| Comments on the competition |
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| 1. |
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Clue 32 – very brave to enter a non-topical clue but I found it so well-formed that it stood out and became my five-pointer. Personally, I think the ? at the end was not needed as the clue did not stretch a point either as anagram or literal meaning.
Clue 37 – of the topical ones, this was the most interesting for me as it deflected the solver's mind towards an unrelated topic whithout losing quality in relation to the real one (presuming that a bit of cash wisely spent would put ash clouds in perspective again). It also read smoothly – a clue that flows or has some poetic quality adds to its enjoyment. |
| 2. |
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| I thought the strain of 13 letters showed in several of these clues, but there were some flashes of inspiration. By far the best, I thought, was clue 42, where 'hols abroad' was particularly neat: 5 points. 4 points for clue 5, a very serviceable &lit. 3 points for clue 28, in which 'Air France flights' was very clever, although the overall construction is a bit ropey. 2 points for clue 12, another respectable attempt at an &lit., and 1 point to clue 35 for the cheeky 'bar of Rover's Return'. |
| 3. |
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| This was much more difficult than GRAVE to clue, so it's good to see so many competitors having a go. The selection of inventive anagrams and definitions is impressive, but only minority of clues combined them with a very fluent and convincing surface reading. All my marks but one in the end went to & lits. or near & lits. 44 is the best example of these, very natural, and got top marks, closely followed by 37 (nicely misleading reference) and 42 (clever anagram indicator), then 28, 32 and 50 (working in the awkward 'can' well). All credit to the competitors who used completely misleading definitions and contexts, like 14, 17, 31, 47 and 51, but unfortunately none of them was quite up to the standard of my top six. 35's definition is inspired but a bit too cryptic for solvability in this context, I think. |
| 4. |
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| Hats off to the writer of clue 42, a construction of great beauty and expertise – I would have given it more than 5 points if I could! |
| 5. |
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| I thought this was one task where attempts to produce a misleading surface were likely to be less successful, so all my votes went to clues which kept to the point, although I was comfortable with entries that used flight disruption within their definition. Of the simple anagrams 32 was the best, although I'm not sure about the use of "eruption" as an anagrind. I prefer compound anagrams to have two operators, as in 42, which ruled out some entries. I think we all know that any claim to be an &lit in this comp is likely to be contentious, so the bravery in 39 in suggesting that it's an "almost &lit" is to be commended! |
| 6. |
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| Few entries managed to convince in both definition and surface reading. My winner 32 may not attract the wider support it merits for lack of (say) 'loss(2) = loess' in the explanation. My top five are 32,12,46,20,26 |
| 7. |
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1 A faultless construction and (probably) one from a regular AZED contributor; however the blanks are, to my mind, merely a contrivance favoured by Mr Crowther and the clue lacks the surface misdirection of a truly witty composition. Nul points, sorry
8 Naughty but very nice ! 5 points
17 Absolutely inspired – merci beaucoup. 4 points
20 Concise and topical. 3 points
32 Very good economy but a slightly weak definition. 2 points
53 Slightly let down by a surfeit of apostrophes. 1 point |
| 8. |
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| A tricky challenge leading inevitably to anagrams or composite anagrams, with the danger of their being over-contrived and clunky. I didn't think much of this as a choice from the clue controller, because of the awkward letters and also because the phrase usually only occurs in the singular. |
| 9. |
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Whilst some clues had definitions that seemed far too weak, there were far more clues than usual that I wanted to award points to included: 6, 17, 25, 30, 32, 36, 37, 39, 42, 43, 44, 47, & 52.
Outstanding clues for me were: my favourite 44 concise, clever and a superb surface, 52 which will be appreciated by those who Googled 'Calicos Havens'
, 32 my second favourite and unbelievably brief, 36 my third place – loved the def here! |
| 10. |
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| Hard to find anything outstanding this month. Best were those that got away from literal meaning of clue words. Personally I dislike comp anags, however clever, for such a lot of letters already given. |
| 11. |
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| Too many clues pointed clearly at the air disruption for my tastes; I gave points mainly to those which created effective misdirection, especially 28 35 and 42. |
| 12. |
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Not an easy phrase to clue leading to quite a few tortuous anagrams and some dubious claims for &lit.
I liked 36, particularly for avoiding the anagram, plus air travel reference, although the definition does stretch it a bit.
Points also for 30 and 32, the latter of which I liked very much at first for its brevity, but on having another look, it doesn't quite work as a definition for me. Damn good effort though. |
| 13. |
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Many very good clues this month and I found it hard to separate them. It seems this Iceland thing has inspired setters. Last week's offering in The Week by Tim Moorey was excellent, and a regular setter in a daily was telling me how he had painstakingly produced a crossword with that unpronounceable island in the unches, for it to be rejected as having already been done.
1st (2 pts): 41
2nd= (1.5 points each): 25, 37, 42, 48, 50, 53
8th= (0.5 points each): 4, 10, 15, 23, 38, 40, 44, 46 |
| 14. |
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Head and shoulders above the competition was 42, which combined sound and deft wordplay with an excellent surface – 5 points.
So many of the other promising clues were at least slightly unsound, inaccurate (eg, in 6, tuff is not the same thing as volcanic ashes for all that it is formed from them) or had forced and/or unconvincing surfaces. In my book, the best of the rest were
20, 50 – 1.5 points each
1, 4, 7, 15, 22, 23, 46 – 1 point each
30 had a clever basic idea, but was carelessly executed. Volcanic ashes are plural and thus can’t validly be represented by “this” – something like “owing to these” would have been accurate and conveyed the same sense. See also 33. 43 was also nearly very good, but the anagram is fatally flawed by the little word “to” – “They vanish ultimately into calces when dispersed”? |
| 15. |
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| I had a damn good clue of my own to submit, I missed the submission time – D'oh! |
