          Araucaria Clueing Competition 77 FULL RESULTS
          ---------------------------------------------
               All good things come in pairs...
          good & evil, rich & poor, frick and frack...

             Moderator: SailorJohn (John Hakemian)

In ACC77, clue setters were asked to form a set of two cryptic clues,
for a set of words that were opposites or antonyms of each other.

Ten entry sets were received, along with five bonus entry sets.

I am happy to announce that the winner of ACC77 is Brian Spollen, for
his delightful set 23 and 29 Across below.  Brian has agreed to moderate
ACC 78 and we'll be hearing from him soon.  Second Place goes to Marty
McCarthy and Honorable Mention to Matthew Merzbacher.

I was a little disappointed with only ten entrants, but the overall
quality of the entries was definitely above average.  You may remember
that I instructed the entrants that:

 " Extra points will be earned from this moderator for sets that have:
    (1) Surface readings that are related to each other in some way,
     especially if such readings themselves suggest opposites in some way;
    (2) Wit and humor.  Quite frankly, I love a clue that gives me a
     chuckle, or makes me smile with a clever twist;
    (3) Misdirection, especially using trite indicators in a way other
     than their typical cryptic usage.

 " Of course, in the final analysis, outstanding clue construction with
  a smooth surface will win even if the set lacks all the above items.

 " I usually don't like unusually complex charades nor clues that require
  ESP to solve. IMHO, a good clue is NOT necessarily difficult, perhaps
  even EASY to solve, once one stumbles upon the correct methodology.
  I don't mind using a "?" or a "!" to suggest something other than a pun
  or an &lit., if it is appropriate to the clue, such as a "?" to suggest
  simply that something outrageous has been done."


First, the clues themselves, to give any solvers that didn't get the 
prior "clue-only" post here a chance to try them fresh.
Each antonym/opposite set is together.  Bonus Clues are the only ones
with non-prime numbers.  Of course, the numbering is only for 
convenience...the answers WILL NOT produce a puzzle grid.

ACROSS

1. Racier report of C.I.A. prophet: (7)
3. Red resurgence after three military heads become more moderate (6)

5. Lawful vote concerning island's leader splits 1-1 (10)
7. Oy -- I sin and party like Bacchus himself (9)

8. Primary area of academic study ... (5)
10 ... for small child? (5)

11 Arch at the front of the ship... (3)
13 ... but prim at the back! (5)

14 Not even evenly folded... (3)
16 ...Eddie Vedder's ermine necktie debuts ... tied? (4)

17 Sailor John's flair ... (7)
19 ... and clumsiness of a cowboy with no love of water (9)

23 Cut back on eating quickly ... (4)
29 ... to reduce half of tallow by Sept. 1st (4)

31 A swaying bustle can be hard to grasp... (6)
37 ...but linen garments within are hard to ignore (5)

DOWN

4. Neat porter (i.e. unseen) (4)
6. Close to west wing (4)

7. Cleopatra's friend Mark first says the opposite (7)
11 At the end of this story, Egyptian Cleo, Roman Antony proclaim the same (7)

12 Fifty in the back of jet ... (5)
14 ... and mistakenly, we hit Caucasian! (5)

17 Comparatively it is better... (4)
19 ...to live it up in the worst possible way! (4)

20 Put away Canterbury Tale? (4)
22 Dig up what was once a philosopher? (6)

23 Ecstatic! Acknowledged article expose'. The bum ... (4,3,4)
29 ...was anaesthetized in that Dartmoor mother - that one's sick (5,3,7)

31 Yes-man is blind but takes a second power? (6)
37 A shot, or when everyone gets a shot (5)


ANSWERS, SOLUTIONS and MODERATOR'S COMMENTS appear 25 lines below...
























ANSWERS, SOLUTIONS and MODERATOR'S COMMENTS begin below.
> All moderator's comments are prefaced with a ">"

--------------------------------------------------------------
1 and 3 Across:

From: matthew@ella.mills.edu (Matthew A. Merzbacher)

Racier report of C.I.A. prophet: (7)

  Racier              = defn.
  report of           = homonym indicator
  C.I.A. prophet      = "spy seer"
  homonym("spy seer") = SPICIER

>This is a GREAT homophone clue ranking with Kevin Wald's "Mull-Asia"!
>My only negative is that the definition "racier" doesn't fit the
>surface as well as, e.g., "more seasoned". Best overall single clue.

Red resurgence after three military heads become more moderate (6)

  Red                     = fodder
  resurgence              = reversal indicator
  reverse("red")          = "der"
  after                   = position indicator
  three                   = numeric indicator
  military                = fodder
  heads                   = beginning indicator
  three heads("military") = "mil"
  "der" after "mil"       = MILDER
  becoming more moderate  = defn. of MILDER

>What a letdown to this tortured charade! I just can't buy "three
>military heads" to mean MIL. Maybe "first military group(or division)"?

>One bonus point for a reasonable linking between the clues,
>which is just enough to give Matthew an Honorable Mention!
---------------------------------------------------------------
5 and 7 Across:

From: Kevin Wald <wald@math.uchicago.edu>

Lawful vote concerning island's leader splits 1-1 (10)

    Lawful = APOLLONIAN
    vote = POLL
    concerning = ON
    island's leader = I
    1 = A
    1 = AN
    POLLONI "splits" A, AN = A(POLLONI)AN

>This charade comes pretty close to my "tortured" category.
>The conversion of "1-1" to "A" & "AN" is a bit of a reach, but not
>unheard of in cryptic construction as to a single article.  But, I
>still compliment Kevin on his ability to construct sound clues with
>a meaningful surface.

Oy -- I sin and party like Bacchus himself (9)

    like Bacchus himself = DIONYSIAN
    party = anagram indicator
    Oy -- I sin and (anagrammed) = DIONYSIAN

>An interesting choice of antonyms. One bonus point for inventiveness.
------------------------------------------------------------------
8 and 10 Across:

Bonus Entry From Chew Yoke Lim:

     Primary area of academic study ... (5)

MAJOR-
  'Primary' also has the meaning of 'major', and a 'primary area of
  academic study' is a 'major'.  This is an &lit clue.

>A nice &lit, marred only by the two definitions being closely related.

     ... for small child? (5)

MINOR-
  'Small' is 'minor' and a 'child' is also a 'minor' (non-adult).
   A double definition.

>Again, the two definitions are more closely related than desirable for
>an outstanding double def clue.

>Nice linkage between the two clues, however.
----------------------------------------------------------------
11 and 13 Across:

From: yokelim@ylchew.pc.my (Chew Yoke Lim)

     Arch at the front of the ship... (3)
BOW-    A bow is an arch and also the front of a boat or ship.

>First of several shameless attempts to curry favor with the Sailor.(-;
>My problem with this double definition is that there is no real wordplay.
>A double definition without any cryptic characteristics MUST, IMHO,
>use misdirection or words that at least can be taken more than one way.
>Chew added that "arch" can also mean sly or flirtatious, but in the
>context of the clue, this meaning never arises since the word is used
>as a noun, not an adjective.

     ... but prim at the back! (5)

STERN-  The back of a boat or ship is the 'stern', a synonym for
        'austere', 'severe' OR 'prim' (to stretch it slightly).

>I think you've stretched it a bit more than slightly. (=;

>3 Bonus points for excellent linkage and imagery.
----------------------------------------------------------------
14 and 16 Across:

Bonus clue from Lev Polinsky:

  Not even evenly folded... (3)

ODD-
  Not even is odd.  The even letters of fOlDeD spell odd.

>Interesting clue construction, but perhaps too easy.

  ...Eddie Vedder's ermine necktie debuts ... tied? (4)

EVEN-n
  E.V.E.N.:  the debuts, or first letters of the first four words form
  even, one of the many definitions of which is tied.

>OK, another crostic-like construction. But who is Eddie Vedder? And why
>does he anger animal-rights groups by wearing fur ties? Silly surface
>and a somewhat weak attempt to link the two clues.
------------------------------------------------------------------
17 and 19 Across:

From: pvr@wg.icl.co.uk (Phil Rose)

   Sailor John's flair ... (7)

PANACHE-
See the moderator's signature
flair = definition (PANACHE)

>Despite being the second attempt to pander to the moderator, (-; I like
>this clue, but it suffers from not being usable outside of this group,
>and perhaps even just this competition.

   ... and clumsiness of a cowboy with no love of water (9)

GAUCHERIE-
clumsiness              = Definition (GAUCHERIE)
cowboy                  = GAUCHO
with no love            = -O => GAUCH(O)
water                   = ERIE (as in the Great Lake)
GAUCH+ERIE              => GAUCHERIE

>I couldn't solve this clue, and finally peeked at the explanation.
>I loved the construction until I got to the water=ERIE. Oh well.

>One-half bonus point for an attempt at linkage: my boat/water and
>one bonus point for imaginative choice of opposite words.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
23 and 29 Across:

From: bcs@sc.harris.com (Brian Spollen)

     Cut back on eating quickly ... (4)

FAST- "cut back on eating" = "fast"
      "quickly" = "fast"

>Solid, but simple double definition clue. I like the way the definition
>"quickly" is used in the surface.

     ... to reduce half of tallow by Sept. 1st (4)

SLOW- "to reduce" = "slow" (verb)
      "half of tallow" = "low"
      "by" = adjuoinment indicator
      "Sept. 1st" = "s"
      "low" by "s" = "slow"

>Another solid clue, which did bring a smile to my face when I solved it.
>The surface of this clue, particularly when combined with the first, is
>excellent, being marred only by the unusual use of "tallow" to mean
>"fat" in the context of a weight-reduction program.

>This moderator may need longer than nine months to reduce his "tallow"...
>Four bonus points for excellent linkage, some misdirection and a little
>humor.  Enough to make Brian Spollen the ACC 77 WINNER!
----------------------------------------------------------------
31 and 37 Across:

From: Clay Colwell <eris@bga.com>

     A swaying bustle can be hard to grasp... (6)

     SUBTLE
        -- "A swaying BUSTLE" -> anagrammed to SUBTLE
        -- "can be hard to grasp" -> straight defn.

>Excellent clue, with great imagery and a smile to boot. High points.

     ...but linen garments within are hard to ignore (5)

     BLUNT
        -- "but" -> indicates BUT
        -- "linen garments" -> indicates L and N   (LineN)
        -- "within" -> container indicator (BUT takes LN -> bLuNt)
        -- "hard to ignore" -> defn. of BLUNT (as in "blatant")

>Oh no! A tortured charade in a clue set that otherwise has excellent
>imagery, humor AND linkage! Oh well. I find reading "garments" to mean
>"take the first and last letters of the preceding word" to be a stretch.
>Then you used a container construction, but split the "LN" "garments" into
>two pieces before inserting them in different places in "BUT": b-L-u-N-t,
>not bu-LN-t or b-LN-ut, as seems to be the rule for fair containers.

     The antonym definitions are probably too easy to catch, but
     I sacrificed the misdirection to keep the common theme.

>Only the BLUNT clue kept you from winning, with the award of four
>bonus points for linkage, imagery, humor, and surface opposites.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
4 and 6 Down:

Bonus contribution from Matthew Merzbacher:

Neat porter (i.e. unseen) (4)

  Neat   = defn.
  porter = coolie
  i.e.   = subtraction fodder
  unseen = "coolie" - "ie" => COOL

>"porter" to "coolie" is a stretch.

Close to west wing (4)

  Close to  = defn. (as in, "you're getting WARMer")
  west wing = W + ARM

>Good clue.
----------------------------------------------------------------
7 and 11 Down

From: Martin McCarthy <marty@ehabitat.demon.co.uk>

Cleopatra's friend Mark first says the opposite (7)

  ANTONYM       (showing a complete lack of imagination, I took your
                   theme to be one of the words.)

      Cleopatra's friend    -  ANTONY  (Mark Antony being her friend)
      Mark first            -        M
      says the opposite     - definition

>Good solid clue.

At the end of this story, Egyptian Cleo, Roman Antony proclaim the same (7)

 SYNONYM

      At the end of         - use the final letters of the following words
                              (am I pushing my luck here?)
            this            - S
           story            -  Y
        Egyptian            -   N
            Cleo            -    O
           Roman            -     N
            Tony            -      Y
        proclaim            -       M
        the same            - definition

>Surface better than usual for this type of clue. Above average.

>Three bonus points for solidly linked clues.
>Solid construction, with no faults earns Marty the runner-up award!
---------------------------------------------------------------
12 and 14 Down:

Another Bonus Entry From Chew Yoke Lim:

      Fifty in the back of jet ... (5)

BLACK-
  Fifty (L) in the BACK = BLACK.  Insertion clue.
  'Jet' has the meaning of 'black'.

>I really like this clue. I think it's the best of the six Chew submitted.

      ... and mistakenly, we hit Caucasian! (5)

WHITE-
  Anagram of 'we hit' (white) meaning Caucasian. Indicator: 'mistakenly'.

>I think, despite your comments quoted below, that you would have done
>better with another defn for WHITE. "clean", "snow" "fair" come to mind

This word-antonym pair attempts at a connection, with a possible
imagery of some terrorist hijackers who have herded the passengers to
the back of an airplane and then found that they have assaulted a
Caucasian by mistake?  (Nah, you're not going to buy that <g>.)

>Nah ... I didn't!

>If this bonus entry were scored, you'd get points for linkage & imagery.
>In fact, I rate this set a solid notch higher than your "official" entry
>(11&13 Across), although still not quite up to the top 3 winning entries.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
17 and 19 Down:

From: nigelz@premier1.net (Nigel Bardsley)

   Comparatively it is better... (4)

GOOD : Better is the comparative form of good

>A good (to coin a word) subsidiary clue, but I only see one definition
>here and no wordplay. I'm not a strict constructionist, but one rule I
>insist upon is giving the solver two bites at the apple.

   ...to live it up in the worst possible way! (4)

EVIL : Live up (i.e. backwards) is evil. This would be a down clue.

>"Worst possible way" is a good enough def'n of EVIL to meet normal clue
>requirements. And this is a great clue with some misdirection in
>disguising the 'up' as part of a phrase and using "worst" to mean
>something other than an anagram.

>Four bonus points for excellent linkage and good misdirection in a very
>good entry.
------------------------------------------------------------------
20 and 22 Down:

Another Bonus clue from Lev Polinsky:

  Put away Canterbury Tale? (4)

BURY-
  A pun on the word tale:  bury is the tail of Canterbury.

>the pun lacks a homophone indicator, but perhaps the "?" does the job.


Dig up what was once a philosopher? (6)

EXHUME-
  Fairly self-explanatory:  dig up = exhume; philosopher = hume; once a
philosopher [always a philosopher] = ex-hume.

>Therefore, we can safely say that Jimmy Carter is an exclinton?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
23 and 29 Down:

From: smithmw@direct.ca (Murray W Smith)

  Ecstatic! Acknowledged article expose'. The bum ... (4,3,4)

   Answer: Over the moon
        Ecstatic = definition
        Acknowledged = OVER (as in mobile radio communications)
        article = THE
        expose the bum = MOON

>At last! A clue that made me laugh when I solved it! Somewhat rough
>surface, but a minor inconvenience. Full points!!

  ...was anaesthetized in that Dartmoor mother - that one's sick (5,3,7)

   Answer: Under the weather
        was anaesthetized = under
        in = container indicator
        that = container
        Dartmoor mother = ewe
        That one's = her
        sick = definition
        UNDER TH (EWE) AT HER

The surface of these two clues which are linked is supposed to be a
memo to a newspaper editor. The clue is meant to be published in the UK
(hence the spelling) where it would be well-known that Dartmoor is a
type of sheep as well as a notorious prison.

>but now you have put me in a quandary by linking your great clue above
>to a tortured charade with a convoluted surface.  Even though I'm on 
>the left side of the pond, I can accept "Dartmoor" to mean a UK prison 
>(necessary to make "anaesthetized" work in the surface),
>and also as a sheep (to work with "mother" to give EWE), but stretching
>that double meaning to include "that one's" to mean HER is perhaps
>three strikes and you're out, or maybe just a bit too much for this
>moderator.

>One-half bonus point for the attempt at linkage.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
31 and 37 Down

From: Lev Polinsky <polinsky@husc.harvard.edu>

  Yes-man is blind but takes a second power? (6)

SQUARE-
  I was in a bit of a musical mood, so Yes-man is [Chris] Squire, bass
  player for the art rock band Yes.  Blind is without eyes, or i's, hence
  Squre.  If squre takes a, you get square, which is the second power.

>"second power" = SQUARE was the obvious answer, and I tried and tried
>to get "square" from the wordplay part and failed. After seeing the
>explanation, I don't see how anyone without ESP could solve it.

  A shot, or when everyone gets a shot (5)

ROUND-
  A (rifle) shot is a round.  When everyone gets a shot [as of whiskey,
  or Vodka, or your favorite alcoholic beverage], that is also
  referred to as a round.

>This is an _outstanding_ double-definition clue, using two different
>meanings for a common noun, and also misdirection, since "shot" so often
>is used as an anagram indicator. Did anyone automatically try to anagram
>"getsa"?? Two Bonus Points.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

A final thought...

Congratulations to all entrants.  I enjoyed moderating, except that I
was a little frustrated that I couldn't enter _myself_!

Please remember that clue judging is a very personal matter, and the 
opinions expressed above are only those of one man, with his own tastes,
likes and dislikes.

Good luck to Brian in moderating ACC78.

John Hakemian, aka sailorjohn@delphi.com
         /|
        //|\   ***
 ****  ///|\\         Sailor John
  **  ////|\\\  *** Chesapeake Isle
   __/////|\\\\_      MD and NYC
  /__PANACHE__/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* S.V. PANACHE on the Chesapeake, S.V. PANACEA in the BVI *
