP is an extension of the def, ungodly's the wrong word. If not, what are ungodly trews anyway? Do they leak?
44. Waste little time around lounges essentially (5)
1.I'm afraid any clue using 'essentially' gets no points from me
2.Essentially is a stretch of an indicator. Allowing it variable extent makes it more so (!). Magpie allows middle 1 or 2 letters.
46. Waste produced by doctor eating flipping antelope ! (5)
1.So for the surface we have to imagine a venison-eating doctor's poo?
2.The mind boggles.
48. Young man without any letters to his name
1.Starts out well. Is the rest missing?
2.I like the construction, but Mungo is such an unusual name to be defined so broadly.
3.There doesn't seem to be any manipulation attempted. 'To' doesn't work as a link (although it might with a generative anagram indicator).
4.Nice comp. anag. but where is the definition?