CCCWC May competition voters’ comments
Clue no. 17: Clouds gathering over Europe – 'c'est fou, cach' les avions!'
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A clue to VOLCANIC ASHES.
3 comments refer to this clue (from 2 competitors, 1 other)
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| Comments on the competition |
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| 1. |
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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. |
| 2. |
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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 |
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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! |
