The Crossword Centre Clue-Writing Competition

CCCWC Christmas Special competition voters’ comments
 
Clue no. 35: Titian very easily painted stable scene

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A clue to NATIVITY (Letters Latent).
4 comments refer to this clue (from 3 competitors, 1 other)
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Comments on the competition
1.
The ideas that worked best were V in NATTY (I latent) and A(C)TIVITY (N latent). 25 and 40 are the best of the former with their Christmas-themed surfaces, and 4 and 18 my favorites of the latter. 18's definition would have made it the out-and-out winner, but I struggled to justify 'energy' = 'activity'. The other clue I liked a lot is 19 with its misleading surface reading. 16, 20, 23, 29, 34, 35 and 39 are all close behind the leaders. There were quite a few dodgy cryptic indicators in evidence this month. I don't think a word is 'born' with its first letter, so I couldn't accept 'birth of Christ' = 'C' in 9 and 42. You'd normally expect decorations on the outside of something, so 'spruce decorated by a couple' doesn't properly indicate II in NATTY in 27. Similarly (and ignoring the misleading punctuation), 'trees' in 28 can't be read as 'contains'. 41 uses 'was' to indicate an anagram, but I don't think this is sufficient to indicate that the anagram material is changed. And the quite good 6 lets itself down by ignoring the capitals in 'Vatican City'.
2.
I had quite a long short-list, but flaws became apparent in many of the clues concerned the more closely I examined them.

3.5 points: 34 A coherent and seasonally appropriate surface, combining a good anagram (less happily exploited by 33) with a sound (if slightly lacklustre) definition.

3 points: 1 An accomplished &lit with an acceptable, but ever so slightly artificial, surface

2 points each:

17 There is much to admire about this succinct clue, especially its accomplished wordplay and coherent and nicely misleading surface, but is “11” really the same thing as “Number 11”?

23 Sound, economical and neat, but the surface is a little lacking in sparkle.

40 As on 23.

1 point each:

4 Chambers – surprisingly to me – has “vigorous activity” as a definition of “energy”, but whether it follows that “energy” is a valid equivalent of “activity” without the qualification seems doubtful to me. Otherwise, this is admirably succinct, has a most convincing surface and an original definition.

35 A perfectly sound clue, but the naturalness of the surface is rather spoiled by the word “easily”, which makes the sentence sound unidiomatic, as if a foreigner were trying to express the sense of “Titian painted stable scenes very easily”. Even “very possibly” would have been an improvement.

0.5 point: 29 A clever idea, but it would have been a marked improvement had the two halves of the clue been reversed, allowing there to be a question-mark after “stable situation” (which, without one, is not really an adequate definition of “nativity”): eg, Withdrawal of Conservatives from undertaking leads to a stable situation? Even then “undertaking” for “activity” is on the border-line of acceptability in my book.

Comments on a selection of other clues:

14 I assume that “It” in this clue is intended to represent “Activity”, but “it” is specifically “sexual activity”, and it seems too much of a stretch to use it for “activity” tout court. A pity because otherwise this is a clever and original idea.

19 If “can” = “tin”, “the can” = “the tin”, so, strictly speaking, the wordplay gives NATIVITEHT

22 I couldn’t bring myself to accept “entry” = “first letter of”, but this clue with its “self-torpedoing” surface certainly raised a smile.

27 X “decorated by” Y surely cannot indicate “Put X round Y”

33 The comma between “invalid” and “marks” surely invalidates (sorry!) the words as an indicator of “omit M”. Even without the punctuation it would have been something of a stretch.

36 Another clue spoiled by its punctuation, which seems to make the definition “Christmas, created such a scene”. Even without the comma, it reads rather oddly as a definition, but, with it, it surely doesn’t pass muster.

39 The opening words “Verily, a joyful” seem to have no valid function other than to balance “Nay” and “ruined” from the point of view of the surface.
3.
I found this month's competition harder than recent ones. I felt that quite a few submitted clues contained awkward syntax or flaws, so perhaps others found it hard too.

To my mind, several anagram indicators weren't quite adequate (e.g. [15, 37, 41), nor were some missing letter indicators (e.g. 33, 34, 42). I didn't much like one = I in 23, couple, eleven, Gemini = II in 27, 17, 2. I nearly ruled 38 out on the basis that natty and ingenious aren't really synonymous – but I see that Chambers disagrees.

Finding few clues (including my own!) really satisfying, my shortlist included several clues criticised above: the list contained 4, 5, 7, 23, 29, 35, 36, 38, 41 and 42. I ended up allocating marks to 35 and 38 (4 each), 4, 7 and 29 (2 each) and 23 (1).
4.
1 Definition too wide.
2 Astrological reference is obscure.
3 I like "on the up" to indicate reversal, but the clue is defining a noun by an adjective.
4 This seems to be defining Jesus himself, not his birth.
5 If 'describing birth …' is the definition, this is defining a noun by an adjective. If 'birth …' is the definition, then 'describing' is padding in the cryptic reading.
6 Lovely surface reading, and ingenious wordplay. But not sure about use of "all over" to mean containing.
7 Unconvincing surface reading – relativity is (partly) about length – Fitzgerald contraction etc!
8 Reliance on the OED makes this too obscure for me.
9 Don't like 'birth' to mean first letter.
10 Surface reading rather confused.
11 Good.
12 Can a horoscope be 'clever' about someone? 'Accurate', perhaps, but not 'clever'.
13 Surface reading strained.
14 and 20 You can have a nativity play, but the nativity itself is not a play.
15 Jesus, Mary and Joseph are actors in the nativity, but they are not themselves the nativity, so the definition fails.
16 The cryptic reading seems to be saying: 'Activity will result in C in the answer'. This doesn't work. Nothing is being done to 'activity', so it can't 'result in' anything. If you had said 'Crowning of child in ——— will result in labour, perhaps', that would have worked (in the cryptic reading)..
17 Excellent
18 Good,but being picky, does birth mean 'where one comes from'?
19 Good, but in the cryptic reading, "entails" would be better than "entailed".
20 See comments on 14.
21 Excellent.
22 Brilliant surface reading. But in the cryptic reading, although we are told that we have to omit C from something, we are not actually told that we have to omit it from 'doing'.
23 v.good
24 If if you can't guess the answer directly from 'birth', you aren't given much extra help by being told that a mutilated version of the answer is a shortened version of a synonym of 'birth'.
25 A nativity play is indeed a low budget show; but a nativity itself is not a show.
26 and 32 If the latent letter is I, then all Is have to be deleted. So I can't appear in an anagram.
27 Does 'decorated by' imply 'contains'?
28 Does 'corners' indicate 'contains'? And even if it does, doesn't the dash between 'trees' and 'five' destroy the cryptic reading?
29 C = Conservative, not Conservatives
30 I would have preferred 'power' to be 'power, perhaps' or 'power, for example': this is just one example of bondage by birth. Do we expect the solver to be familiar with the tactics employed in the Yom Kippur war?
31 Why does y = anonymous? In the surface reading, what is the 'it' that is doing the echoing?
32; See 26
33: In the cryptic reading, the second comma hides the fact that 'm' is invalid.
34 Good
35 v.good
36 The definition appears to be 'Christmas, created such a scene'. The punctuation works against the cryptic reading. If only it could have been: '… first. Christmas created such a scene!' Of course, that spoils the surface reading. But why not just stop after 'Christmas'? Then both readings are fine.
37 'Milk' is no good as an anagram indicator. And 'production = birth' is strained.
38 Good
39 First three words are padding in the cryptic reading.
40 Good
41' Was' no good as an anagrind.
42 Don't like 'birth' = first letter.