Following are the full results for Clue Writing Contest
# 78.  It was a privilege to read all your inventive
contributions.  It may seem that this segment has been
going on for eons (actually only since July 3) but at
least that permitted the participation of those who
don't see the newsgroup material right away.

These are all the clues I received for the two words.

Confusedly head trip circling 'round Venus (9)
Lousy date, or hip love goddess? (9)
Pet hairdo upset love goddess (9)
Is a hot pride the undoing of the Olympic champion of love? (9)
Venus in Athens (9)
Be quiet during the radio broadcast for the Paris contest winner (9)
Goddess died in smash-hit opera (9)
Goddess speaks of coiffure-coloring potion  (9)
Goddess plucks harp, to die for! (9)
Repaired harp--it is featured in song of praise for love goddess (9)
Horribly atrophied goddess (9)
Goddess of death, or pi recalculated (9)
Conjured head trip about love! (9)


Watched screw over beds (8)
Unmade beds over-looked (8)
Seen in "Michelob served here" sign (8)
Noted prenatal specialist began a game of tennis (8)
Celebrated alumnus waited on table (8)
Saw that the lob serve didn't provide the answer (8)
Said to be celebrated (8)
Witnessed obstetrician deliver Dead Head  (8)
Mowed over beds of saw grass (8)
Studied irregular verbs in Old English Dictionary (8)
Watched obstetrician tend to democratic leader (8)
Saw verbs confused in dictionary (8)
Marked mistranslated verbs in bad ode (8)
BONUS CLUE:
Martina saw lob served (8)

Then there were two contestants who submitted a pair of linked
clues, so I'll report them that way here...

Period hat becomes a love godess... (9)
... seen to recklessly rove beds! (8)

Divine, purveyor of love potions, maybe,.....(9)
....saw beds overused with riotous jollity    (8)

I judged each of these four clues on its own and tried to
accommodate the surface meaning of the LINKED clue in my
evaluation.  By the end I felt as though I were part of
a Magic Eye picture, so I would not encourage future entrants
to try this paired-clue effect, unless the moderator (a
better man than I) actually invites it.

Commentary follows on the next page.

I'm using an underlining code for conciseness.
       ====   Definition
       ~~~~   Anagram or hidden-word elements
       ----   Charade elements
       ^^^^   Signal words

My own comments are set off by   ">>" .

            CLUES FOR  'APHRODITE'


ANAGRAMS

Paraphrasing Abe Lincoln or someone, the Lord must love anagrams.
He made so many of them (for this word).


Lousy date, or hip love goddess? (9)
^^^^^ ~~~~  ~~ ~~~ ============

>> You mean you were too wasted to tell the difference?  The
>> ? is a small flaw, there's nothing punny here.


Pet hairdo upset love goddess (9)
~~~ ~~~~~~ ^^^^^ ============

>> The date might have worked out better if you'd gone somewhere
>> more interesting than the Critter Clippers salon.


Is a hot pride the undoing of the Olympic champion of love? (9)
   ~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ============================

>> Works on many levels.  The "?" appropriately marks the
>> associative definition.  The direction of "undoing of" is a
>> little imperfect.  Honorable mention to Brian Spollen.


Period hat becomes a love godess... (9)
~~~~~~ ~~~ ^^^^^^^ =============

>> Careful of the spelling.  A little unconvincing.  A
>> goddess is immortal, so can anything she wears be
>> anachronistic?


Goddess plucks harp, to die for! (9)
======= ^^^^^^ ~~~~  ~~ ~~~

>> Needs a better anagram signal, because "pluck" suggests
>> primarily "removal" (as in feathers).  The placement of "to
>> die for" suggests becoming infatuated with her harp rather
>> than with her... it takes all kinds...


Horribly atrophied goddess (9)
^^^^^^^^ ~~~~~~~~~ =======

>> Can a whole person atrophy?  A little strange.  But you
>> did find a single-word anagram!


Goddess of death, or pi recalculated (9)
=======    ~~~~~  ~~ ~~ ^^^^^^^^^^^^

>> Lighten up a little, please, it's only an error in the 50,000th
>> digit!  Construction is fine, though; I like the misdirection of
>> "of death" next to the definition.  Surface needs work.


SOUNDS OF OLYMPUS


Goddess speaks of coiffure-coloring potion  (9)
======= ^^^^^^^^^ -------- -------- ------
                    AFRO      DYE    TEA  homophone

>> Thank you anyway, goddess, for this I climbed Mount
>> Olympus?  It's called Lady Clairol and I can get it at
>> Shop-Rite.


Repaired harp--it is featured in song of praise for love goddess (9)
^^^^^^^^ ~~~~  -- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ --------------     ============
                                      ODE
         APHR +    OD(IT)E

>> "Repaired" is slightly awkward in the surface reading.  Otherwise,
>> a nicely flowing clue.  Honorable mention for Todd McClary.


INDIRECT DEFINITIONS

          
Venus in Athens (9)
===============

>> Too singular for my taste.  It is what it says.  I like to
>> have my mind twisted at least a *little*.


Divine, purveyor of love potions, maybe,.....(9)
=======================================

>> The cluer reminds us of the topicality of the reference to the
>> Hugh Grant events.   However, things are still not too far from
>> the singular, as in "Goddess, associated with love, maybe,...(9)"


HYBRIDS


Confusedly head trip circling 'round Venus (9)
^^^^^^^^^^ ~~~~ ~~~~ ^^^^^^^^  ----- =====
                                 O
              APHR(O)DITE

>> I was hoping for some astronomical clues, and perhaps
>> this is one.  It's difficult to parse.  "Head" as a verb
>> versus "head trip" produces some disorientation.  Maybe
>> that was intended!


Conjured head trip about love! (9)
^^^^^^^^ ~~~~ ~~~~ ^^^^^ ----
                           O
          APHR(O)DITE &lit.

>> This time "head trip" is intended as the psychedelic one.
>> But it's not Psyche we want, but Aphrodite, and a fair
>> definition of her doesn't exist here.


Goddess died in smash-hit opera (9)
======= ---- ^^ ^^^^^ ~~~ ~~~~~
         D
                APHRO(D)ITE

>> Are you composing this work?  The funds-starved opera
>> companies of the world are eagerly awaiting the smash hit!
>> Bob Gregory's straightforward clue gets the runner-up
>> award.


Be quiet during the radio broadcast for the Paris contest winner (9)
-------- ^^^^^^ ~~~ ~~~~~ ^^^^^^^^^     ========================
   P            AHRODITE                  i.e., the contest of
                                       the goddesses judged by
                                       Paris, son of King Priam

>> Quite an inspired misleading definition!  "P" doesn't serve
>> as a verb in music, so I wish this could be done without the "Be".
>> Nevertheless, first place honors for this entry from Fletcher
>> Gross.


            CLUES FOR  'OBSERVED'


HIDDEN-WORD CLUES


Saw that the lob serve didn't provide the answer. (8)
===           ~~ ~~~~~ ~      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>> I miss the lost subject (who saw?  a coach?  Arantxa?); I enjoy
>> watching tennis more if I'm cheering for a particular player.
>> Otherwise, a decent Hidden clue.


Seen in "Michelob served here" sign (8)
==== ^^        ~~ ~~~~~~

>> Word breaks in Hidden clues shouldn't coincide with the beginning
>> or end of the hidden word itself -- don't you all agree? -- it makes
>> them too easy.  Nor do I see "here" or "sign" doing anything in the
>> cryptic.


TWO DEFINITIONS


Said to be celebrated (8)
====       ==========

>> An acceptable double def., not much sparkle, though.


BLESSED EVENTS


Noted prenatal specialist began a game of tennis (8)
===== ------------------- ----------------------
            O.B.                 SERVED

>> Well done, with a nicely buried definition.  I would
>> have objected to a charade of closely related words; however,
>> "observe" comes from (L.) *servare*, to watch, while
>> "serve" is ultimately from (L.) *servus*, slave, so you're
>> off the hook.  Honorable mention to Brian Spollen.


Witnessed obstetrician deliver Dead Head  (8)
========= ------------ ------- ---------
             O.B.       SERVE      D

>> And the nurse belts out her own version of
>> _What's Become of the Baby?_  Whoo...  Mainly because
>> it's the funniest, this is the winner, from Evan Whitney.


Watched obstetrician tend to democratic leader (8)
======= ------------ ------- -----------------
           O.B.       SERVE          D

>> I like this.  Could be improved by a smoother
>> finish.  The patient's devotion to democracy was
>> probably not on her mind at that exact moment.


OTHER CHARADES


Celebrated alumnus waited on table (8)
========== ------- ---------------
           OLD BOY     SERVED

>> Succinct; a fine image.  Would have been a winner if OB
>> were in common use in all the countries of this newsgroup
>> ... in the US, it isn't.


FULL ANAGRAM CLUES


Watched screw over beds (8)
======= ^^^^^ ~~~~ ~~~~

>> Short and elegant perhaps, but the surface is very
>> rough.  What's "over", the watcher, the perspective,
>> or the "action"?  "Screwing" for "screw" (pardon my
>> French) might begin to improve things.


Unmade beds over-looked (8)
^^^^^^ ~~~~ ~~~~ ======

>> My dictionary doesn't spell "overlook" with a hyphen.  So,
>> take it out -- and the lack of a word break for the definition
>> makes the clue too hard.  Some days you can't win.


... seen to recklessly rove beds! (8)
    ====    ^^^^^^^^^^ ~~~~ ~~~~

>> This is the one that was presented as the continuation of
>>   "Period hat becomes a love godess ...(9)"
>> ... whose millinery shopping is suddenly subordinated to
>> her erotic plans.  The "!" should probably have been omitted.
>> Also, rove beds, or bedrooms?  Hmmm ... excuse me while I go
>> pick out a hat.


Mowed over beds of saw grass (8)
^^^^^ ~~~~ ~~~~    ===

>> Brings the question of extraneous words in a clue into
>> sharp relief.  Here, it's only the word "grass", but the
>> solver may well get hung up for some time on this Red
>> Herring.  I do like "saw grass" in the surface and the
>> twist on "saw".


....saw beds overused with riotous jollity (8)
    === ~~~~ ~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>> And here's the other ellipsis clue.  The indicator is really
>> too elaborate and shouldn't be stuck to the letters it's operating
>> on.


RUDE VERBS


Marked mistranslated verbs in bad ode (8)
====== ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ~~~~~ ^^ ^^^ ~~~
              O(BSERV)ED

>> This gets a B; "bad ode" is not the smoothest of
>> phrases.  Note that simply anagramming all of "verbs ode"
>> would give you the same effect without needing three
>> separate signals.


Studied irregular verbs in Old English Dictionary (8)
======= ^^^^^^^^^ ~~~~~ ^^ ----------------------
                                  OED

>> Todd McClary reduces the anagramming and produces this
>> finely-tooled clue.  The "Old" in the indicator for
>> "OED" is startling, because you expect it to be "Oxford".
>> If OED is commonly used in this sense too, I'd welcome
>> being enlightened.  The runner-up award is pinned here.


Saw verbs confused in dictionary (8)
=== ~~~~~ ^^^^^^^^ ^^ ----------
                        OED

>> The Oxford English makes its long-awaited appearance.  I
>> appreciate that "saw verbs" matches the letter count of the answer;
>> that's a fair gambit in my opinion -- the cluer was concerned it
>> would throw the solver off.  A more apt word than "confused" would
>> help the surface.  "Conjugated", maybe?  Honorable mention to
>> Neil Jones.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jake Bergmann                    jbergmann@bbn.com
Bolt Beranek & Newman Software Products Corporation
Cambridge MA USA                 617-873-2872
