Subject:      PCWC57 Results
From:         BSpollen@gnn.com (Brian Spollen)
Date:         1996/05/16
Message-Id:   <4nh1n8$jbo@news-e2d.gnn.com>
Newsgroups:   rec.puzzles.crosswords

                    PCWC57:  Final Results

Greetings from Rochester, NY, which is not nearly so sunny as,
say, Malaysia, but nevertheless is in the midst of its annual
Lilac Festival (hence the word used for this contest).

The winning clue was the sporting effort from Kevin Wald:

    Purple-clad one with sinister vocation (5)

Kevin pre-declined to moderate PCWC58; second-placer Serge Elnitsky
has accepted the sweet-smelling (?) mantle of moderating responsibility
His clue was:

    Israeli lackeys include Bush (5)

My apologies to thos entrants whose names were inadvertantly included
on the ballot (in my defense, 3 of the 4 had submitted their clues to
the address from which the invitation was posted to rec.puzzles.crosswords,
requiring me to forward them to the official destination; this introduced
a difference in the mail header which the moderator's-kit utilities were
unprepared for, and I didn't double-check the output; I have modified
the moderator's kit accordingly, with some advice from unix-meister
Mark Brader).

One more note, about voting:  a number of ballots arrived ill-
formatted.  It's vital that the *exact* form is adhered to.
The numerical value in the form of "1 = 5.5", *including* the spaces.
The comments in the form of "1) Ho-hum clue".  Those ballots which 
didn't stick to the correct format had to be manually corrected by 
me --- *obviously* something you don't really want! :-)  Also, several
ballots failed to assign numerical values to *all* the clues --- not
a fatal flaw, by any means, but since the scoring mechanism *normalizes*
scores into the range of 0-100, this can have the effect of *raising* the 
average score of unranked clues (if you gave clues 1 and 2 values of
10.0 and 9.9, respectively, on a scale of 0-10, they're normalized to
100 and 0, leaving unranked clue number 3 (assuming that *somebody*
else voted on it) to quite likely be considered "better" than clue 2).


Here's the complete list of clues, comments, etc.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Easy word to clue, so I'm marking hard this time.  All the clues
are excellent, but some are more excellent than others.
Is there a bug in the moderator's kit?  Why do some clues
show the author's name?

I am surprised by the variety of clues.  It was a word
not remarkable for its versatility.  Extra points for 
using more specific definitions than "color", "Bush" etc.

choosing this type of word to clue results in few great clues (contrast with
CENTER), but I feel it really tests a cluer's ability, esp. to disguise
the def.  many of the seemingly better clues had to "cheat" in some way,
and i was torn whether to reward imaginative entries or dull but flawless
ones.  since i am a conservative cluer myself, and failed to come up with
an entry I was satisfied with, my higher totals went to the latter group.
sorry to say that the hidden-word clues as a group were much better.

A bit of a devilish word. Not a lot of different themes. I tried to
avoid the CALL back about I, and ended up with a different common 
theme. I found the acrostics provided the most varied range of clues.

I thought there were a few superb clues here and a lot of mediocre ones.
Everyone seemed very encouraged by the success of Brian's container 
last time and there was a whole bunch of 'em this time; they were 
much better than most of the other clues.  The word to be clued was 
great, if perhaps a bit easy to include in a smooth container.  Also, 
my ballot seems to have had some names on it; hopefully this is a 
one-time error.

The word seemed to only lend itself to a couple of cryptic types, and 
a couple of definition types (color and bush/shrub).  This produced a 
somewhat monotonous set of entries. 
I was rather shocked to see the entrants in clues 3, 4, 8 & 12
identified 
in the ballot.  I tried hard to ignore this unintended piece of data. 

I liked the word - few definition possibilities, but easy cryptics.
Too bad there were some names accidently attached to clues!

A poorer than average selection this time, lots of bad
surfaces and too many superfluous words.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

1st place (score 70.87%) - clue 3
From Kevin Wald <wald@math.uchicago.edu>

    Purple-clad one with sinister vocation (5)

Votes (normalized): 0 49 50 60 66 70 74 78 80 82 83 100 100 100

While I would hate to argue with Kevin Wald over words,
using CALL for vocation, while technically OK,
is surely obscure.  I looked it
up in my *pocket* dictionary, and this meaning is not 
among the eleven given. Sinister for a leftward indicator is
cool, though.

everything about this clue screams "winner!", but "sinister" appears to be
an indirect indicator, which kills the whole clue IMO.  sorry if you were
penalized for my ignorance.

Best of the CALL backs. Pity about the onymity.

Very nice clue, though CLAD is really too difficult a signal
for an actual puzzle.

Good clue - seems to be about one of Superman's enemies:
could it be Eggplant Man?

Smooth surface, interesting reversal indicator.  First place by a
small margin over #1.

One of several clues in the contest to use this idea, this one gets
points for the Latin reference and less-than-run-of-the-mill 
container indicator.

I liked the surface and use of 'sinister'! This was my favorite.

Wonderful surface, and very sound cryptic construction; I quibble only  
at the "clad" as a past-tense transitive verb, when that part of the  
clue, read separatively, calls for an imparitive, i.e. "clothe". 

I think "vocation" is "calling", rather than "call".  Also, this is
a bit too indirect, with sinister->leftward and vocation->call put together
to get LLAC which *then* gets an I in it.

Nice image in the surface, I felt sinister as a reversal
indicator was pushing it a bit.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd place (score 70.59%) - clue 9
From Serge Elnitsky <elnitsky@coos.dartmouth.edu>

    Israeli lackeys include Bush (5)

Votes (normalized): 10 40 44 50 60 80 83 84 85 88 93 100 100

great idea.  minor quibble: "include" seems grammatically incorrect in the
cryptic reading.  major quibble:  the captial b was a cheat.  see clue #19
for the common way around this problem.

Best of the forward inclusion clues. Sounds more Saddam than Buchanan.

Seriously defective.  The words "bush" and "Bush" are different.
A pity; all it needed was to be turned around into "Bush among
Israeli lackeys", or the like, to be not only correct but also
a decent quality clue.

I thought of giving you a 0 for using an American reference, but chose
against it; this is a great clue.  Tied for second place.

One of the better hidden word clues.

A hidden word clue MUST have a great surface; this one measures up. 

The only thing this definition lack(ey)s is a better straight part.
Very nice job!

-------------------------------------------------------------------

3rd place (score 68.84%) - clue 18
From Robert Galejs <galejs@ll.mit.edu>

    Optical illusion incorporated reflected colour (5)

Votes (normalized): 0 22 50 59 60 67 70 72 80 83 84 86 100 100 100

Lovely clue.  The winner on my ballot, by a nose.

apt hidden-rev. clue.  a minor quibble is that "reflected" is attached to
"colour" in the cryptic reading.  contrast with:
"Optical illusion, reflected, incorporates colour" (which makes no surface
sense, of course).  am i making sense?  anyways, i prefer the latter.

The best clue this time. I vow I was not swayed by the British 
spelling.

The cryptic indicator does not read smoothly -- it's as if the solution
had been CALIL rather than LILAC.

You left out the Australian version.  Shame on you.  But what 
optical illusions do not incorporate reflected color?

Good clue-- but surface seems a little cumbersome.

U.S. version not needed as did not figure in cryptic construction; 
however, this clue passes the "outstanding surface" requirement of 
hidden word clues with flying lilacs/colours... 

I'd give a bit more help in the straight part ("reflected purplish hue"?)
And don't think my American sensibilities aren't insulted by your
brazen attempt to cross the transatlantic clewing barrier with the
"US version". :-)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

4th place (score 68.14%) - clue 10
From Matthew Merzbacher <matthew@mills.edu>

    Flowery shrub turned up in biblical illustrations (5)

Votes (normalized): 22 33 50 50 50 65 74 80 80 80 83 88 98 100

Nice clue.

i hate to give first place to hidden word clues.  i hate to give first
place to clues that seem easy-to-solve.  i love to reward flawlessness.
congratulations.

Reminds me of those illustrations of 50's Holy Land in my Bible. Just
didn't do anything for me though.

I'm not fond of reversed containers, but this is a good one.

Nice, but just not as good as some of the others.

Good surface; sound clue.

Didn't like "turned up" as a reversal indicator unless in a DOWN clue. 

My clue, abstain.

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5th place (score 64.02%) - clue 6
From Bob Gregory <bobg@cullen.demon.co.uk>

    A shrub, one that's in rising demand (5)

Votes (normalized): 22 33 38 50 50 60 60 67 71 75 80 90 100 100

The "A" and "that's" are superfluous, not even needed
for surface flow.  

the surface is a bit stilted, and the "that's" is extraneous, but i still
think this is the fairest, and perhaps the best, charade.

Plain CALL back clue.

Straightforward and flawless.

Good, concise clue, and demand for shrubs hearkens back to the
shrubbery routine in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  Obviously a
vertical clue.

For "rising" to mean a reversal, this would have to be a DOWN clue, but 
the constructor does not so indicate. 

Better than #3, but with some of the same problems of indirectness.
The surface here is good, but I'd say a "flowering shrub" to help
out a bit more to the cluer.  In fact, I did just that in clue #10.

What a shame about the superfluous 'A' and 'that's', without
them I think it'd have scored number one. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

6th place (score 62.43%) - clue 4
From Mark Brader <msb@sq.com>

    Lip lunacy: no puny color! (5)

Votes (normalized): 0 50 50 50 50 53 60 67 67 82 85 85 85 90

Good one.

love the construction, but i looked over this clue several times and still
could not get the surface until i read your description.  of course, it
makes sense *now*, but i feel you should lose the bang because that &lib
is too much of a stretch.

Bland - like the colour.

I would like this one better without the exclamation point,
because I do consider lilac a "puny" color so don't like
the entire clue as a definition. 

I voted for this one because, well, I always vote for clues by Mark Brader.
(Yeah, my clue.  I think I still like it best of all, but allowing for
bias, will score it tied for third place.)

What hurts this superb clue is that I really can't understand a color
being puny.  Otherwise, wonderful.  Second place.

Interesting deletion construction, but the "puny" doesn't seem natural 
in the surface. 

I like the cryptic construction very much, but the surface doesn't work
for me.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

7th place (score 62.02%) - clue 1
From Lev Polinsky <polinsky@husc.harvard.edu>

    Lennon's "Imagine" lingers at charts' tops--this ain't Deep Purple! (5)

Votes (normalized): 9 33 33 40 40 50 54 66 76 83 89 95 100 100

Clever but the straight definition leaves a bit to be
desired.

cute idea.  won't deduct for the bang i feel shouldn't be there.
biggest deduction was for the "cheat" -- capping "deep purple" for the
surface.  if it were a crayola color, i'd let it slide.  :-)

Slightly convoluted acrostic.

Fairly effective, if wordy like most acrostics.

Loved the clue, but I thought puns got question marks and
an exclamation point signalled an overlap.

Acronym clues do tend to be rather long and this is no exception,
but it is nicely crafted.  Second place after #3.

My clue--no comment

Great surface, but the resulting clue suffered badly, primarily from the
definition: I don't see the "pun" in Deep Purple, just an incorrect hue.

A clever surface construction, but the straight definition is a
little too crooked for me.

A nice idea, but let down by the definition and
surface, I thought.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

8th place (score 50.30%) - clue 5

    Flower in dooryard is ill-treated, gets air conditioning (5)

Votes (normalized): 0 0 17 20 33 45 48 55 64 83 88 100 100

"in dooryard" is extraneous and maybe misleading unless this clue was
written for poetry lovers.  biggest deduction was for "gets", which is a
poor concat. ind. and may mislead the solver into thinking this involves
a containment.  fine clue.

The air conditioning has blasted the flower to bits I'm afraid.

My favorite definition

Nice complex clue requiring more than a dictionary!
Hindemith also set that poem to music.

The poetic reference is too obscure for me, and the connector words
"is" and "gets" don't go togethe rquite right in the cryptic reading.

Too long, though the definition is good, even if I wouldn't 
necessarily describe that poem as famous.

Loved the cryptic; hated the obscure definition. 

Nice literary defintion.  I'm not a big fan of anagram-charades, but
this surface has a good touch.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

9th place (score 48.32%) - clue 17

    Back order a hundred - heavyweight, large, light purple (5)

Votes (normalized): 17 20 20 22 28 33 47 50 65 66 71 75 80 83

i love the construction, but i'm not thrilled by the surface.

'Back order' is a very obvious reversal indicator.

heavyweight is unfair, too imprecise

Clearly the best of the Roman numeral clues.

Lawn chairs?  T-shirts?  Sheets of paper?

Order a "hundred - heavyweight, large, light purple" WHAT? 

Dislike clue - stilted, subjectless.  Still, the cryptic is nice and
I particularly enjoy the definition.

Surface, what surface?

-------------------------------------------------------------------

10th place (score 45.06%) - clue 14

    Call back about island shrub. (5)

Votes (normalized): 9 17 20 22 33 33 36 40 49 60 61 71 80 100

Transparent

lose the stop.  apt clue, though i prefer non-anagram fodder to be clued
rather than given (see "call").

No cryptic for CALL and a bit bland.

One of what seems like a million cal(i)l clues.

Same construction as #12, but direct use of "call" is inelegant, and 
the surface is fairly meaningless. 

What makes island be abbreviated?

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11th place (score 43.27%) - clue 19

    Bush retired when a hundred and fifty mobbed the Champ (5)

Votes (normalized): 16 20 30 33 35 40 50 50 53 56 59 60 60

this clue has the best hidden def.  however, i am less thrilled by the
construction.  "when" doesn't seem quite right in the cryptic reading, and
"the champ" may be unfair.

A bit complicated, and Roman numerals are rather cliche.

Funny, I thought it was when Clinton beat him.

I liked this "ALI" clue better than #7 or #17; too bad the reversal 
indicator sucked. 

Though I find clues where the charade is constructed and then reversed
to be difficult (and sometimes unfair), this one's OK.  My biggest
complaint is that "Bush" is a pretty limited straight definition.

What's 'when' doing then?

-------------------------------------------------------------------

12th place (score 41.64%) - clue 12

    Phone back around 1, Olive (5)

Votes (normalized): 0 0 0 0 0 20 40 42 67 70 79 83 88 94

Biological families are a convenience for biologists.  A lilac
is no more an olive than a tomato is a potato. 

Straight definition is not so good.  While it may be
a member of the olive family, it is not an olive.

solid construction, but [1] the capital o was a cheat to get the surface
to work, and [2] the def. seems unfair to this non-botanist.

The OLIVE=LILAC connection is a bit obscure to use in a cryptic. Very
apt for a General Knowledge clue though. Maybe some such as "It's
Olive's cousin " - "Phone back about one!" would lead the generic 
relationship.

I found "olive" too much of a stretch as a definition,
but liked the rest of the clue. 

Seriously defective.  The words "olive" and "Olive" are different.
In addition, the definition being attempted is too obscure.

Good, though I am philosophically opposed to using obscure 
taxonomical reference.  And only about half the clues used this idea.

Solid construction; the surface might have been better if it had read 
"Ring back around one for Bush".  I can see George waiting by the
phone! 

That something is in the X family, botanically speaking,
doesn't make it an X -- it just means that it's in the
same *family* as an X.  Only members of the genus Olea
are olives; members of Syringa are not. 

Please, write "one" rather than 1 in clues, as you would in a normal
English sentence.  Also, just because a lilac is an olive, doesn't
mean that an olive is a lilac.  Still, a nice clue with GREAT surface.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

13th place (score 41.33%) - clue 8

    Not quite in the pink when I interfere with return call(5)

Votes (normalized): 11 16 17 20 20 30 33 36 40 47 60 65 83 100

"in the" was a cheat to get the surface to work, and even without, i'm a
bit uncomfortable with the def.  "interfere" seems grammatically incorrect
in the cryptic reading.

Don't like the surface - one doesn't follow from the other.

Didn't think definition was adequate - there's a
difference between "pink" and "in the pink."

Not quite a surface reading.

Yes, but what does it mean?  Another above-avg. definition stuck on
a below-average clue.

Use of "call" directly is clue is inelegant; Red is also "not quite
pink". 

The best of #6 & #3, because it drops the indirectness.  The surface is
good, but the straight defn. suffers a bit for it.

I felt the definition was rather weak.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

14th place (score 36.07%) - clue 11

    Canned chili lacks color     (5)

Votes (normalized): 0 0 16 17 20 21 30 31 33 40 50 65 67 75 76

It's LILAC that is canned, not CHILI LACKS.

Cryptic indicator points incorrectly.

great idea.  biggest deduction was for "canned", which seems grammatically
incorrect in the cryptic reading.

The structure implies it's the chilli that is canned not the colour.

Misdirected.  It's the lilac, not the "chili lacks", that's canned.

Nice terse clue. 

The container indicator is defective; it is the *color* that is canned
*in* "chili lacks", not the other way around.

Third or fourth place for a superb clue.

Not as good a surface as other hidden word clues. 
I wonder about 'canned' as container... even though it is one :-)

"canned" is a poor hidden word indicator; the clue lacks any 11)
equivalence word between the definition and the hidden word fodder. 

"color" isn't the best straight clue I've ever seen, but otherwise sound.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

15th place (score 33.28%) - clue 7

    Muhammad, between 100 and 50 retreated to a flowery shade (5)

Votes (normalized): 0 0 10 11 20 33 33 38 40 48 50 57 60 65

Ali was the son of Muhammad.  You may as well use "Charles" as a
definition for Philip because there is some washed-out entertainer
called Philip Charles.

"The Greatest" did not spell his name this way.

apt but obvious construction.  biggest deduction was for surface.  is that
100 and 50 B.C.?

The surface lacks something - between 100 and 50 sounds the wrong way
round - and I thought it was Buddha who teached under a shade not
the Prophet.

"Between 100 and 50" just doesn't sound right in context.

The cryptic side is fine, but the surface reading is hopeless.

What does it mean?  Great definition, though.

A little wordy, and the use of Roman numerals is too obvious. 

Nice straight definition.  I would rephrase the cryptic as something like:
"Between fifty and a hundred, Muhammad turned flowery shade", only better.
That avoids the awkward charade construction that then gets reversed
entirely at the end, and also mixes "turn" with "shade".  Well, you get
the idea, anyhow.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

16th place (score 33.05%) - clue 16

    Violet's kin Abner's this way before touchin' the juice a short 
    spell.  (5)

Votes (normalized): 0 0 0 10 10 14 17 40 40 49 55 67 71 90

apt charade.  "before touchin'", while cryptically correct, is extraneous,
and this clue doesn't need to be any more long-winded.  i understand 
"touchin' the juice a short spell" => "AC", but i'm not convinced the
cryptic reading works.

Violets and lilacs are not in the same family of plants (unlike the
olive). Dropping a letter from a word in a clue usually implies doing
the same in the answer. Juice (electrical) is a bit broader than AC
DC is just as much juice and more jolts per volt.

"Before" is a clinker in the surface.  Reversal of cause (the
juice) and effect ('s this way) ?  Bonus for creativity, though.

The surface was confusing and the clues a bit too obscure.

That's *Li'l* Abner, of course, but it doesn't affect the clue.  Surface
reading's a bit shaky, but marks for creativity.  Third-place tie.

Like this clue, I hear, two of the final ten became enshrouded in 
abbreviated math function. (3,4)  

It's LI'L Abner, not LIL'; didn't need "a short spell. Surface strange.

Love the surface, though the cryptic is lengthy.  I couldn't get
Lil' Abner to participate in my clue, though I clearly didn't try
hard 'nuff.

Nice definition, but who's Lil' Abner? The juice a short spell
is pushing things a bit for ac.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

17th place (score 26.76%) - clue 13

    Makes comeback in musical I love, this time (5)

Votes (normalized): 0 0 0 7 17 17 20 22 29 33 40 50 60 80

My own dear clue - not looking quite so great now that I see
the competition

I thought I was reasonably knowledgable about the musical
theater, but I had to look up LILAC TIME.  That aside,
the clue does not parse at all well.  It *might* work
if it had read "with time", but even then it doesn't 
quite read fairly.

slightly awkward surface.  the definition is a bit indirect, esp. since
i've never heard of that musical.  not too fond of your hidden-rev. ind.;
these are the toughest clues to write, imo.

This clue hinges on whether you know about (or could find out about)
LILAC TIME.

No real definition here that can be separated from the
rest of the clue.

Creative enough that it makes one wish the defective construction could
be ignored.  But it can't -- there is an overlap of 4 words out of 8
between the cryptic definition (first 7 words) and the straight one
(last 5 words), and that just won't do.

...and a clue I don't get.  Sorry, try again next time.

A hidden word clue MUST have a great surface; this one fails that test.

Seems to be a half-lit.  I could *never* have solved this, even if you
had spotted me the consonants.  Not that that's bad, necessarily.

I think making clues only soluble by possessors of esp is
unfair to us non-espers.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

18th place (score 18.47%) - clue 15

    All I see and hear transformed to a bloomer (5).

Votes (normalized): 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 17 18 20 20 33 45 50 60

The "and" leads one astray unfairly

the surface is below-average for this set of clues.  "see and hear" => 'C'
is a stretch.  i won't be the only judge who dislikes the homonym
in the anagram fodder.

As it's written (don garlic garlands) it's an indirect anagram with
the C encrypted. Maybe better as 'Transform all I see and here...'
making it a partial anagram plus homophone for C.

I lose the surface after "transformed".

Confusing surface, the intervening "and" spoiled the homonym
indicator, and it's at least partly an indirect anagram. 

Not much of a surface reading, and "and hear" is a poor soundalike
indicator.

I'm not usually one to gripe about such things, but the 'and' here 
is extraneous and seriously interferes with solving the clue.

I thought this was the cleverest clue; but lost a bit on surface 
reading.

An indirect anagram using a homophone letter separated from the
indicator 
by the extraneous "and" distracted me from the strange definition. 

The homonym indicator ("hear") is separated from its fodder ("see") by 
another word ("and").  Also, this is an indirect anagram.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

19th place (score 13.88%) - clue 2

    Flower Hempstead home with the end of a finish (5)

Votes (normalized): 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 12 16 17 24 25 33 60

Do you know whether there is a suburb called Hempstead in Timbuctoo?  
No? Neither do I.

Both cryptic indicators are far too obscure.  Unfair clue.

i like the disguise for "LI", but the "LAC" is way indirect, and the
surface is inferior to those of the other clues.

Is Hempstead known outside NY? I didn't mark it down for that though.
'End of finish[SHELLAC]' implies C rather than LAC

I found this too complex and didn't understand the surface
reading. 

Obscure geographical reference, too indirect, no surface reading.

This was one of several clues which lost points for being far too
indirect.  The LI reference is a bit obscure and the clue overall is
far too clunky.

Hempstead=LI is too parochial; end of a finish= (shel)LAC requires ESP. 

"Hempstead home" -> "Long Island" -> LI is indirect.
finish -> SHELLAC -> LAC is also indirect.

Isn't Hempstead in Texas, or is it the posh end of Hampstead?

-------------------------------------------------------------------
BONUS CLUES:
-------------------------------------------------------------------

20th place (score 0.00%) - clue 20

    Central Bali lacks shade   (5)

Votes (normalized): none

not just a container -- literally the center!  apt clue.

Well I won't go there for my hols.

And money, and good medical care, and...

-------------------------------------------------------------------

20th place (score 0.00%) - clue 21

    Pale purple Cadillac has a CD taken and gets wrecked (5)

Votes (normalized): none

this type of involved subtraction-anagram has few proponents in r.p.c.

Something to do with Pale Purple People Eaters?

One of my favorites - especially good surface reading.

This is not a very good clue.

Awful. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian C. Spollen                          | Internet:bcs@sc.harris.com
Harris Electronic Design Automation, Inc. | I express my opinions, not Harris's
Fishers, New York 14453                   | "Taste makes Waist"
