CCCWC September competition voters’ comments on Clue no. 5

CCCWC September competition voters’ comments

Clue no. 5: Candles confused with part of fork under the counter?

Back to competition result | All the comments | Other competitions

A clue to CLANDESTINE.
7 comments refer to this clue (from 6 competitors, 0 others)
Move your mouse pointer over any bold clue number to see the clue.

Here is the text

Comments on the clue

1.	Brilliant! I'd give 15 points if I could. And it's goodnight from him.
2.	Well spotted connection. I remember the sketch but it must be nearly 40 years ago.
3.	'Under the counter' (without hyphens) is a location, regardless of the '?', clandestine an adjective.
4.	Fabulous!
5.	Fantastic! But without explanation, surface reading would have mean nothing
6.	Stands out for an excellent surface well melded with sound s.i. & definition

Comments on the competition
1.
Quite a large number of perfectly acceptable clues this month, but few with real sparkle. The ones that scored well from me were those with convincing and imaginative surfaces well integrated with the definition and s.i. – 4, 24, 36, 49 and, especially, 5. 6, an otherwise good clue, defines “clandestine” as “canny”, presumably on the ground that Chambers gives “sly” as a meaning for both. But the meanings of words don’t obey mathematical rules, and it does not follow from the facts that A = B and B = C that A = C. In this case, I don’t think that “canny” and “clandestine” are equivalent.

Comments on the competition

Quite a large number of perfectly acceptable clues this month, but few with real sparkle. The ones that scored well from me were those with convincing and imaginative surfaces well integrated with the definition and s.i. – 4, 24, 36, 49 and, especially, 5.

6, an otherwise good clue, defines “clandestine” as “canny”, presumably on the ground that Chambers gives “sly” as a meaning for both. But the meanings of words don’t obey mathematical rules, and it does not follow from the facts that A = B and B = C that A = C. In this case, I don’t think that “canny” and “clandestine” are equivalent.

CCCWC September competition voters’ comments Clue no. 5: Candles confused with part of fork under the counter?

CCCWC September competition voters’ comments

Clue no. 5: Candles confused with part of fork under the counter?