CCCWC September competition voters’ comments on Clue no. 17

CCCWC September competition voters’ comments

Clue no. 17: Capturing rook left one ready to mate champion

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A clue to LION-HEART.
5 comments refer to this clue (from 5 competitors, 0 others)
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Comments on the clue

1.	Original idea and cleverly misleading surface
2.	Seamless the way the chess references have been woven in. Great clue. Not an anagram as most others, a refreshing change
3.	Beautifully worded surface from cleverly worked wordplay, though the def. is imprecise, needing a 'maybe'.
4.	"Ready to mate" is excellent wordplay which in conjunction with "rook" gives a well disguised surface reading.

Comments on the competition
1.
11 of this month's 61 clues referenced Richard as an example of the clue word (25, 32, 34, 36, 40, 47, 48, 49, 50, 56 and 59), though the second of these did seem rather non-specific. Of the remainder, two clues failed to define the answer as a noun (23 and 27). As the clue word contains 9 of the 11 commonest letters in English words ('s' and 'd' being the other two), anagrams were in abundance, featuring in 32 clues. Given the subject matter, the commonest by far was the HERO/ANTIHERO clue, with 12 entries (5, 7, 15, 19, 21, 26, 28, 29, 38, 40, 53 and 61). The interminable mOTHER-IN-LAw had 4 appearances (10, 13, 42 and 54), with LATIN HERO(33, 34 and 51) and ANOTHER + (6, 24 and 55) each featuring in 3 clues. Two clues used THIN ROLE(9 and 47) and the remaining selection each had one showing: ENTHRAL + (20) HAIR ELTON (60) HARLOT + (52) HERON + (41) HITLER + (32) HOTEL + (16) LATRINE + (35). Three ingenious setters elected to include a reference to ON HEAT in their clues (17, 25 and 49), and another three hid the complete clue-word (8, 30 and 50). The wordplay in just 4 clues used IO alone to signify LION-HEART (2, 18, 23 and 31). I suspect that most entrants shied away from this device as whilst IO is certainly 'the heart of LION' (just as R is the head of RED), its use in this instance isn't really accurate. Finally there was a reasonable selection of &lit clues this month, both full (21, 40, 53 and 56) and semi (28, 58* and 59) as well as a nicely succinct cryptic definition clue (44). Well done to all this month's competitors !

Comments on the competition

11 of this month's 61 clues referenced Richard as an example of the clue word (25, 32, 34, 36, 40, 47, 48, 49, 50, 56 and 59), though the second of these did seem rather non-specific. Of the remainder, two clues failed to define the answer as a noun (23 and 27).

As the clue word contains 9 of the 11 commonest letters in English words ('s' and 'd' being the other two), anagrams were in abundance, featuring in 32 clues. Given the subject matter, the commonest by far was the HERO/ANTIHERO clue, with 12 entries (5, 7, 15, 19, 21, 26, 28, 29*, 38, 40, 53 and 61). The interminable mOTHER-IN-LAw had 4 appearances (10, 13, 42* and 54), with LATIN HERO(33, 34 and 51) and ANOTHER + (6, 24 and 55) each featuring in 3 clues. Two clues used THIN ROLE(9 and 47) and the remaining selection each had one showing: ENTHRAL + (20) HAIR ELTON (60) HARLOT + (52) HERON + (41) HITLER + (32) HOTEL + (16) LATRINE + (35).

Three ingenious setters elected to include a reference to ON HEAT in their clues (17*, 25 and 49), and another three hid the complete clue-word (8, 30 and 50).

The wordplay in just 4 clues used IO alone to signify LION-HEART (2, 18, 23 and 31). I suspect that most entrants shied away from this device as whilst IO is certainly 'the heart of LION' (just as R is the head of RED), its use in this instance isn't really accurate.

Finally there was a reasonable selection of &lit clues this month, both full (21*, 40, 53 and 56) and semi (28, 58* and 59) as well as a nicely succinct cryptic definition clue (44).

Well done to all this month's competitors !

CCCWC September competition voters’ comments Clue no. 17: Capturing rook left one ready to mate champion

CCCWC September competition voters’ comments

Clue no. 17: Capturing rook left one ready to mate champion