The Crossword Centre Clue-Writing Competition

CCCWC September competition voters’ comments
 
Clue no. 14: Doctor Rogers, I presume?

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A clue to BONES.
1 comment refers to this clue (from 1 competitor, 0 others)
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Comments on the competition
1.
This was an easy word to clue, but much less so to clue in an elegant and original way and so that the answer was not too obvious. Five clues, however, well achieved those goals (39 – 4 points; 43, 46], 47 – 3 points each; 2 – 2 points – though all of them arguably deserved to score even more highly). It was especially pleasing to see a clutch of genuine and accomplished &lits (eg, 2, 39, 46, 47), even if there are a few competitors (eg, 21, 51) who still seem not to understand that for a clue to be genuinely &lit, EVERY word in the clue must make a valid contribution to BOTH definition AND subsidiary indication. (Where 30 and 35 are concerned, I am left wondering whether there is some meaning of “bones” that I am missing. ) In most months, there might well have been points for 19, 24, 32, 34 and 36. 50 has a nicely misleading surface, but the definition is spoiled by the fact that “marrow” in the sense of bone marrow surely has no plural; “marrow” (singular) would have met the demands of both definition and surface. I havered about 5, but concluded that it was just too devious. 14 reads very well, but the “I presume?” seems to make no valid contribution other than to the surface. The surface of 38 is seriously spoiled by the capital letters, I can only suppose because the author decided, on the basis of the Chambers entry, that only Bachelor with a capital B could be represented by B; that seems over-punctilious to me.