                ACC 92 -- Complete Results
                ==========================

In ACC 92, entrants were asked to submit a cryptic clue, one of whose
parts -- either the cryptic part or the straight definition -- was only
two letters long. A lot of excellent clues were submitted, and picking
the winners was very difficult; however, this task has finally been
completed.

The winning clue was

       W.P.Cs can make you do this (6,2)

submitted by Roy W. Thearle, who has agreed to moderate ACC 93.

The runner-up clue was

       Epithet during date is "screwed up" (10)
      
submitted by Jacob Bergmann.

Congratulations to the winners, and many thanks to everyone who entered.

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

Complete list of clues (the winner is marked with **, runner-up with *,
and honorable mentions with +):

Contest Entries:
================

(By) the way.   (15)
As was ancient city state (6)
+  e.
   g.! (7,7)
Fed, then, if under treatment from MD? (7-7)
"Emerald concealed in sheath", reported A.P. (3)
Go to land (6)
He's a gas, but something of a lightweight (6)
+ "OK", I said, "a honey wine-like golden yellow" (8)
** W.P.Cs can make you do this (6,2)
Am grieving aloud (7)
"II"! (6)
We constructed our vessel (9)
Go start traffic jam (6)
* Epithet during date is "screwed up" (10)
+ Bedevil (5)
+ Mr. Spollen is right on top (3)


Bonus Clues:
============

NE? (3,7)
SW punkah wallahs (7)
After University, Edward quickly began escorting us (6,6)  
Bizarre as a ritual in Oz (9)
EE's facility (4)
MT? (5)
Sf creature. (9)
(Ma)rs (4)
0K! (4)
__
/\H sculpture in St. Peters (5)
Redecorated in R.I. (6)

===================================================================

Solutions, explanations, and my comments follow after about twenty
lines of blank space (all my comments are preceded by | ):






















| End of blank space.

| Contest Entries:

==============================================================

(By) the way.   (15)

answer - parenthetically

| As I read this, it's a semi-&lit; "By the way" = PARENTHETICALLY,
| and "(By)" is written parenthetically.  (The other conceivable second
| reading I see is that "(By) the way" is supposed to stand for something
| like "the way '(By)' is written", which would have very contrived syntax
| and would violate the rule that at least one reading has to use only
| two letters). Anyway, this is certainly a nice concise clue. Unfortunately,
| most of the burden of the cluing in "(By)" is assumed by the parentheses
| rather than the two letters; as I mentioned in my original announcement,
| I prefer clues in which, in the spirit of this contest, the cluing of
| one part is done mainly by the two letters themselves, not by the 
| punctuation marks around them.

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

As was ancient city state (6)

answer: ATHENS

As => A then S
ancient city state - definition

| An interesting twist. Is it unfair (requiring the solver to reason
| this+that -> this THEN that, rather than the other way around)?
| If I were doing a UK crossword, I would say no; if I were doing
| a US crossword, I would say yes. Since I'm not actually doing
| a crossword, I say no -- but it's quite tricky, nonetheless.
| Surface reading is OK.

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

        e.
        g.! (7,7)

RHYMING COUPLET

        A rhyming couplet is two lines of rhyme.
        The e.g. occupying those two lines serves the double duty of
        being a definition-by-example indicator, and as the &lit
        elements. The fact that the clue is unusually formatted on two
        lines precludes the necessity of having a "?" indicator.

| I really like this. It's not what I would call an &lit, actually, since
| instead of having the same material be read twice as two different
| definitions, it instead has the same material read twice as two
| halves of *one* definition (that is, the clue is really "'e.g.', e.g"). 
|
| Now, in US crosswords, a cryptic clue has to have two parts: a 
| straight definition, and a cryptic definition (in an &lit, the
| two parts overlap; in a double-definition, the cryptic definition
| is just another straight definition). In the UK, on the other hand,
| you can get away with just one definition, if it's clever enough.
| This certainly qualifies. Honorable Mention to Murray W. Smith. 

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

Fed, then, if under treatment from MD? (7-7)

Fed, then, if under=anagram fodder
treatment= anagram indicator
from= connector
MD= Roman numerals for FIFTEEN-HUNDRED

| The surface is very slightly awkward (though comprehensible --
| clearly, the MD in question has prescribed chicken soup).
| "From", as a link, usually works the other way; "<straight def.>
| from <cryptic def.>" rather than "<cryptic def.>" from
| "<straight def.>". Nice use of the letters (the capitalization
| is right, which is a nice touch).

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

"Emerald concealed in sheath", reported A.P. (3)
  "Emerald concealed in sheath" = defn.
  reported                      = homophone indicator
  A.P.                          = a PEA

The difficulty of the "straight" definition is overcome by the
simplicity of the cryptic.

| As a clue for PEA, this doesn't quite fit the requirements
| of the competition, since "reported" is part of the cryptic
| definition, which is therefore longer than two letters. 
| As a clue for PEE, on the other hand, it works perfectly,
| since "A.P." is now the straight definition and "Emerald
| concealed in sheath reported" is the cryptic def. 
|
| Taken either way, an sound clue with an OK surface. 

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

GROUND

Go to land (6)

   land = defn
   G + O(ROUND) 

| A nice, concise, sound clue.

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

He's a gas, but something of a lightweight (6)

   "He" = "Helium" (at. sym.)
   "a gas, but something of a lightweight" = def. of "Helium"

| Nice use of the letters (the capitalization is right, which is
| always a good thing), and a good surface. The thing is, this is a
| double-definition clue (since neither definition is really cryptic),
| and the two definitions are of the same sense of the defined word.

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

"OK", I said, "a honey wine-like golden yellow" (8)

Answer:   MEDIOCRE

Explanation:  OK              = defn
              honey wine-like = MEAD-Y
              golden yellow   = OCHRE
              I said          = homophone indicator (MEAD-Y OCHRE) (groan)
Surface:  Follows the remark: "Yes, but you have to say WHAT KIND of 
          golden yellow"
Comment:  Probably more difficult to solve if you DON'T know that 1/2 the
          clue is 2 letters. 

| Probably. Good surface (it helps that golden yellow really is a 
| reasonable color for mead), and a fun construction. Honorable 
| Mention to Karen Lingel.

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

W.P.Cs can make you do this (6,2)

Answer:
		Double up
		(double-u + p; ref to effects of CS gas)

| I like this technique of having the part-division right in the
| middle of an acronym, and I also like the way the pluralizing
| s in the surface becomes part of an acronym in the cryptic
| reading. The surface is entertaining, and both cryptic and
| straight parts work very nicely. The winner.
|
| (By the way -- for those of you who are unfamiliar with the
| acronyms used: A WPC is a woman police constable, and CS gas
| is a type of tear gas. It might have been a good idea to explain
| these terms; I doubt WPC would be familiar to most US solvers.)

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

Am grieving aloud (7)

    Am	     = definition (A.M. = MORNING)
    grieving = MOURNING
    aloud    = homophone indicator

| A good, terse, sound clue.

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

"II"! (6)

SECOND

Straight definition: II = SECOND (e.g., "HENRY II")
Cryptically: To say "Aye-aye" is to SECOND (v.) a motion.

The quotes help the cryptic part by suggesting the clue be 
said out loud; it would be slightly nastier, IMHO, to
give the clue without the quotes, but still valid.

| Do you really say "Aye" to second a motion? At all the formally-run
| meetings I've been to, one said "second" to second a motion, and
| "aye" to cast a vote in favor of it.
|
| That caveat aside, a nice attempt at an &lit.

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

We constructed our vessel (9)

 "We" = definition of OURSELVES
 "constructed" = anagram indicator
 "our vessel" = anagram fodder
Surface Comment: You won't catch this Sailor in a home-made boat!

| A good, sound, terse clue with a sensible surface reading.

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

Go start traffic jam (6)

	Go -- definition of TRAVEL
	Start traffic -- T
	Jam -- RAVEL

| Good, sound, terse clue.

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

Epithet during date is "screwed up" (10)

        epithet            TERM
        during             IN
        date               anagram material
        is screwed         anagram signal : ATED
        up                 definition of TERMINATED, in
                            the sense of a time period
                                being 'up'

| A good, sound clue (and I wonder what happened on that date to provoke
| that epithet . . .). Second place winner. 

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

Bedevil (5)
	Be - B + EAST = BEAST
	devil - definition of BEAST

| I've seen clues where a word must be broken into two pieces before,
| but this is the first one I've seen where a word had to be split
| *three* ways. I like the way the entire clue has been compressed
| into one word. Honorable mention to Gail Koontz.

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

Not merely a clue, but a prediction of the contest's outcome:

Mr. Spollen is right on top (3)

and the answer's SIR.
Mr. = definition
Spollen Is Right = acrostic
on top = indicator

Unfortunately, everyone knows that one half of the clue is exactly two
letters long, so it's not much a challenge at all to solve.

| Funny surface, sound construction. Honorable mention to Benjamin Levine.

===================================================================

| Bonus clues:

| (These clues were not judged for the competition, and so I have only 
| made comments on them when something particularly caught my eye):

===================================================================

NE? (3,7)

answer: NEW ENGLAND

Double definition &lit? - two abbreviations:

NE - New England - this is given as an abbreviation by my (British)
dictionary - Chambers 20C
NE - North-East - so this relies on a continental US frame of 
reference giving New England as being in the NE of the USA.

I don't feel happy with this as a clue which is why it's a bonus.

| I like this one a lot, actually. A very nice &lit (at least from
| the point of view of this US judge).

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

SW punkah wallahs (7)

answer: WAFTERS

SW - W after S
punkah wallahs - definition: a punkah is a large fan originally being 
a large palm leaf; a wallah is an operative - both terms are Anglo-Indian
in origin, so a punkah wallah is the native operator of the fan to 
keep the English colonials cool while they (mis-)ruled India.

I decided that the British colonial reference too obscure so I offer 
it as a bonus - also the surface is rubbish.

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

UNITED STATES 

After University, Edward quickly began escorting us (6,6)  

 after = position indicator
 University = UNI
 Edward = TED 
 quickly = STAT
 began escorting = ES
 us = U.S = defn.

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

Bizarre as a ritual in Oz (9)

   "bizarre" = anagram indicator
   "as a ritual" anagrammed = "Australia"
   "Oz" = def. of "Australia" (slang)

| Incense here, feathers there,
| And a picture of Santa Claus;
| That's what we use in rituals  
| In the merry old Land of Oz.

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

EE's facility (4)

   "ee" = e's ((unindicated) homophone, I guess)
   "facility" = def. "ease"

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

MT? (5)

Answer: EMPTY
Explanation:  MT  = spelled, it sounds like EM TEE = EMPTY
              MT  = postal abbreviation for Montana, which is also 
                    devoid of people, culture, etc.  (I lived there
                    for 18 years.)  I always joke about how it is easy
                    to remember the postal code for Montana because 
                    "Montana is EMPTY (MT)"  -- a spoof of the 
                    Oklahoma motto, "Oklahoma is OK".  Har har.
                    OK, so this isn't the greatest clue on the planet,
                    but I couldn't resist the challange to find a clue
                    of 2 total letters.
              ?   = indicates that Montana is an example of EMPTY.

| Another nice &lit, although I'm not sure that the connection between
| Montana and emptiness is quite as obvious as that between New England
| and northeasternness.

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

Sf creature. (9)

Spadefoot
(S = spade + f = foot; type of toad)

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

(Ma)rs (4)

Ares 
(ar + es)

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

0K! (4)

Cool
(double definition &lit - exclamation / zero Kelvin)

| Another nice &lit (though just how nice it is depends on the typeface
| you're using . . .)

----------------------------------------------------------
 __
 /\H sculpture in St. Peters (5)

 My keyboard doesn't have a PI symbol, so I had to construct one above.
 The "PI" = PI
 The "H" is, in Greek (suggested by the PI), ETA
 PI + ETA = PIETA
 "sculpture in St. Peters is def'n, referring to Michelangelo's 
 masterpiece.

| Hee-hee. I guess I didn't specify two *Latin* letters . . .

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

Redecorated in R.I. (6)

        redecorated    definition of REDONE
        in             link word
        R              red
        I              one

        surface:  R.I. is Rhode Island (US)

| The less exciting sequel to _Sleepless in Seattle_.

==================================================================

Kevin Wald             | "'Catalog of ships -- I'll remember that.'"
wald@math.uchicago.edu |     -- Homer, _The Huntress and the Sphinx_