| Comments on the clues |
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| 1. A place for good bareback hoof use? (9) |
| 1. | A long explanation always concerns me, and this is too complicated to solve, I'm afraid. | | 2. | To KNOW answer's correct, clues need accuracy + a direct def. B=bareback is illogical; 'correction' is a noun so no anagram there. | | 3. | Too convoluted. |
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| 2. Bird done by drug source here ? |
| 1. | If 'drug source' (drug = adj.) were grammatically sound (?) it'd be a nice succinct clue. |
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| 3. Britain isn't working, apart from large and thriving reform school |
| 1. | 'Britain not working' would make more sense in the cryptic reading | | 2. | "isn't working" = 'idles', not 'idle', so clue is unsound. |
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| 4. Can bell-bottoms be wider, perhaps? |
| 1. | Nice try but don't agree that 'bell-bottoms' = 'bottoms of bell'. (Even then, 'bottoms' would be inaccurate). |
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| 5. Can brig lie easily at anchor with sails etc shot away? |
| 1. | Why not '…without sails etc'? For wordplay RIDE WELL = 'lie at anchor easily' but not 'lie easily at anchor'. Otherwise nice. |
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| 6. Can of Special Brew I'd give the low-down after opening |
| 1. | If special=unusual and unusual=jumbled, it doesn't follow that special=jumbled. Cf. tiger=cat, cat=lion, etc. |
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| 7. Can she marry easily? |
| 1. | it must read she 'marries' easily for proper grammar | | 2. | How does 'she marry' = 'bride' in normal English? | | 3. | Surface reading rather meaningless – who is she?. Grammatically precise wordplay needed to be fair to solvers, not 'she marry' = 'bride' | | 4. | 'she marries' or 'is marrying' surely? |
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| 8. Cooler brewed beer; mild with no head, begins well-balanced and ends flavourful. |
| 1. | Imprecise = unsound = unfair: 'begins well-balanced' isn't 'beginning of well-balanced' and 'ends flavourful' isn't 'end of flavourful'. | | 2. | It should be 'beginning of' (etc) |
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| 9. Cooler strand of hybrid ewe-llama |
| 1. | Nice wordplay but the definition doesn't fit well | | 2. | The def. is cool but wordplay depends on the contrived 'ewe-llama': even allowing that, surface read isn't cool. |
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| 10. Do bird and serve term without complaint here? |
| 1. | Imprecise logic = unsound = unfair to solvers: E = 'term of serve' = 'serve's term' but 'serve term'? No. | | 2. | It needs to be 'serve's term' |
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| 11. Drastically ill-bred, we might end up here |
| 1. | Good '& lit.' clue though nothing else special to elevate it. | | 2. | Too many extraneous words for this to be an &lit |
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| 12. Finally found female in excellent nick. |
| 1. | Nicely succinct. Risks feminist wrath but maybe refers to e.g. athletes? For accuracy EWE=female needs qualifying. |
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| 13. Gaol is advisable after heartless brute runs around free. |
| 1. | Sound clue, though nothing special to elevate it above the crowd. |
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| 14. Gaol's bell rings with dire beat |
| 1. | "(goal)'s X rings Y" doesn't seem right: oughtn't it be "(goal)'s X ringing Y", or "(goal) X rings Y"? |
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| 15. Groom badly? Quite the opposite in this place of improvement! |
| 1. | I don't think a bride is the 'opposite' of a groom | | 2. | Sound clue, nice idea but surface story not special. PS !mark suggests "This is SO funny!" = avoid, unless a good (cluing) reason. | | 3. | Surely groom is not the opposite of bride? Spinster, possibly. Shame as otherwise a nice idea |
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| 16. Ill-bred: we reformed here? |
| 1. | Accurate anagram, but not constructed nicely enough to impress as a pithy clue. |
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| 17. In London, can a departing Liberal broadcast “Getting Married” after comeback? |
| 1. | Seems to work (despite the verbose explanation!) But the surface reading comes across as a rambly story forced by the wordplay. |
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| 18. Institution Nick can lock-up inside (9) |
| 1. | Inside only refers to prison as an adverb not noun. Clue would have been a good one if it stopped at four definitions! | | 2. | Ok, but it just defines 'prison', not 'bridewell' specifically | | 3. | …I don't think it does work: 'lock-up' a verb? PS Random forenames are generally poorly regarded in clues (= easy options etc). | | 4. | Amusing but how is the solver to work out which prison? | | 5. | Problem is that they all define the same headword |
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| 19. Institution to emerge from free (and then stay outside)? Clearly! |
| 1. | Is 'stay = be'? (not in C.). 'then' looks redundant. One could omit 'institution' and reconstruct the whole as a (&lit.) def. |
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| 20. Intended sound makes clink! |
| 1. | 'Intended' a bit loose: a bride is still a bride after the intention is realised! | | 2. | Better may have been: Intended to sound 'clink'? (to = beside). Avoid !mark except for cluing reasons as can look a naff "It's SO funny!" |
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| 21. Jug wielder sloshed, engulfed in extremes of bacchanal |
| 1. | Is 'jug wielder' grammatically accurate for 'jug's wielder' / 'wielder of jug'? Not convinced, discuss. Otherwise nicely coherent clue. | | 2. | This one made us laugh |
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| 22. Leading blackguard to keep on harassing source in prison (9) |
| 1. | Unsound clue: 'leading blackguard' does not logically give B in the way that 'leader of blackguard' does. | | 2. | Not convinced that 'leading' means 'the leading letter of' |
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| 23. Liquor and drug found on student without ID, close to Clerkenwell Prison (9) |
| 1. | Sound clue + unique idea in the comp. = worth a mark. Having to resort to a proper name to get the L is a weakness. |
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| 24. Maybe bird man found here will breed quails? |
| 1. | Nice idea but don't think quails works as an anagrind | | 2. | I like the misleading surface, though I'm not sure about 'bird man' for 'prisoner' (unless it's Alcatraz) | | 3. | Nice anagram and nice 'quails' – but 'bird man' is grammatically dodgy (imprecise) for 'a man doing bird'. | | 4. | "birdman" (without "maybe") would have worked well, i.e. "The Birdman of Alcatraz" but "bird man" indicating "man doing bird" doesn't work f |
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| 25. Nick is not badly stung in dilapidated Tunbridge Wells (9) |
| 1. | Doesn't read correctly to me; some reordering would do it. Resorting to a proper name in a clue (who's Nick?) may be seen as a weakness. | | 2. | Well-spotted compound anagram. |
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| 26. Nick's terse honeymoon message to concerned in-laws? |
| 1. | Nice wordplay | | 2. | Resorting to proper n. in clues may be seen as a weakness. Totally unfair to expect solvers to deduce precisely 'bride well' from info given |
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| 27. Old Nick's dungeon? |
| 1. | Not a double def., it's the same meaning twice | | 2. | 'Old' is for the surface reading but is spurious in the first def. of 'prison'. So it's spurious in the (real) clue. |
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| 28. Prison hospital |
| 1. | This just a straight definition, surely? | | 2. | Why 'hospital'? If it's because there's a B. hospital, it's unfair to expect solvers to know both B. Prison and B. Hospital. |
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| 29. Prison reforms wild rebel |
| 1. | 'reforms' does not signal anagram correctly | | 2. | A bit easy. I prefer the & lit. versions of this | | 3. | 'reforms' should be 'reformed' (adj.) to be precise. Even so, wouldn't rise above the crowd in a comp. |
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| 30. Prison to reform wild rebel |
| 1. | A bit easy. I prefer the & lit. versions of this | | 2. | 'reformed' (adj.) better, but doesn't rise above the crowd (anag. obvious to many entrants) |
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| 31. Queen has to wait outside, clearly where one might be inside |
| 1. | Constructed cleverly to produce a spurious story of pithy wit: the contrast in the 'ones' made me smile out loud. Best of comp. |
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| 32. Raunchy bird linked with Surrey town house that's the place for a screw |
| 1. | Rude but ha ha! The best screw in the comp. | | 2. | Raunchy clue too. Technically works well, an unique idea (cv. other entrants). Def'n borders on verbose (7w incl. house, place). |
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| 33. Reckless Wilde takes Earl to bedroom – eventual end Reading? |
| 1. | Nice idea, but the wordplay is a bit too liberal for me. And Reading as an example of bridewell doesn't quite ring true | | 2. | Unsound, e.g. 'end of eventual' = L but how is 'eventual end' = L? |
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| 34. Saint Bridget's hole gets cooler!(9) |
| 1. | Sound, assuming StB=bride(?) but surface is bland/meaningless. Avoid !mark if no cluing reason: can look like a naff "This is SO funny!" |
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| 35. Screw and wife held by ring in prison (9) |
| 1. | Nice use of words adding up to a coherent surface story. |
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| 36. Secure building with trip wire initially and perimeter alarm |
| 1. | Nice except, unfortunately, 'perimeter' isn't an adjective according to my dictionaries. |
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| 37. She wears white happily in London palace |
| 1. | One won't find 'bride' defined as 'she wears white' in any dictionary, and for good reason: who is 'she'? |
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| 38. Stir seed of dill with eg lamb and make excellent sandwich! |
| 1. | Sound enough; consistent (if unlikely) surface reading, but nothing special marks it up. |
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| 39. Term for the bird, possibly? Very possibly! |
| 1. | Definite (rather than indefinite) article looks spurious in the def. – is 'the bird' a bona-fide usage? If so it's a nice clue. | | 2. | Have given my top mark of 3 for this. Good clue, slightly spoilt by inclusion of "the" to obtain the extra "E." Prison is just "bird." | | 3. | How is this an & lit? |
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| 40. The joint wrenched will be red (9) |
| 1. | Original idea, good straightforward clue | | 2. | Don't see 'joint = prison' in our usual crosswrord ref. books so is is unfair (imprecise) for solvers. |
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| 41. This could provide correction for wild rebel |
| 1. | Sound, but doesn't rise above the crowd (anagram would have been obvious to many entrants) | | 2. | Technically not an &lit |
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| 42. Volatile bird, Jacob's partner … beginning to lust after Liberal leader Nick! |
| 1. | Unsound: L = leader of Liberals / Liberal's leader, but not logically 'liberal leader' |
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| 43. Weed is cooked in excellent prison |
| 1. | Sound technically; surface reading seems a strange story; nothing extra to make it stand out from the crowd |
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| 44. Weed out? Fishguard can |
| 1. | Makes no sense. How and what can Fishguard weed out? | | 2. | I don't get the surface reading nor the wordplay which (technically) ought to be e.g. 'weed out guarded by fish can' |
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| 45. weird bell – weird pokey |
| 1. | Surface makes no sense to me. | | 2. | Technically sound clue but the surface read is also weird – unless there's a significance I'm missing (prison bell?) |
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| 46. What motorbike cops do after heading for breakout in prison |
| 1. | Solvers muat work out 'ride well' from 'what motorbike cops do'? They do a myriad things … and do they ride well? |
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| 47. Where wild rebel receives correction? |
| 1. | This anagram was too easily spotted by many to be competitive. | | 2. | Don't see this as an &lit |
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| 48. Wherein prisoners remain good to get free |
| 1. | Very nice try but looks inaccurate: 'wherein prisoners..' needs '..remain' to constitute a meaningful def. |
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| 49. Wife can be a bore sometimes; it's prison! |
| 1. | 'it can be a bore' or 'a bore' could define a well but 'can be a bore' makes no sense as a def. |
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| 50. Wild rebel is tortured in prison |
| 1. | A bit easy. I prefer the & lit. versions of this | | 2. | This anagram was spotted by too many to be competitive. |
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| 51. Wild rebel may get reformed here |
| 1. | This anagram was spotted by too many to be competitive. |
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| 52. Wild rebel needing correction may once have spent time here? |
| 1. | This anagram was spotted by too many to be competitive. |
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| 53. Wild rebel ordered into corrective institution. |
| 1. | A bit easy. I prefer the & lit. versions of this | | 2. | This anagram was spotted by too many to be competitive. |
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| 54. Wild rebel reformed here? |
| 1. | This anagram was spotted by too many to be competitive. |
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| 55. Wild rebel shot in prison (9) |
| 1. | A bit easy. I prefer the & lit. versions of this | | 2. | This anagram was spotted by too many to be competitive. |
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| 56. Wild rebel sort of women were confined here (9) |
| 1. | Shouldn't that be 'sort of wild rebel'? Also this anagram was too easily spotted by many to be competitive. |
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| 57. With red bill, European migratory bird (once found by the Thames) |
| 1. | Good idea, nice surface |
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