| Comments on the competition |
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| 1. |
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| My criteria for a good clue, in descending order of importance were: 1. An 8 letter word/phrase (incredibly a few entries failed on this and one is an obscure version of a name); 2. A World Cup or at least football reference (one should enter into the spirit of the comp); 3. Disguising the GOAL/MISS/SAVE and not simply defining it in the wordplay. Happily that still left enough to choose the winners from. I was less concerned about joining words in clues (a bit of an artificial constraint in my view), but there were very few of them anyway. |
| 2. |
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| Just the odd clue with a football flavour (other things being equal, would get a preference). A few did not conform to the rules or had link words. The clue that really stood out was 21 which I believe will be a clear winner by a mile. Not too many clever surfaces or really inspiring clues overall |
| 3. |
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An interesting competition this month, though one that shows how many don't read the instructions (I'd have thought that "8 letters" would be one of the more obvious injunctions).
Although not given in the instructions, it seemed out of the spirit of things to me to refer specifically to the new word (goal, save or miss) in the wordplay (39 being an example) – as when solving such a clue, that might well make the clue more readily solveable. As such, I didn't feel I could award any points to those. |
| 4. |
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| Decided not to award marks for anagram clues – seems rather unfair to the solver |
| 5. |
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| My preference was for a clue that had some footballing reference and there were some good ideas here – 1 6 13 36 38 42 Of those 13 has "for" as a linking word which the competition rules ruled against, 6's use of "builds" as an anagrind also acts as a linking word, and 42 stretched the definition of penguins as "What Waddle" (with the second capital W also taking a liberty), so I thought each of those deserved merit rather than points. There was no stand out among the other three, so I gave them equal points along with two non-footballing but very elegantly constructed clues 11 and 39 |
| 6. |
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| Some very nice ideas here but I preferred the ones that continued the World Cup theme. |
| 7. |
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| A fairly mundane bunch in what was a demanding competition. The real challenge was to produce a football clue, wasn't it? Surprised to see that only one entrant exploited GOAL lurking within PORTUGAL! |
| 8. |
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Of the 42 clues fielded this World Cup, unfortunately 5 had to be shown a straight red card before the shoot-out even began for fielding an ineligible number of letters in the answer (8(7), 22(7), 24(6), 33(11) and 35(5)). Clue 18 also fell foul of the rules by offering wordplay to GOAL only. This left 36 legitimate clues, which was quite remarkably the same number as the penalties actually taken during the 4 shoot-outs of this year's tournament. Of these, 26 were converted, 8 saved and just 2 missed. The organisers had hoped to see more GOALS than MISSES in our competition, but sadly this was not to be, with 13 GOALS, 7 SAVES and a massive 16 MISSES.
Several competitors went to the extra effort of giving their clues a football flavour, whether related to the World Cup in some way (1, 6, 13, 21, 26, [34, 37, 38 and 42), or not (3, 5, 7, 16, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 36* and 41.
26 different 8-letter formations were chosen, most of them from the second-half, although the most popular was DISPENSE with 5 appearances (5(M), 16(M), 17(G), 19(M) and 34(M)). Other cluewords featuring substitutes were EXPENSES (27(M) and 28(M)), MISSPENT (25(M) and 26(G)), NEPENTHE (2(G) and 39*(M)), OPEN FIRE (9*(G) and 36(M)), PENTAGON (7(S) and 12(M)), REPENTED (11(S) and 41*(M)) and SUSPENSE (6(G) and 31*(G)).
As stated in the preamble to the competition, link words were once again cup-tied this month, as definition and wordplay are clearly not equivalent. Despite the specific warning a couple of clues did receive cautions in this regard (13 and 33). ‘& lit.’ clues were of course acceptable in that they refer in their entirety to both mutilated and unmutilated versions of the clue word, though surprisingly there was only one example this month (clue 31).
One in six of the legitimate clues reached the knock-out stages, and it was certainly a difficult task for the referee – fair play to the solver was obviously a big deciding factor.
Thanks to the organisers for another fine competition, delivered on time and within budget as usual – they think it's all over (for another 4 years) – it is now !! |
| Comments on the clues |
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| 1. A ball considered out of reach Oscar put away – final result uncertain |
| 1. | Nice conceptually, but the surface is not very 'natural' | | 2. | A tough clue with a nice thematic surface reading. |
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| 2. A drug of oblivion, Lethe curtailed agony when drunk |
| 1. | Surface reading seems a little clumsy. |
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| 3. Adds to top-flight scores! |
| 1. | Definition seems a little vague. |
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| 4. Adjunct ordered VP's aide aboard Obama's chopper |
| 1. | Excellent surface, good length and clever wordplay. |
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| 5. Administer the rules and shows the player a red card vigorously! (8) |
| 1. | Like the idea, but 'the rules' seems redundant, and there's an indirect anagram to boot | | 2. | The mixed person (administer / shows) spoils the surface reading | | 3. | Barely an anagram. | | 4. | Isn't 'and' a link word that is discouraged? | | 5. | 'Administer' and 'shows' should be the same part of speech; the indirect anagram is not really fair to the solver. |
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| 6. Anticipation builds, souls sag, England comes last |
| 1. | Good surface, but I can't accept E = England. 'Spain' would have made this clue a contender for points. | | 2. | 'build' or 'building' as anagrind works, but not sure about 'builds' | | 3. | Nice surface but unfortunately the punctuation hinders the wordplay; perhaps 'nervous anticipation' would be a better definition ? |
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| 7. "Bar to follow" – a regular part of football?! |
| 1. | Wordplay challenging, definition obscure and surface reading rather strained. |
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| 8. Baroque Segovian prelude |
| 1. | Not an 8 letter word. | | 2. | "Baroque" doesn't seem a great anagrind. | | 3. | 7 letter word clued; 'Baroque' is not really an anagram indicator, surface is rather brief. |
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| 9. Brandishing a good sawn-off rifle start shooting |
| 1. | Excellent in all areas of play. |
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| 10. Cracks beau's back without breaking it |
| 1. | Is SO 'significant other' [=beau.] If SO, more explanation would have been helpful | | 2. | Wordplay rather tortuous and surface lacks sense. |
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| 11. Criminal served half of term and initially went straight |
| 1. | Can't make much of the surface | | 2. | Is the definition accurate ? |
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| 12. Defence structure is amongst changes needed |
| 1. | 'needed' seems otiose in the wordplay. |
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| 13. Flying the flag for nothing, twice – England out |
| 1. | Marked down due to use of 'for' as a connector | | 2. | Isn't 'for' a link word? | | 3. | Clever but uses "for" as a linking word | | 4. | Definition and wordplay are not equivalent here, so link words such as "for" should be avoided. |
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| 14. Fritter away five hundred following one girl after another |
| 1. | Not a very convincing surface | | 2. | A nice idea for the wordplay but the surface reading is rather weak. |
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| 15. Frolicking seraglios readiness for action |
| 1. | Nice idea but surface is a bit clunky. | | 2. | The surface reading seems ungrammatical. |
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| 16. Give out boots after raising foot (8) |
| 1. | dismisses = boots? or should it more correctly be 'boots out'? | | 2. | Brilliant – so concise and football-based to boot (sorry!) | | 3. | DISMISSES = boots out; perhaps 'with raised foot' would be clearer in the wordplay, but this does seem an unusual device. |
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| 17. Give out drug after show? Lack of respect holds back ambition. |
| 1. | Surface not convincing, and can't see any correlation between the two parts | | 2. | The word play should make sense with the punctuation as is | | 3. | 'back' seems unnecessary in the wordplay and the punctuation is not really fair to the solver. |
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| 18. Global organization cuts fifty leading brokers' wages |
| 1. | Not quite sure about the syntax and nounal anagrind. Plus in the cryptic reading, there is a connector for equivalence | | 2. | The wordplay should give STIGOALDS not just GOAL and 'organisation' is not really an anagram indicator. |
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| 19. Ignore direction to supply drugs (8) |
| 1. | Would prefer directionS – or even better something less vague | | 2. | 'direction' for SE is too vague to be fair to the solver. |
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| 20. I'll leave Italian region's top beauty spot where light and shade merge (8) |
| 1. | A novel treatment even if there is no football 'theme' | | 2. | Clever wordplay but the surface reading is rather weak. |
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| 21. Inferior Portugal knocked right out — no getting rid of America! |
| 1. | Great surface and a definite goal-scorer | | 2. | Easily the best. All the bits work just fine and a very clever reference to the present World Cup | | 3. | Nice surface, definition seems a little imprecise. |
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| 22. It can be impossible to hold on to small savings |
| 1. | PENSION is not eight letters. | | 2. | 7 letter word clued; surface reading seems rather strained. |
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| 23. Kids wandering about waste land, they're often seen hanging around? |
| 1. | definition doesn't work too well I feel | | 2. | 'wandering' seems unnecessary in the wordplay ? |
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| 24. Lay out money recasting gold axe |
| 1. | Expend is not an 8 letter word, some confusion in interpreting the rules perhaps | | 2. | Not an 8 letter word | | 3. | EXPEND is not eight letters. | | 4. | 6 letter word clued; surface seems nonsensical. |
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| 25. Like many a youth, one bird after another, beginning with tits |
| 1. | I like this for its simplicity though the last three words don't quite work | | 2. | With doesn't work in the wordplay | | 3. | Definition seems loose (see clue 26), perhaps 'of' would be fairer than 'with' in wordplay; surface reading lacks sense. |
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| 26. Maiden chance at overwhelming Brazil finally wasted |
| 1. | 'chance at' seems ungrammatical. |
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| 27. Member is beginning to see through Essex Liberal MP's scandalous claims. |
| 1. | 'Liberal' as anagram indicator should precede the fodder, perhaps 'into' would be better than 'through' ? |
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| 28. Messi's mixed up in dodgy sex payments |
| 1. | Do you have any evidence to support this ? |
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| 29. Oléeeee, Olé, Olé, Olé? It's an annoying custom |
| 1. | Kudos for the entertainment value | | 2. | Wordplay seems rather tortuous, definition not quite accurate. |
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| 30. Poor Steve Gerrard lost heart and determination – he'll regret it |
| 1. | Nice surface – not that keen on 'determination', but otherwise very good | | 2. | "determination" would suggest only losing the end of something. | | 3. | 'determination' doesn't really indicate 'd', perhaps 'losing' would be better in the wordplay ? |
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| 31. Primarily onychophagic atmosphere leaving spectators constrained to guess nervously |
| 1. | Clever & lit. idea | | 2. | Phew! |
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| 32. Razor makes clearer their job as shavers. |
| 1. | Definition somewhere in the middle. What is the role of 'razor' and 'their job' in the wordplay? Not sure which is anagram indicator | | 2. | Definition in the middle? | | 3. | No anagram indicator, what is the role of 'Razor' and 'their job'. |
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| 33. RM, the French girl's a party boss. (3 words) |
| 1. | I think this stretches the 8 letter word/phrase rule too far. The initials aren't at all familiar. | | 2. | Since when is "Marine le Pen" eight letters? | | 3. | 11 letter phrase clued; link words should be avoided as def. is not equivalent to wordplay in this case, not sure what the surface means. |
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| 34. Send off side's wingers to make amends, as Ed would say |
| 1. | Ed is a bit artificial, but surface is good otherwise | | 2. | Rather disjointed surface reading. |
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| 35. Service book indicating correction of faults? |
| 1. | Not an 8 letter word | | 2. | Not an 8 letter word as required by the rules | | 3. | Not eight letters. | | 4. | 5 letter word clued; punishment rather than correction ? |
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| 36. Shoot! Or, if Messi, run mazily. |
| 1. | Glad to see 'The Man with the Golden Ball' featuring, though I agree we didn't see a great deal of shooting from him. |
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| 37. States Dutch to win against Spain in Group, tipping well |
| 1. | Nicely constructed (with hindsight I expect!). I think G = Group of, though | | 2. | Nice World Cup theme, but unfortunately the surface doesn't quite work. |
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| 38. Stops South American aspirations to bite front of deltoid! |
| 1. | Works well, topical, though surface (esp deltoid) seems a bit unreal. But a place in the leaderboard definitely | | 2. | The wordplay has a topical World Cup feel, but the definition seems a little out of place. |
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| 39. Sunderland lass has the stuff to make you forget your cares |
| 1. | I take it you speak from experience ! |
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| 40. Ulysses' wife – a girl who almost ran away |
| 1. | What is 'who' doing in the clue and wordplay? | | 2. | Needs more for 'eloped' – e.g. …with a man | | 3. | 'who' seems unnecessary in the wordplay. |
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| 41. Was sorry Rooney's header messed it up |
| 1. | Like the simple construct, and everything works fine | | 2. | "up" as an anagrind doesn;t work for me. | | 3. | I'm afraid when it comes to England's football I'm sorry in general. |
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| 42. What Waddle is musing about, beginning to sob |
| 1. | Very witty. One of my favourites. | | 2. | Anagram is of MISSGUIN, not MISSGUINS. | | 3. | Definition of PENGUINS? 'What Waddle's' might do it (?) but then the anag needs revision or is it supposed to represent What Waddle's? | | 4. | Clever definition but does the surface not refer to his woeful punditry ? |
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