CCCWC July competition voters’ comments
Clue no. 29: Miliband: "Canings for fat-cat MPs"
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A clue to PEAR (Printer’s Devilry).
5 comments refer to this clue (from 5 competitors, 0 others)
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| Comments on the clue |
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| 1. | Nice topical clue | | 2. | Can't we have both? | | 3. | One of the better clues using the P/EAR split (see also 11). |
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| Comments on the competition |
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| 1. |
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| The challenge in Printer's Devilry clue is not merely to get two sensible surface readings for the two versions. It is also important that the individual readings are interesting in themselves and more importantly there is a good/amusing contrast between the two readings. Not many clues meet this requirement though practically all are technically in order. The clues with sufficiently contrasted readings are 49,47,46,35,29,23,18,12,11,9,7,5 and 2 of which 49 is the pick. |
| 2. |
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In my view, there are four criteria for a really good PD clue:
a. it should not be too obvious from the devilled version where the letters have been omitted;
b. both versions should have a credible surface;
c. there should be a marked contrast between the meanings of the two versions;
d. the devilled version should transform a relatively mundane statement, question or whatever into a startling, amusing or outrageous one: the devilry should at least make one smile or, better still, laugh.
This is far from easy to achieve, witness the generally rather uninspiring crop of entries to this competition (not excluding my own). Indeed, only two clues (the very similar 11 and 29) come close to achieving this and seem to me to be head and shoulders above the rest. 5 scored well on a. and c., but fell down on b. in the devilled version.
Without c. and d., PD strikes me as a pretty pointless and uninteresting exercise, while a convincing surface (b.) is surely a requirement of any good crossword clue. |
