| Comments on the competition |
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| 1. |
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I thought the trickiest part of writing this clue was getting the definition right.
I felt that definitions like detective, sleuth, or Holmes were a little too leading. Given the number of letters, a solver could probably whizz through a few detectives (or fewer Holmes!) and get it without wordplay.
Dick was a better choice, even if it lead to some risque work! 18
I liked the creativity in 3 and 51, and the disguising of the definition in 15.
I'm still not entirely convinced by Busy, although Chambers has it! |
| 2. |
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| There are a lot of clues this month but none stood out and I found it hard to allocate big points. I awarded most points to 5 which works well and would have me thinking and to 3 as the best of the shock envelopes. I also gave points to 7 because the clue makes sense as a statement and for me is the pick of the Shylocks. I also gave points to 37 which is very clever and would have allocated more were it not a little too easy to solve. |
| 3. |
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I'm listing those clues I threw straight out on the first reading and giving the reasons why. It's intended to be helpful. If you're new to the competition, don't let it put you off entering again. Although being criticised isn't pleasant it beats never seeing your clues get anywhere.
And these are only my opinions; if clues in the top ten display the same features, I’m in error, not you. And I also may well have missed something, if you’ve been devious enough.
10 ‘Clouseau’ isn’t a definition to me, it’s an example and needs a ‘perhaps’ or a 'possibly’. (And I know there are those who don't agree)
13 ‘R’ doesn’t equal ‘red’ in Chambers, Collins or XWD – ‘head of red’ would be OK
14 An empty shack would be ‘sk’
28 ‘An actor’ doesn’t seem enough to indicate ‘Sher’. A bit more help to the solver is needed, I feel.
30 That sher = tiger in Hindi/Urdu is not in Chambers nor widely known . Sher Khan was to me merely a name like Kimball O’Hara. ‘Kipling’s tiger’ would do if you could indicate the loss of ‘Khan’ somehow
34 To give just a definition (and a cryptic one at that) of words you want to be anagrammed isn’t fair to the solver. The letters should be in front of the solver, although latitude is given for abbreviations well-known cruciverbally.
36 If money = p it also = S (schillings), s (shillings), R (rupees or rand), L (lire or pounds), c (cents) and K (Krona or Krone or Kwatchi). ‘Piano’, perhaps?
39 'Ellery' (even with ‘Queen’ in the letterplay to give a hint) isn’t adequate as a definition. Would you accept 'Nero' or 'Gideon' if you had them in a clue to solve?
41 ‘In the toilet’ doesn’t suggest an anagram to me
42 RLS is perhaps OK for Robert Louis Stevenson – I can’t accept just RL
50 I like a clue to have letterplay as well as a definition.
51 Shylock was grasping, ruthless and ruthless, yes, but jealous?
52 I can’t make sense of the surface reading.
56 Erle Stanley Gardner really isn’t currently prominent enough to take just his first name and use it for a homophone.
58 I like a clue to have letterplay as well as a definition
60 ‘Who is’ and ‘novels’ are superfluous to the letterplay. And ‘novels’ to the definition. |
| 4. |
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| Clue 51 the best by far. |
| 5. |
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| Dunno about anyone else, but I felt clues using the word "Holmes" constituted a dead giveaway. Likewise "her locks" is pretty obvious in the anagram stakes. Attempts to actually reference the casebook (as in 14, 35) were valiant :^) |
| 6. |
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5 points
5 The definition is a bit of a stretch, but the surface is excellent and amusing and the s.i. (if I put on one side my personal aversion to the “bit of” convention) so neat that the clue deserves top marks
3 points each:
44 I don’t think that this clue would get past Azed as a valid composite anagram, since there is no “break” between the two halves (as he insists is required), but this is not one of Azed’s competitions and the clue is admirably economical and neat.
57 neat and a genuine &lit
2 points each:
24 the wording (“sinister criminal outbreak”) is slightly artificial, but this not a bad &lit
29 the subsidiary indication aspect of this &lit is very well done, the definition aspect slightly forced.
Prox. ac.
4 This is cleverly constructed, introducing Holmes without making it too obvious that it is the definition. The connection between Brandeis and OWH, as fellow liberal members of the Supreme Court, is clear and it seems that OWH was keen on chess, but the surface is weakened by the facts that there does not seem to be any evidence that Brandeis had much interest in the game and that it is somewhat unlikely that a pawn would ever be in a position to take an opponent’s “final pieces”, whatever that might mean exactly.
14 A clever idea neatly executed, but “house” = “shack” is hardly fair, I feel.
26 The topical surface is rather spoiled by the artificiality of the phrase “equine racing’s loss”.
37 If the criterion for a clue’s being &lit is (as I believe to be the case) that every word must make a meaningful contribution to both the definition and the subsidiary indication, then this clue is no &lit, since more than half the words make no contribution to the s.i. at all. What’s more, I don’t think that either “flamboyant” or “slick” is a very accurate epithet for Sherlock Holmes. |
| 7. |
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| A lot of clues, but not that many of real quality, fortunately, since else it would have been very hard to choose! |
| Comments on the clues |
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| 1. A ——— amazed you ultimately — sorting out hard clues, OK? |
| 1. | Complex clue but mixing tenses leads to a not so great surface(…amazed…sorting…) | | 2. | Not sure about the anagram indication – 'amazing' might be better |
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| 2. A bit of Spanish fly leads to OTT carnal knowledge, I notice – and how! |
| 1. | A weak def., IMO (not that I know much); also "leads to" as letter picker indicators is not the same as "leads of" or "leaders of" | | 2. | Weak definition |
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| 3. BBC drama queen left in shock |
| 1. | Nice colocation of drama queen but though the clue tries hard to disguise, giving away "shock" gratis makes it easy | | 2. | The clearest of the 'Left in shock + queen/pause' variations, with a nice surface from the different angle on the def. | | 3. | Neat definition. A synonym of 'shock' would make this more interesting to solve | | 4. | Nice, but would this be fair for non-UK solvers? | | 5. | BBC drama too vague a definition | | 6. | Shock a bit too close to Sherlock |
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| 4. Brandeis's last pawn captures the final pieces of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. |
| 1. | Nicely put together clue. One of the best this month | | 2. | The chess reference doesn't fit the names, but the definition is well disguised | | 3. | Bit of an essay with gimme definition |
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| 5. Busy bottle-washer locks bottles up (8) |
| 1. | Good, though the word order is unnatural in the cryptic reading. I like 'bottles up', but why should the bottles be locked up? | | 2. | Good def and good SI — 5 points! | | 3. | Nicely misleading surface |
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| 6. Busy line obtained by shocker on the switch |
| 1. | Didn't get the surface at all |
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| 7. Busy loan shark trades yen for sovereign (8) |
| 1. | Nice use of Shylock.. | | 2. | Do loan sharks trade money on exchange? |
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| 8. Busy Queen wearing something inferior? |
| 1. | OK but not exciting — at this point I'm wearying of making comments alas! |
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| 9. Clerk's outlandish case possibly Holmes's first |
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| 10. Clouseau:"dat's what I said, Hums"(8) |
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| 12. Detective Holmes right perplexed to lose Moriarty's lead around the centre of Hackney |
| 1. | Dead giveaway for a complex clue – the moment I saw detective holmes, I am thinking Sherlock | | 2. | Good surface, but it doesn't leave a lot to solve | | 3. | It would be a better puzzle if the surface reading had nothing to do with Sherlock Holmes. |
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| 13. Detective woman with red hair ? |
| 1. | Well put together but wish the def and wordplay were linked better – Detective woman does not ring well as a surface | | 2. | Not so great surface. | | 3. | R for red is not a standard abbreviation on its own, only as part of e.g. RGB | | 4. | R is not a recognised abbreviation for red. | | 5. | Nice, but r=red is a bit doubtful (= not in Chambers) |
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| 14. Detective's role disguised in "The Empty House"? |
| 1. | Like the possibility of solving with either wordplay or &lit. Possibly "The" gets in the way of the wordplay. | | 2. | Neat, but I don't see "empty" justifying omission of a |
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| 15. Dick Dastardly`s penultimate shocker…bananas! (8) |
| 1. | Rough surface | | 2. | Nicely disguised definition! |
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| 16. Dick left after Liz, in shock. |
| 1. | Why not e.g. 'surprise' instead of 'shock' |
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| 17. Dick ordered kosher with starters of chopped liver |
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| 18. Dismay about noble lacking a dick |
| 1. | Somewhat risque | | 2. | Too vulgar for me! | | 3. | Just a bit vulgar? | | 4. | Dismay = shock? Amusing surface, but unrealistic? |
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| 19. Fed son poison withdrawing millions…keep reading (8) |
| 1. | Unfair definition | | 2. | I do not think 'Fed' is an adequate definition for a detective. A Fed is any US govt agent, not just FBI; very few FBI agents are tecs | | 3. | 'Fed' is fine, but in that case, there got to be a definition-by-example indicator. | | 4. | For the definition, 'Fed' should by 'Fed, perhaps'. R is not a recognised abbreviation for reading. |
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| 20. Footballer's girl almost leaves evil man for that lady detective |
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| 21. Foremost among sleuths; that person with what it may take to close the case |
| 1. | Good & lit. surface | | 2. | You can close a case without locking it. |
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| 22. He deduced the soprano's key entry point |
| 1. | The definition is not adequate | | 2. | 'Soprano's' can't indicate both 's' and 'her' |
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| 24. He probes unusual cases of sinister criminal outbreak |
| 1. | One of the better & lit. clues | | 2. | Absolute cracker of an &-lit! Fantastic work! |
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| 25. Her lock's cracked; his case is closed |
| 1. | Nice surface but dislike definition | | 2. | I appreciate the conciseness and the pairing of her/his phrases. Maybe the cryptic definition would benefit from a '?'. | | 3. | Barely an anagram | | 4. | Sounding scrumptious, yet cannot make a lot of meaning out of it. | | 5. | Hardly an anagram at all, and his case is not necessarily closed. |
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| 26. He’s hired to investigate electric convulsion surrounding origins of equine racing’s loss |
| 1. | Good, topical surface – but "surrounding" is the weak link in the surface reading. |
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| 27. Holmes in The Crooked Man, solved without using one main method? Yes and no |
| 1. | Requires too much special knowledge |
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| 28. I investigate an actor, not cast in a Jewish part |
| 1. | Clueing SHER as "an actor" is questionable. Why not "actor Anthony"? |
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| 30. Indian tiger's hair for detective |
| 1. | Specialised language knowledge required |
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| 32. Me, me? I'm no Holmes monicker – how odd! |
| 1. | In the surface reading, a person can't be a monicker. |
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| 33. Merchant of Venice swaps the unknown for Queen Scarlet's hero |
| 1. | Shylock was not a merchant, period. | | 2. | Shylock was a money-lender, surely, not a merchant |
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| 34. Miss Sutherland's hair, perhaps, arranged to solve a case of identity. |
| 1. | Do I detect an indirect anagram, my dear Watson? | | 2. | Too convoluted – where is the definition? | | 3. | No definition I could find. |
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| 37. "My brother is the flamboyant slick hero, not I", said Mycroft. (8) |
| 1. | Quite brilliant but a little bit too easy to solve | | 2. | Not &lit … all words need to contribute to wordplay – what about 'my brother is the' and 'said Mycroft'. Also whole is not a definition | | 3. | Nice idea, but the cryptic structure seems wrong. |
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| 39. Perhaps Ellery Queen is clothed in shoddy |
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| 40. Positive Ness speaks like a detective. |
| 1. | Very dubious homophone. |
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| 41. Private Dick Lambert exposed in shocker in the toilet |
| 1. | I don't think Lambert = L works, and "in the toilet" doesn't seem to me to be an anagram indicator. |
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| 43. Rarely one escaped from slick hero |
| 1. | Needs to be 'Slick hero, rarely one escaped from' to work as a noun definition | | 2. | Not pure &lit – the whole surface should be a definition of detective but is not … it's just a comment on what happened in the stories. | | 3. | Seems to define the criminal, not the detective. |
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| 44. Real shock if this amateur were baffled? |
| 1. | I can't see why the A(mateur) is removed rather than included |
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| 46. Situation where you'll find theater of inferior quality enthralling? With Holmes, perhaps? |
| 1. | I don't follow the ER part of this. Who is Katy Holmes? |
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| 47. Sleuth hesitates, left in complete surprise (8) |
| 1. | hesitates = ER is weak; the former is a verb, the latter is an interjection. | | 2. | ER is not 'hesitates', it's an expression of hesitation. |
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| 49. Smart detective undid her locks |
| 1. | Nice and concise | | 2. | This plain anagram is hardly going to be enough! | | 3. | Hardly an anagram at all, and the grammar is wrong for the cryptic reading – it would have to be "undone". |
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| 50. Some dick wandering about Libya's capital in shock |
| 1. | Topical surface | | 2. | A nice idea, but I found "wandering" a drawback |
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| 51. Spotted dick in baker's treat, we hear? |
| 1. | Why would anyone want a homophone of a hint, instead of the word to be clued? |
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| 52. Taking about turn, jealous type shakes off unknown private eye (8) |
| 1. | What does jealousy have to do with Shylock? | | 2. | Jealous type = Shylock? Othello would be more like it. |
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| 54. That which happens to sheep in Spring, on Baker Street mysteriously, save for the alphabet's first and plural. |
| 1. | This clue is back to front – it has a cryptic surface reading and explicit wordplay | | 2. | Holmes' address is 221B Baker Street:)Clue is correct, but n the surface reading should ideally convey a single image /scene |
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| 56. The genius of Doyle: a Mystery writer pronouncedly into Horror |
| 1. | Nice idea, but there are many mystery writers. |
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| 57. The man to crack case of slaughter on Strand |
| 1. | Terrific & lit. My favourite clue. | | 2. | A smart clue, only style point deductions for capitalization at the end.. | | 3. | shame about capital in Strand |
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| 58. Victorian cast copper handle (one of a pair)! |
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| 59. Villain making Yard pause for thought? You'll need me |
| 1. | I don't see an indicator for ER *replacing* Y. |
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| 60. Who is the man with odd role in hit novels? (8) |
| 1. | Not sure how 'novels' plays a role in the cryptic. Definition also looks a tad inadequate. | | 2. | I don't think the definition is adequate. | | 3. | What part does novels play in this? |
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| 61. Woman's left in tricky situation – can he help? |
| 1. | Couldn't see justification of rock | | 2. | "Tricky situation" doesn't seem to be a clear indicator of something a detective gets involved in. |
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