CCCWC Christmas Special competition voters’ comments
Clue no. 14: Half of microbrewery dismantled when shocking contents get youngsters merry
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A clue to CRIMBO (Misprints).
4 comments refer to this clue (from 3 competitors, 1 other)
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| Comments on the competition |
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| 1. |
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| Rather a disappointing set of clues. Perhaps it was difficult for other competitors, as it was for me, to decide between a festive clue that didn't sufficiently exploit the misprint, and a misleading clue that wasn't sufficiently festive. Clues 12, 15 and 24 were the wittiest, and 1, 14, 31, 43 and 46 were the best of the rest. |
| 2. |
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| Some lovely ideas in this set of clues and I really enjoyed reading through them. Hard to choose any one top clue, but I got down to a short list of seven and tried to grade as best as I could within those. I tended to give preference to those where the definition included a reference to the informality and/or modern secular context of CRIMBO as a word, e.g. 8, 14, 20, 24 and 41. |
| 3. |
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Tough one for me this. I've never really come across misprint clues before in terms of solving or composing clues, so judging them was always going to be a bit tricky!
The criteria that I set myself was that the best clues would probably try and disguise any reference to Christmas. I also deemed that the fairest clues would indicate that the clue word was a contraction, or slang, or something similar. Not many did this, so perhaps I'm in the minority on this one. Certainly, I had to relax my criteria a bit, and I scored my favourites that did not do it.
Put that together with the usual criteria on general soundness and making sense to me, and I wasn't really blown away by too many this time around. Nothing really pushed every button.
32 was a pretty good effort and 35 also got points, and plaudits also for 14. |
| 4. |
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1 don't equate Advent with Christmas.
2 is good but surface long. Holly and Christmas OK. 3 votes .
3 I associate pantos with period after Christmas. Too many jumps from CRIM to bad boy.
4 surface uneven. Definition like the answer.
5 criminal means blatantly wrong. Don’t understand definition.
6 remedy not a good anagrind. Bromic remedy might kill. Misprint too obvious.
7 misprint too obvious. Wordplay sound
8 too easy. Definition like the answer.
9 interesting surface. How many remember Powell and 1974? 1 vote.
10 I like crudely as CRIMBO is inf. Well concealed misprint. Unsure about smoothness of surface.
11 short which I prefer. Reasonable surface. Sound wordplay. 2 votes.
12 Fanta screams misprint. Santa is out of stock after Christmas, not at it.
13 too big jump from hip people to their use of CRIMBO for Christmas.
14 is dismantled a valid anagrind?
15 wash too obvious as misprint in 15. Wordy.
16 feast too vague as definition. guilty not definition for CRIM.
17 like the surface but feast is too vague definition.
18 short, succinct, but fails on surface, e.g. manger of mule.
19 fest is even vaguer than feast as valid definition.
20 like wordplay but definition too off the wall.
21 don’t understand the use of decorated.
22 is for example necessary? Wordplay good but surface not quite right.
23 wordplay clear but uniting and some guy are odd within the surface.
24 good misprint; different from others. Surface creaks a bit.
25 don’t think CRIMBO is pidgin. Its just informal.
26 don’t understand the last bit of the clue, but see it can’t just stop at 25 Deg.
27 bit long. Misprint well hidden. Initial seizures clumsy indication of first letters.
28 Lory shouts misprint.
29 surface not smooth.
30 equating rhombic array to crossword step too far. Which of resolving or array is the anagrind.
31 unsure whether wing changed means changing L to R rather than L to any letter.
32 like the definition referencing the informal nature of CRIMBO. Chambers supports wordplay. Good surface. 5 votes.
33 misprint and wordplay good but not sure about surface.
34 linking of nineteen to nought at Cribbage step too far.
35 misprint well concealed. Bit of jump from one is to I am.
36 Very clever. Didn’t know The Edge and Bono link until research. Struggled with short festive period as definition, but 4 votes.
37 misprint not in the definition.
38 definition vague. gave birth is not a valid indicator of the first letter of Mary.
39 don’t feel the indication of compound anagram is clear enough. Unsure about surface.
40 like the misprint. Think babes are more intelligent than bimbos.
41 think I know what prozzie means but can’t find it in Chambers.
42 extraordinary compound anagram, but surface doesn’t work for me.
43 equating waits to play now with Christmas is clever, but definition misses the informality of CRIMBO. Think a waits band would be traditional and be appalled by the word CRIMBO.
44 Advent does’nt equate to Christmas.
45 clever clue, but struggle a with U-turn meaning switch L to R.
46 like this. Gives good example of the on/to issue recently debated at Crossword Centre. Surface doesn’t gel. Almost put on ledge doesn’t mean much.
47 tries too hard to link all the Unis and Colleges and doesn’t work for me. |
