CCCWC July competition voters’ comments
Clue no. 5: Aiming toe scares the flies off
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A clue to PEAR (Printer’s Devilry).
7 comments refer to this clue (from 6 competitors, 0 others)
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| Comments on the clue |
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| 1. | Original idea | | 2. | Nice change in meaning with a slightly zanier devilled version, excellent! | | 3. | Excellent! #1 for me. | | 4. | The best of the PE/AR splits – nicely done ! |
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| Comments on the competition |
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| 1. |
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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. |
| 2. |
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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. |
| 3. |
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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. |
