CCCWC September competition voters’ comments on Clue no. 30

CCCWC September competition voters’ comments

Clue no. 30: Horatius proved to be one in a million – hear the cheers!

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A clue to LION-HEART.
7 comments refer to this clue (from 6 competitors, 0 others)
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Comments on the clue

1.	Nice surface. Not keen on the redundant 'cheers'
2.	The 'cheers' is a bit of padding, if only that had been tweaked would be much better.
3.	Nicely disguised def. and reads smoothly, pity about the superfluous cheers!
4.	very smoothly constructed surface. I like the deceptive splitting of the wordplay across the phrase "one in a million"
5.	Problem is, you've added 'cheers' for the surface reading but it is completely redundant in the (real) clue.
6.	A good attempt at hiding the answer, but the surface reading doesn't quite gel.

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. 30: Horatius proved to be one in a million – hear the cheers!

CCCWC September competition voters’ comments

Clue no. 30: Horatius proved to be one in a million – hear the cheers!