CCCWC May competition voters’ comments
Clue no. 6: Aftermath of Pompeiian catastrophe – tough, by the sound of it!
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A clue to VOLCANIC ASHES.
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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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! |
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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”? |
