| Comments on the competition |
|---|
| 1. |
|---|
My first attempt at writing or judging a clue of this type, and I'm in no position to evaluate fairness or difficulty. Reading through, I found five that sparkled. The sentences both before and after evoked interesting scenes and ideas, plausible ones, that were fun to read.
In the end I just had a feeling that they sparkled in the following order of brilliance:
24 – 5
20 – 4
13 – 3
8 – 2
31 – 1. |
| 2. |
|---|
My overall impression is one of disappointment. Few entries convince in both readability and the extent to which the two versions differ.
Erring in favour of the latter of those qualities, my votes are:-
12 One from Pseud's Corner, surely. Both versions read well – 5 points
42 Clue is less convincing, but undevilled version reads very well – 4 points
24 My favourite amongst the rest. Witty and sound – 3 Points
3,13&29 1 point each
Regarding 12 it has astonished me that 'canal-ways' is not in C. and regarded as obscure by OED. It is not listed in my SOED 6th Edition. The term seems very familiar to me. |
| 3. |
|---|
| Lots of sound and interesting ideas, but mostly turned out a little bland to gain my votes. Of the "post early" clues, the simple 14 made best use of the idea. I liked the simple 7 too, but the best clues give a clearer hint of the undevilled version, such as 11, 3 and 31. Best of all, in my view, though, was 13 with its very clever wording and re-punctuation providing a highly believable devilled version designed to mislead. I'd thought of "fast earner" but had not made the extra few brilliant steps involved in coming up with this clue. A cracker! |
| 4. |
|---|
A very promising word for a PD competition but few entries were much good I thought. So far as I can see the main requirement of a PD clue is that when it is solved it should make such good sense that it is obviously correct; the secondary requirement is that the shorter version is at least sensible: mysterious perhaps, but at least making some sense. Eventually I decided on:
ist= (2.5 points each) 8, 34
3rd= (2 pts each) 22, 31
5th (1.5 points) 13
6th= (1 pt each) 21, 30, 39, 42
10th (0.5 pts) 12 |
| 5. |
|---|
As a newcomer to the Centre and a relative novice in clue-writing, I can't claim deep technical expertise in judging merits of clues. I do understand that a key condition for a satisfactory PD clue is that the undevilled version makes good sense. Given that a clue meets that condition, I have simply looked for enjoyment in the submitted clues, and neatness, wit and, to some extent, brevity. I have indeed enjoyed most of this month's clues — thanks to all entrants! Near misses, to my mind, were 3, 5, 8, 13, 24 and 38. I award points to 14, the neatest of the "post early" group, 29 31, 33, 34 and 36.
Limiting total points so as not to give my inexpert view the same weight as those who have more experience, I'll give 1.5 points to 14, 29 and 34, and 1 point to 31, 33 and 36. |
| 6. |
|---|
It is extraordinarily difficult to produce a really good Printer’s Devilry clue, at least according to the criteria which it seems to me should apply:
a. the undevilled version should not only make good sense, but should read naturally, ie, should be a piece of English, whether written or spoken, such as might occur in a readily credible context and not sound stilted, artificial or hopelessly ungrammatical;
b. the devilled version should also make sense (albeit sometimes zany sense). Although a little more latitude is allowable with regard to grammar and syntax, the more naturally the English reads the better;
c. the devilry should significantly alter the meaning, and the greater the contrast the better. Ideally, the sense of the devilled version should be startling, amusing or bizarre and contrast with some more mundane sense in the undevilled one and not vice versa.
It is all too easy, by attempting to improve a clue with respect to b. and c. above, to make it worse with respect to a. or vice versa. (This was certainly true of my own entry.)
Add to these, the traditional requirement that the letter immediately before the clue word in the undevilled version should not be the last letter in a word in the devilled version or the letter immediately after the clue word in the undevilled version the first letter of a word in the devilled version, and it amounts to a pretty stiff challenge. (I have never understood why this should be a requirement, but it seems to have become as unalterable a law as those of the Medes and Persians.)
None of the clues seemed to me unequivocally to tick all of these boxes. 5, for instance, did pretty well with respect to a. – c. above, but offended against the traditional requirement, while 17 and 36 were iffy with regard to b. and 9 and 23 with regard to a.
Without a great deal of confidence in my judgements, I have awarded points as follows:
2 points each: 12, 13, 19, 24, 31, 33
1 point each: 8, 29, 42 |
