I feared that this slightly unusual challenge might present problems of interpretation for the judges, and so it proved for me. One contestant 26 even chose to clue the phrase ANY FIREWORK itself; I think that the words “of your choice” that followed the phrase on the site clearly show that this was not what was intended. Three competitors (5, 28, 40) clued types of firework that may well exist, if only as proprietary names, but which are surely much too esoteric to be fair as answers to crossword clues; I discounted these. A significant minority (2, 4, 29, 30, 34, 36, 37, 44 and, arguably, 20) clued words (such as BANGER, CATHERINE WHEEL and (SKY)ROCKET) which are indeed common types of firework, but, within the clue, defined meanings of those words that had nothing to do with fireworks. It is arguable whether or not clues taking this approach met the intended criteria for the competition. I decided in the end that they didn’t and discounted them too, even though some of them were in themselves quite good clues. (Other judges will no doubt have reached a different conclusion.) Even then, however, there remained at least a dozen clues worthy of consideration for points
4 points: 13, a cleverly appropriate anagram and neat semi-&lit
3 points: 10 a well crafted &lit
2 points: 16 pleasingly crafted and well-disguised hidden (even if “fiery” is misspelt!)
1.5 points each:
17 A similar approach to 13’s, but a less natural surface (”Girandole’s alternative”). (Golden Rain appears in Chambers Crossword Lists, though not in Chambers itself. I accepted it on that ground and on the rather arbitrary one that I had heard of it.)
27 this clever (if unclaimed!) &lit is slightly spoiled by the wordplay’s requiring “One’s”, where the definition really demands “One may be”.
1 point each:
8 a good misleading definition, but the rather unnatural “wherein” required for the anagram slightly spoils the surface
23 very neat, but a light firework is a slightly artificial phrase
43 an original (if slightly anachronistic) definition and neat matching anagram, but the surface as a whole reads slightly oddly.
Prox. ac. 11, 18, 19, 25, 38, 39. |
