| Comments on the competition |
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| 1. |
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Not a vintage entry, and I could hardly find a sufficient number of clues deserving of points to award as many as 15.
The rules called for a one-word definition of SPONGE to be incorporated as an integral part of the clue. Three clues (25, 29 and 31) thus immediately ruled themselves out, since “take up” and “take in” are two words, not one, and “type of cake” three. Quite a few of the other definitions of SPONGE offered seemed to me to be inadequate: blot, wipe, absorb, clean, assimilate and mop are indeed all things that a sponge might do or someone might do with a sponge, but they are not, to my mind, synonyms or definitions of sponge. For instance, the Chambers definition is not “to wipe” or “to soak up”, but “to wipe, wipe out, soak up or remove with a sponge”. (I regretted having to rule out 22, which used “assimilate”, since it offered probably the most original and pleasing surface this month.) 32’s “Scour” is surely not even an accurate description of what one does with a sponge. Again, “taker” 41 is surely much to general to define sponge in the sense of “scrounger”. I may be missing something, but I don’t see how “live” 24 is even remotely connected with “sponge”. Even “cake” is slightly suspect, since, although a sponge can be a cake, a cake is not necessarily a sponge, but the Chambers entry probably validates it.
Of the remaining clues, many using the handy anagram indicators “drunk” or “bum” for SPONGE, most were at best unexciting – a lot of limp or unconvincing surfaces – and quite a few unsound. The same applies to the many “cake” clues on offer. For instance, in the otherwise promising 13, to be sound the s.i. would require “heads” rather than “head”, while, in 23, the letters of CAKE do not appear in that order in “Make racket” and an a.i. for “cake” is thus needed to make the subtraction work – cf 11, though, in that clue, the word “cleans”, required for the surface, seems to play no valid part in the s.i. |
| 2. |
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No picnic this month, but plenty of sponge CAKEs in evidence, being the most popular second definition (10 from 42 clues: 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, 15, 23, 31, 34 and 40*). It wasn't a tea-party either, with 9 DRUNKs, 6* doing double duty as anagram indicators in the wordplay (7, 9*, 11*, 16, 17, 18*, 21*, 26*, and 37*) and 4 BUMs (all anagram indicators) (2*, 27, 30 and 35*), and a further 6 clues also using definitions involving cadging of some form (6, 19, 24, 38, 39 and 41*). 7 clues cleaned up in 6 different ways(1, 10, 20, 28, 32, 36 and 42) and another one even squeezed in two of these definitions ! (33) Four clues were simply absorbing (14*, 22*, 25 and 29) and just one was DRAINing (3). All but 3 clues (24, 25 and 29) complied with the request for a single-word definition of SPONGE and in one clue this definition contributed to neither the wordplay nor definition for MARKET (6).
The main clue was marketed in a variety of ways, with DEMAND not surprisingly driving supply (4, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 17*). FAIR (10, 18* and 30), TRADE (23, 25 and 40), SALE (2*, 5 and 28) and STALLS (26, 34 and 38) were equally represented, with appearances from other variations on buying and selling (20, 24 and 23) and possible venues (BAZAAR (1 and 37), SHOP (7 and 39), STORE (35* and 36)). Four entrants chose to define by example (16, 19, 29 and 32) in addition to 2 clever and lit clues (22* and 41*). |
| Comments on the clues |
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| 1. Blot out alien in bazaar! (6) |
| 1. | Shouldn't the wordplay be 'blot AND alien'? | | 2. | 'out' seems unnecessary to the wordplay. |
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| 3. Business situation encountered by Mr Carney? Minimum of money needed to go down the drain |
| 1. | far too long, completely lost interest | | 2. | 'needs' or just 'goes down' might improve the wordplay |
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| 4. Cake about to be cut in store in popular demand |
| 1. | Wordplay and surface seem a tad awkward. |
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| 5. Cake, topped with tamari oddly, in jumble sale |
| 1. | Might be better without the punctuation which interferes with the sense of the wordplay. |
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| 6. Canvas loafer maker cobbled on last of walnut |
| 1. | 'loafer' is superfluous in the wordplay | | 2. | nice use of dual meanings cobbled / last | | 3. | I don't see what role 'loafer' plays in the clue | | 4. | 'loafer' seems to play a part in neither wordplay nor definition. |
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| 7. Celebrate like drunk after wife leaves to shop |
| 1. | Sound elements giving a rather disjointed surface reading. |
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| 8. Clientele chose to leave mother's cake mixture. |
| 1. | i think you need to indicate that it is a jumble of 'chose' which leaves | | 2. | 'mixture' is not really an anagram indicator and a second indicator one is required for 'chose' (see clue 11). |
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| 9. Deal cabinetmaker cut in half when drunk |
| 1. | Surface reading and wordplay seem a bit strained. |
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| 10. Decided to wipe daughter off top trade fair (6) |
| 1. | T = top of trade or trade's top |
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| 11. Demand drunk toolmaker cleans out foul loo (6) |
| 1. | Perhaps 'backed-up' for 'foul' would be more precise ? |
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| 12. Demand Dutch boy eats half of cake? |
| 1. | Wordplay seems rather obscure and why the question mark ? |
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| 13. Demand head of Marie Antoinette reduced to eating slice of cake? |
| 1. | Head is singular. | | 2. | Wordplay requires 'heads', 'slice of cake' usually signifies 'c'. | | 3. | You need "headS of .." otherwise wordplay only yields "M". Don't think "KE" is "slice of cake" – maybe half of would be ok |
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| 14. Demand that Primark etc. could absorb |
| 1. | The simplest ideas are often the best. Very neat clue. |
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| 15. Demand use of backside to cake queen and king. |
| 1. | Surface reading seems nonsensical and 'backside' for 'team' is far to oblique to be fair to the solver. |
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| 16. Drunk ultimately interrupting to spoil film showing in Rialto |
| 1. | Definition requires 'for example' or 'maybe' (see clue 19), 'showing' seems unnecessary for wordplay. |
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| 18. Fair Kate M gets drunk with Queen! |
| 1. | Easily the best of the "drunk" clues. |
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| 19. 'Flea' may describe this parasite, ultimately infecting male model |
| 1. | T is not 'model' and Mark is not 'male' it's a male name or example of a male | | 2. | 'male' is a bit too vague to indicate 'Mark', 'this parasite' seems to be isolated in the surface reading. |
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| 20. Here you can buy; old German bread, clean German film,……. |
| 1. | Might be better without the semi-colon and 'clean German' seems unnecessary to the wordplay as 'old German bread' is fine for 'mark' |
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| 21. Make Australian drunk with shots of absinthe, rum and tequila. Forget A.A.! Going there might turn him violent |
| 1. | I'm not keen on wordplay that adds and subtracts the same letters | | 2. | far too long and contrived, lost interest | | 3. | Most editors would reject such a long clue. | | 4. | The wordplay is a bit too convoluted and perhaps 'going to this' would be a more accurate definition ? |
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| 22. Make first of toes assimilate start of rhyme to get here |
| 1. | Nice & lit., except for the rather forced 'assimilate' |
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| 23. Make racket about losing cake trade |
| 1. | I like the way CAKE was included as part of the other section of the clue | | 2. | A second indicator is required for 'cake' (see clue 11). |
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| 24. Manipulative knavish traders primarily live off buying and selling |
| 1. | 'live' makes an indirect anagram which is a no-no. not a great def for sponge either | | 2. | Indirect anagrams such as 'live off' are not considered fair to the solver and the rules state a one-word definition for sponge is required. |
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| 25. Met to take up ship trade (6) |
| 1. | Sadly the rules specify a one-word definition. I just about accept 'take' for 'sponge'. | | 2. | If 'take up' is meant to define SPONGE, it does not meet the criterion that it should be a one-word definition. | | 3. | The rules stipulate a one-word definition for sponge is required. |
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| 26. Model maker, drunk earlier on, stalls prototype |
| 1. | Definition seems a little awkward. |
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| 27. Money taker's bum bargain |
| 1. | Neatest example of 'bum' and 'M + taker' | | 2. | Surface seems to lack substance. |
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| 28. Mop top box set missing one side of Beatles for Sale |
| 1. | Clever surface but unfortunately the wordplay requires 'Mop's top' or 'Top of mop'. |
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| 29. Police take in cougher – I say, is that a common thing for Europe? |
| 1. | 'take in' is not a one word def for sponge. | | 2. | Shouldn't it be a one-word definition of 'sponge'? | | 3. | Surface seems arbitrary, indirect homophone is rather convoluted and a one-word definition for sponge is required. |
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| 30. Promote bum team that includes Robson and Keegan, to start with? That's fair, too! |
| 1. | Not keen on the 'good measure' | | 2. | 'that's fair too' second 'def' is weak and unnecessary – spoils clue which at 14 words is too long | | 3. | Would be much better without the question mark and last 3 words. |
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| 31. Promote type of cake maker broadcast on television primarily |
| 1. | Doesn't meet the requirement of a non-superfluous, one-word definition | | 2. | supposed to be a one word definition of sponge. could remove 'type of' without damaging clue | | 3. | type of cake = 3 words | | 4. | Shouldn't it be a one-word definition of 'sponge'? Pity, because I like the rest of the clue. | | 5. | The rules stipulate a one-word definition for sponge is required. |
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| 32. Scour Mr. Keta at Billingsgate, for one. |
| 1. | mr keta a bit forced – and i'm not sure that scour=sponge | | 2. | Ingenious, but not sure that 'scour' is really an anagram indicator ? | | 3. | Very intrigg
ing, love it |
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| 33. Sell sign wet, without an initial wipe (6) |
| 1. | don't think 'w' is 'an initial wipe' – it is wipe's initial / the initial of wipe. how about 'wipe at first' ? | | 2. | Surface reading seems awkward and 'an' seems unnecessary in the wordplay. |
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| 34. Sign at centre of fete – 'cake stalls here'. |
| 1. | 'Cake' is superfluous in the wordplay – markets don't necessarily have cake stalls | | 2. | don't like 'at'. 'Cake' contributes nothing to wordplay – or is 'cake stalls here' the def of market (so it's still not part of wordplay) | | 3. | Perhaps the definition requires 'perhaps' and 'at' seems unnecessary in the wordplay. |
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| 35. Start to make bum take bottles back to liquor store |
| 1. | a lot going on here, good effort |
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| 36. Store's first mop taker is not satisfied(6) |
| 1. | Not satisfied with the anagrind! | | 2. | M is first OF mop. Not satisfied is a dubious anagrind (how about upset?) | | 3. | I'm not satisfied that's an anagram indicator (sorry ;-) ) |
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| 37. Suffering net loss, drunk tentmaker leaves bazaar |
| 1. | If 'suffering' is the second anagram indicator then 'net loss' doesn't really equal 'loss of net'. | | 2. | "leaves" seems (is) extraneous |
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| 38. Take box in opera house or stalls? (6) |
| 1. | 'Take' seems inappropriate in the wordplay. |
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| 39. Taker is beaten up after beginning to mooch shop (6) |
| 1. | 'mooch shop' seems ungrammatical, would require 'from', as in 'steal from shop'. | | 2. | Can't help but think that sentence would be much better, make much more sense with "Taker is beaten up after beginning to mooch (in) shop" |
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| 41. Where original maker finds excited taker |
| 1. | Good & lit. attempt, bur really needs a ?, and I'm not keen on 'original maker' for M | | 2. | Perhaps the definition requires 'perhaps' ? |
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| 42. Where you might clean up? |
| 1. | Where is the wordplay for 'market'? | | 2. | Rather a vague definition and no real wordplay. |
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