CCCWC November competition voters’ comments
Clue no. 35: Saloon conceals the dubious wine list with a spectacular Turner! (14)
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A clue to Any Firework.
2 comments refer to this clue (from 2 competitors, 0 others)
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| Comments on the competition |
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| 1. |
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| When I entered the competition I had to decide which firework would make the most interesting clue, and then how to clue it and in particular how to define it. I enjoyed seeing how other competitors addressed these choices. In the end I decided the strongest clue would be one that defined the solution as a firework, and preferably a specific firework, rather than one of its alternative meanings ('banger','rocket', etc), but which avoided 'firework(s)' or anything too obvious as the definition. This was also the basis on which I judged the clues, and several otherwise OK ones (19,23,29,30,34,37,45) missed out on points for that reason. Happily there were enough clues that met my criteria, of which 8 was the outstanding example – good anagram indicator, excellent misleading definition, and coherent surface – and got top marks. I also liked 42 for tackling 'jumping jack' successfully and 43 for its topical-ish and misleading reference to the occasion. 35 got points on the strength of the definition (I guess it was the Tate Britain saloon), as did 7. And 11, 13 and 18 also worked well. 16 would have been a contender but for the spelling error ('firey' isn't in Chambers anyway and doesn't get past my spellchecker). 31 was nicely worded, but chose precisely the wrong firework for the definition 'don't pick it up'. |
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When I started reading through I found the clues so uninspiring and crossed them off the list immediately, but then by the end there were so many that it was hard to choose between. Having such a choice of different clue words made it as hard to choose outright winners as it did to decide what to write a clue for in the first place. In the end I ended up spreading the marks between lots of the clues.
Some "nearly" good clues: 12 indirect anagram – why not say "strange land"?; 18 needs "convertED" to work; 25 uses straight definition of "candle" in clue; 35 needs "maybe" for "saloon"= "car" and maybe (shame because else my joint favourite clue); 36 "midriff" inadequate indicator for middle letters in my view; 37 what's "for" doing in wordplay? If it had read "…space traveller's to go by" without the "for" it would have been another excellent (joint favourite) clue. |
