CCCWC July competition voters’ comments on Clue no. 31

CCCWC July competition voters’ comments

Clue no. 31: Only reapers reaping early / in among the bearded barley, / wraithlike like the ghost of Marley, / see crop circles mark the spot

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A clue to PEAR (Printer’s Devilry).
4 comments refer to this clue (from 3 competitors, 0 others)
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Comments on the clue

1.	A lot of clue but very little devilry
2.	Rather random and far too long, could be AKED for example ('m/AKE D/ark the spot).
3.	This is the best (or worst) example of the deviled and undeviled versions being too similar.

Comments on the competition
1.
The best Printer's Devilry clues are those in which the devilled version significantly alters the meaning of the clue whilst still making as much or almost as much sense as the devilled version. This was achieved by only a small bunch of PEARs, clue 49 being the pick of the bunch. Clues in which the two versions were close in meaning were accordingly marked down (7, 12, 15, 20, 32, 42). These tended to be those omitting the whole PEAR or where the undevilled clue included a cyclical anagram of the clue word (EARP in the case of clue 15), always best avoided in PD clues. The main challenge is of course to disguise the gap where the clue word originally was in such a way that the clue reads easily and convincingly in both devilled and undevilled forms (the latter being the more important of the two). The wording of the undevilled version should certainly not be forced to accommodate that of the devilled version and should avoid too many punctuational pauses. Clues which make more sense in the devilled version were therefore penalised and preference was given to clues whose undevilled version forms a complete sentence. The second requisite is to ensure that there is no space before and after the clue word both before and after its removal. All but one competitor avoided this trap (clue 12). The inclusion of a definition of the clue word is definitely not a requirement of PD (clue 2), nor should the devilry be overdone (38). 6 clues omitted the whole PEAR (2, 12, 20, 31, 38, 42) , the remaining clues making either one split (42) or the double split made possible by the 'A' (10, 21 and 37). Of the three possible single splits, the central PE/AR just proved the most popular (22), with clues 5 and 51 being the most noteworthy. The P/EAR splits (20) used variations of EARNER/EARNING, EARLY (47*), EARP, EARNEST and EAR+, and PEA/R understandably did not feature.

Comments on the competition

The best Printer's Devilry clues are those in which the devilled version significantly alters the meaning of the clue whilst still making as much or almost as much sense as the devilled version. This was achieved by only a small bunch of PEARs, clue 49 being the pick of the bunch. Clues in which the two versions were close in meaning were accordingly marked down (7, 12, 15, 20, 32, 42). These tended to be those omitting the whole PEAR or where the undevilled clue included a cyclical anagram of the clue word (EARP in the case of clue 15), always best avoided in PD clues.

The main challenge is of course to disguise the gap where the clue word originally was in such a way that the clue reads easily and convincingly in both devilled and undevilled forms (the latter being the more important of the two). The wording of the undevilled version should certainly not be forced to accommodate that of the devilled version and should avoid too many punctuational pauses. Clues which make more sense in the devilled version were therefore penalised and preference was given to clues whose undevilled version forms a complete sentence.

The second requisite is to ensure that there is no space before and after the clue word both before and after its removal. All but one competitor avoided this trap (clue 12).
The inclusion of a definition of the clue word is definitely not a requirement of PD (clue 2), nor should the devilry be overdone (38).

6 clues omitted the whole PEAR (2, 12, 20, 31, 38, 42*) , the remaining clues making either one split (42) or the double split made possible by the 'A' (10, 21 and 37*). Of the three possible single splits, the central PE/AR just proved the most popular (22), with clues 5 and 51 being the most noteworthy. The P/EAR splits (20) used variations of EARNER/EARNING, EARLY (47*), EARP, EARNEST and EAR+, and PEA/R understandably did not feature.

CCCWC July competition voters’ comments Clue no. 31: Only reapers reaping early / in among the bearded barley, / wraithlike like the ghost of Marley, / see crop circles mark the spot

CCCWC July competition voters’ comments

Clue no. 31: Only reapers reaping early / in among the bearded barley, / wraithlike like the ghost of Marley, / see crop circles mark the spot