As with GRAVE not so long ago, this clue attracted numerous multi-definition clues – some of which went to four (18[,21) and even five 19. These aren't the fairest of clues to my mind, though their surfaces certainly have nothing wrong with them. Some clues appeard to be somewhat disorganised: 10 suggested that the boxer was losing an L; the grammar isn't quite right to suggest otherwise. Likewise, 34 sound like the setter wants us to add PUG to WASH. Granted, in a crowword, we'd have a letter count to assist, but that might just confuse matters.
The clues I picked out for possible points mostly turned out to be double-definitions, some in a roundabout sort of way. I'm just annoyed that I never made the Clay/Muhammad Ali link. The "Boxer dog" construction I found the best, and thought it fairest to share the points that I'd normally give to top dog (geddit?) as far as the divisibility of 5 would allow. So points went to:
789: 1.5 points each
20: 4 points – The best of the Cassius Clay ones, I thought. Delightfully concise.
3: 3 points – Nice surface and literary reference.
44 2 points – Another nice Muhammad Ali clue.
23 1 point – A little more inventive than "Boxer dog", I thought, but perhaps more obscure.
14: half point – A sort of double-definition that I thought deserved a mention, and benefits from me having half a point left over. |
I begin by eliminating ten clues: – 17,18,19,20,21,22,26,27,44,&54 all citing 'clay' as a definition. Pug2 is not clay, but clay (or loam – see Oxford Concise) ground and worked with water as a rendering medium, etc. Were it valid, 'limestone', for example, would be a valid definition of 'Portland cement'.
Since most of those clues are double/multi-def. entries (others are 7,8,9,14,16,33,49 & 56) and I am not inclined to favour them anyway, my approach matters not a jot. I make an exception for 23 which has hidden depths – you will see hundreds of pugs (pug2) at a greyhound meeting, perhaps even the odd famous pug4. Sighting a pug1, in any of its guises other than a 'nose' would be a champagne event. 'when stopper's left out' is a subsidiary needing some adjustment in the other 'clay' clue (27).
When the clue-word has many meanings, clues having cryptic definitions are especially problematic. I question 2 (The solver has to find a synonym for 'assertive' , deduce that 'that' is a quality of 'me' and not a definition, and all before applying the subsidiary indication – fatal flaws in a highly polished and inventive entry), 52 (Desperate – its whole appears to define the tracker (authority?) rather than the verb), 4 (I see the subsidiary, but the remainder might be a reference to a pug's squat face? – only guessing), 24 (Willy is not a definition, he's an instance of pug – this needs to be flagged), 32 (when the subsidiary is discarded the remainder makes no sense, essentially because this is another attempt at an &lit), 40, 41 & 50, the last four having other faults. They are:- 32 does not flag the 'obscure' definition used, (echo 45, otherwise perfectly acceptable), 40 has a padding problem, ("'s"), 41 does not indicate initial letters, unless 'small' is to be taken for this purpose. Either way, the def. is adjectival and none is listed in C. Finally, 50 overlooks the spin/spun problem.
Miscellaneous quibbles with others:-
6,25,28,29,31,34,35,36,43 padding in varying degrees, 10 back-to-front, 11 'not on'='less'? 39 vague def. 42 PU = 'up' up, not 'pick' up, 55 indirect subsidiary, 49 & 56 simple 2 def. clues spoilt by waffle.
My votes are:
23 I have sung its praise above. 4 points
30 A brilliant and prescient rebuke to the 2-def hordes, suggestive of a very superior pooch 4 points
38 Very fine surface and subsidiary. May perplex a few voters. 3 points
47 Clever use of 'to a standstill' (= up) & apt parsing (Gee up Rev. Audrey?) 2 points
1,3,13,48 Good efforts – half point each |
