| Comments on the competition |
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| 1. |
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I thought 2 and 24 were very good.
Clue 17 is either very good or too simple, I can't work out which.
The perfect clue for me is 18. |
| 2. |
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Dave was a frequent visitor, but clearly he was there only to make the anagrams come out right. This sort of thing usually leads to a rather arbitrary-sounding surface reading, in which Dave (or whatever the name is) can equally well be replaced by Tom, or Dick, or Harry. Acceptable as one clue in a complete puzzle perhaps, but not neat enough for a competition.
Many appearances, too, by down/bedding/blankets/bunks. Of these, my favourite was 3, though strictly speaking, Chambers says 'downtime' is one word.
Out of the ten 'evade duty' clues, the best was 23. But the two most original anagrams and most satisfying surfaces were 28 and 34; the latter giving way to the former only because of a pedantic doubt as to whether the fact that a ray is a type of radiation, and UV is a type of radiation implies that UV is a type of ray.
So: 28 5 points; 34 4 points; 3 and 23 3 points each. |
| 3. |
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Some distinct classes of clues here:
* Ones using 'Dave duty' that automatically get booted out for the usage of arbitrary name.
* Ones using evade duty and some way to eliminate 'e', that claim to be &-lits. Quite a few are not, with implausible surfaces carrying appendages that cannot form part of the definition.
* Ones using 'down', which except for 3, fall short, as duvet=down is not just correct.
* Some other boring ones which carry imperfect wordplay.
13 was the only funny clue here. 33 got to be lauded for the clever use of overlord. I would plump for one of 3, 6, 13 or 21 to go all the way… |
| 4. |
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| With so many of the clues being either "down time" or "evade duty – e" anagrams, it was hard to give out 15 points at all! And most of the so-called &lit.s were really stretching their definitions. So overall, it felt like a lack of imagination all round. Post holiday blues, perhaps? Or maybe everyone's in need of a duvet day :-). |
| 5. |
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| Really a quite poor collection this month, apart from a few with the EVAD(E) DUTY anagram idea. |
| 6. |
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An interesting challenge; not the easiet phrase to find a good definition for. Those who chose "downtime" (3, 17, 38, 39) selected one not quite right in my opinion – nor in that of Chambers, seemingly. Very much liked 33's reference to D-Day, but "overlord" felt like it didn't make sense in the reading. A merit for it, nonetheless.
Points to:
5: 6 – I'm not the biggest fan of compound anagrams, but the surface is excellent here.
4: 26 – I'd say more of a cryptic def. than an &lit – but the clue is still perfectly serviceable.
3: 11 – Another excellent cryptic def. 8 was very similar, but didn't read quite as smoothly.
1.5 each: 24 and 32 – Nice use of the anagram. |
| 7. |
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| 'Evad(e) duty' and 'down time' are both good ideas, though duvet can't be defined by 'down' alone. Dave shirking duty is very neat wordplay, but harder to justify as a definition (who's Dave?). Some of the evaders (9, 29) have defined a verb rather than a noun. It's good to see a couple of misleading definitions amongst all the & lits, and 28 is the best of these. |
| 8. |
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I felt that there should be some reference to a bed or sleeping or similar for the clue to be solid. I awarded 3 and 27 4 each. These had depth in the word-play.
I gave points also to 7, 16, 23, 28, 36. These seemed solid as clues.
Others either had flaws in the construction, were too tangential to the word, or not concise enough to be enjoyable. |
| 9. |
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| 26 was my top clue – it had an interesting story in two words allowing the solver's imagination to go to work. Other than that my pick was the set of clues around "down time". 2's "feeling down" – I felt it was an imaginative use of the term, nicely done. Other than these ideas, the only ones I liked were the ones that were the composite anagram clues with "evade duty"..A couple had good surfaces. Did not rate the clues with proper nouns in the clue just because I did not think it would be allowed in say, the Times (eg., Dave). All in all, a worthy effort from the submitters – I did not think there were many ideas to work with but the entrants have shown great imagination. |
| 10. |
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The definition was the trickiest part of this challenge and thus the trickiest to judge. This is a relatively recent coinage, and the dictionary authorities seem not to be in full agreement as to what precisely it means. There is unanimity that a duvet day is one agreed with the employer, and the majority states (a) that its purpose is to alleviate (genuine) stress and (b) that it is typically granted at short notice. Only Chambers (11th edition), in one of its whimsical definitions, suggests that the reason given by the employee is necessarily specious and that the employer knows this, but turns a blind eye. The OED, surely the ultimate authority on English usage, defines duvet day as “a paid day’s leave from work, granted at short notice for rest or recovery from stress, etc”. Nevertheless, a definition that picks up the full flavour of the Chambers definition must presumably be allowable, simply because Chambers, even in a minority, is our standard bible. On the other hand, a definition (eg, 1, 15, 30) along the lines simply of time-off is probably insufficient. It is clear too that a duvet day is (a) a noun and [b] an occasion and not the excuse given for taking it or even the act involved in taking it – which rules out, eg, 8, 9, 11, 14, 16, 19, 29, 31, 32, regardless of other considerations. More problematic is a definition (eg, 4, 5, 21, 28) that implies either that the reason given is not genuine or that the reason is the alleviation of stress, but does not state or imply that the employer’s agreement has been obtained. I decided to give the benefit of the doubt to these, if only because to exclude them would leave hardly any otherwise sound clues eligible for points. 4, however, was ruled out for me by the inadequacy of “Abandoning” as an a.i.; similarly, the definition in 41 is unexceptionable, but the a.i. is, unfortunately, fatally flawed by the little word “to”.
5 points: 6 This ticks all the boxes with respect to the (Chambers) definition. Some purists might object that a composite anagram should have an a.i. in only one half, but that seems unreasonable to me when the “redundancy” contributes to so neat a surface.
3 points each:
21 skillful wordplay, and the definition neatly side-steps the traps identified above
28 a refreshingly different approach, deftly done
2 points: 36 This cleverly achieves the element of employer’s permission, but sails perilously close to defining duvet day as an act rather than an occasion, though I think that the use of “This” just avoids the charge.
0.5 point each:
3, 17, 39 These deserve some recognition for their brevity, combined with the play on the word “down”.
24 This has the merit of neatly incorporating the idea of employer’s permission, but the use of the arbitrary “Dave” simply for the sake of the anagram is a weakness (in my own clue too!). |
| Comments on the clues |
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| 1. A bit of vacation in payable time, a familiar act? |
| 1. | There are very many familiar acts. Can the solver be expected to guess that you were thinking of D.D., rather than, say, Derren Brown? |
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| 3. A case of down time? |
| 1. | The best of the 'downtime' clues, which recognises duvet is not simply down. | | 2. | The neatest of the "down time" play on words |
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| 4. Abandoning duty, Dave exhibits this |
| 1. | I don't like 'abandoning' as an anagrind, though 'with abandon' would be ok. | | 2. | Who is Dave? |
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| 5. An instance of Dave and duty differing? |
| 1. | A strained definition. Who is Dave? | | 2. | Nice surface and clear wordplay. |
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| 6. Arrange this with head of employment to evade duty, possibly |
| 1. | spoiled by 'to' | | 2. | The best combination of EVADE and DUTY, I thought, although 'head of employment' is slightly forced. | | 3. | One of the few genuine &-lits. | | 4. | The best of the (oh so) numerous EVADE DUTY – E anagrams | | 5. | Brilliant comp. anag. & lit. Minimal extra anagram fodder. Not 100% sure of the "possibly" in the cryptic reading. | | 6. | A well-constructed & lit. |
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| 7. Arrangement to evade duty, being low in energy? |
| 1. | Don't like 'arrangement to' as an anagrind. | | 2. | Not quite as good as 6 – 'short of energy' maybe? |
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| 9. Blearily evade duty, having taken a bit too much Ecstasy |
| 1. | No indication that it's an example for &lit. | | 2. | Not clear whether the E is added or subtracted |
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| 11. Bunking off work? |
| 1. | I thought this was the best attempt at a cryptic definition, but the real challenge lay in devising some wordplay. | | 2. | Nice pun, but lacks any indication of the time period |
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| 12. Consensually bedded employee, then? |
| 1. | A duvet day is a type of leave, not the person who takes it. | | 2. | I presume this clue is obvious to all (except me!). Lack of any explanation prevents me from marking it. |
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| 13. Couple blocking vaginal opening on period – This is no time to be employed! |
| 1. | V blocks DUET. If you take a day off, you're still employed. For the surface reading, I'd say 'during' or 'due to' instead of 'on'. | | 2. | I am not a prude, but this is abysmal. If the rules allowed negative points, I would award the maximum. | | 3. | At least bad taste and not sure what surface reading is really saying | | 4. | Not a nice image, and makes little sense |
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| 15. Day after day leaders of under-used vacant employees take unplanned day off. |
| 1. | 'take' is padding. Unfortunate that 'day' appears both in the clue and the answer. Why are the employees likely to be vacant? | | 2. | This doesn't make sense. What are under-used vacant employees? |
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| 17. Downtime? |
| 1. | Much better as Case of Down…. | | 2. | Down is only part of a duvet | | 3. | Concise – this needed the &lit. explanation |
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| 18. Duet Davy composed on leave (5,3) |
| 1. | Quite humorously composed, I think! I like it! |
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| 19. Ed left; evaded duty – bad excuse and this employee malingered yet again! |
| 1. | A duvet day is a type of leave, not a type of employee. | | 2. | Over complicated |
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| 20. Evade duty? Arrange to make it a legitimate break. |
| 1. | Not an anagram of duvet day! | | 2. | The anagram doesn't work. You would need to get rid of an 'E' first. | | 3. | Anagram of what? (surplus e) | | 4. | Would be great if it weren't for an superfluous E! |
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| 21. Evade duty at work – term for employee not going in? |
| 1. | 'E' isn't a recognised abbreviation for 'employee', and 'term' doesn't mean first letter. | | 2. | Of the better "evade duty" based clues. | | 3. | Good & lit. | | 4. | This one succeeded in getting rid of the extra E of the anagram in a clever way |
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| 22. Evade duty in order to spare energy for period under cover (5,3) |
| 1. | The word 'to' is rather clumsy here |
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| 24. Extra time off duty Dave arranged. |
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| 25. Featherbedding Doris? Sounds sick, eh? |
| 1. | 'Sickie' doesn't sound like 'sick eh' to me. | | 2. | sick eh does NOT sound like sickie, not where I live at least! | | 3. | No, doesn't sound 'sick, eh' |
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| 26. Leave undercover? |
| 1. | Looks more like a crytpic def to me | | 2. | There isn't enough information for the solver here |
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| 27. Lying-in: a modern practice to ease labour pains? |
| 1. | Lying-in is not a modern practice, and it doesn't ease labour pains. But a good attempt at something different. | | 2. | Very good of its type |
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| 28. Mobile TV dud? Aye, time to recharge the batteries |
| 1. | Nice idea; 'mobile TV' isn't a very natural expression, but the wordplay is impeccable. | | 2. | Hooray for a good misleading definition, a bit strained, but clever |
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| 29. Mostly evade duty at sea |
| 1. | If this is an &lit, the definition is wrong, because the evasion of duty doesn't have to be at sea. If not, where is the definition? | | 2. | There may be a nautical term for shirking, but this isn't it |
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| 30. No-good guards review, then vote for, random time off |
| 1. | Why is the time off 'random'? If 'random' were omitted, or replaced by 'impromptu' (say), the clue would be in the points. | | 2. | Clever construction, not a very likely scenario |
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| 32. Off duty, Dave? |
| 1. | Short and to the point! |
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| 33. Posh old soldier put in to Overlord for impromptu leave! |
| 1. | Deserves some points for the Overlord=D-Day idea. | | 2. | Good use of overlord and old soldier! Slightly dull surface. |
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| 35. This duet on first vacation, from dawn till dusk, stayed snuggled in. |
| 1. | The 'on' in the clue doesn't work |
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| 36. This is not working OK? OK that's accepted. |
| 1. | Interesting attempt to use definition in Chambers |
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| 37. Time off when not only Pete's partner kidnaps vet, but also old Mumbai explodes. |
| 1. | Sorry, I simply cannot make any sense of this clue! | | 2. | Full marks for ingenuity – but a little too ingenious for me: it makes the solver's task too hard. And the surface reading is unconvincing. | | 3. | More Monty Python than Pete and Dud – and a very indirect indication of 'ay' |
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| 38. Unexpected down time? (5,3) |
| 1. | Not sure unexpected fits the wordplay but great otherwise |
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| 42. When may boss advise duty is not required? |
| 1. | An anagram indicator indicates that letters are rearranged, not that they may be rearranged. | | 2. | 'When' doesn't work as a definition. Something like '- now?' at the end would be better |
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| 43. When one might idly turn against a teddy? |
| 1. | Definition too contrived. |
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