Subject:      CWC 102 - the full results
From:         Jake Bergmann <jbergmann@bbn.com>
Date:         1996/10/24
Message-Id:   <54ogs8$6of@info-server.bbn.com>
Newsgroups:   rec.puzzles.crosswords

This article contains all the clues for Clue Writing Contest
102, announced in article 53rmnr$li5@info-server.bbn.com.

The winners are marked by ++, the runners-up
by +, and the honorable mentions by *.

The clues for the first word:

Messy script has no softess, does have warmth and passionate displays (9)
. . . play-acting spasms, clutches "dicky" heart (9)
*Exaggerated mannerisms resulting from spasms interrupted by heart
  irregularity (9)
+Their cast's in disarray; yet, with this, the show goes on (9)
Arrhythmic heart tics make for a big show (9)
++Time to cook underdone rice with salt and hammy stuff (9)
Police run into jerks making overly dramatic gestures (9)
I hear it's quite a performance when the girl jokes (9)
The racist tightens up his melodramatics (10)
+Emoting is this: react wildly. (9)
Such drama that cries so heart-rendingly (9)
Role-playing the racist is perverse (9)

Their cast's handicraft! (9)     BONUS
Cockney declared, "The scoring threesomes what's needed for 
successful play" (9)            BONUS


The clues for the second word:

++This stallion sounds like a train in reverse. (5)
Oddly, Balkan cake is not served with milk (5)
Sinful profitability (5)
*Without milk, a vitamin deficiency (5)
A vitamin deficiency is unfortunate (5)
The dark laboratory stirred One perfume (5)
Colorless, even when leading cast member has new replacement  (5)
Milkless first-borns have a deficiency (5)
Colourless dye?
Dumb; lacking enigmatic tone of "The Raven" (5)
Darkest onyx revealing a hint of passion -- this need ROT13 (5)
*Essentially, color adopted by a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers! (5)

Need buzzer before pitch. (5)    BONUS
"Ebony"'s second-rate deficit (5)  BONUS







And now, in more detail, are all the clues once more,
accompanied by the authors' explanations.  Notes after
'#' are the moderator's comments.

--------------------------------------------------------------
CLUES FOR "THEATRICS"
--------------------------------------------------------------

Messy script has no softess, does have warmth and passionate displays (9)

Messy- anagram indicator
script- fodder
no softness- remove P= TRICS
does have- container
warmth- HEAT => T(HEAT)RICS
passionate displays= definition

# "p" is fine for "soft" or "softly", but the abbreviation doesn't
# apply to a phrase like "the quality of the cellist's *piano*",
# i.e., "softness" (spelling!).  I think you could improve the
# surface somewhat-- hard to picture that steely hard warmth.

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

. . . play-acting spasms, clutches "dicky" heart (9)

	play-acting - definition of THEATRICS
	spasms - TICS
	clutches - container indicator
	"dicky" heart - heart anagrammed, HEATR
		so:  T-HEATR-ICS

# The ellipsis and the quote marks are disconcerting.   Maybe
# "Producing play-acting spasms..."

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

Exaggerated mannerisms resulting from spasms interrupted by heart
irregularity (9)

spasms = TICS
irregularity = anagram indicator
HEART = anagram fodder = HEATR
interrupted by = containment indicator
straight clue = exaggerated mannerisms = T + HEATR + ICS = THEATRICS

# Sound construction in this honorable mention entry from Paul
# Weiss <cpweiss@netaccess.on.ca>.  A bit on the long side.

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

Their cast's in disarray; yet, with this, the show goes on (9)

  "their cast" = anagram fodder
  "in disarray" = anagram indicator
  "with this, the show goes on" = def.

# Who said moderators are prejudiced against anagram clues?
# This one wins a share of the runner-up award for Brian Spollen
# <bcs@harriseda.com>, for the unstrained feeling of the surface.

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

	Arrhythmic heart tics make for a big show (9)
	---------- HEART TICS -------- ==========
	anagram               connector    defn.
	indicator

Think of Redd Foxx clutching at his chest (from _Sanford And Son_).

# A stretch to picture this (can the heart muscle really produce
# tics, or would they be called fibrillation?)

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

Time to cook underdone rice with salt and hammy stuff (9)

Explanation:  Time (T) + to cook (HEAT) + underdone rice (RIC) + with 
salt
(S)

# The nicely buried definition and no-wasted-words charade wins
# first place for this word for Cruciver <cruciver@aol.com>.
# "Underdone", a new one to me, is very effective.

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

Police run into jerks making overly dramatic gestures (9)

   Police = HEAT (it's slang, but it's common and it's in MW9)
   run    = R (std abbrev)
   into   = container indicator
   jerks  = TICS
   making = connector
   overly dramatic gestures = THEATRICS; T(HEAT+R)ICS

# I need to deduct a little for baseball abbreviations, in this
# a world-wide contest.  The surface is a little vague. How many
# police cruisers?  Was it accidental?

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

I hear it's quite a performance when the girl jokes (9)

I hear                 = homophone indicator
quite a performance    = defn.
girl                   = THEA
jokes                  = TRICKS

# I don't feel GIRL -> THEA and then a homophone, is especially
# solvable.  The clue could also be improved by shifting
# the definition part to the end rather than splitting up
# the cryptic elements.

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

The racist tightens up his melodramatics (10)

Anagram fodder : the racist
Anagram indicator : tightens up
Definition : melodramatics

# Perhaps I'm missing something, but I don't understand
# the anagram indications of "tightens up".

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

Emoting is this: react wildly. (9)

Emoting: definition
this react: anag fodder
wildly: anag indicator

# A short and effective anagram clue from Deb Bouchard
# <ncalvin@netcom.com> shares the runner-up award for this
# word.

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

Such drama that cries so heart-rendingly (9)

	Such drama         = definition  
	that cries         = anagram fodder
	so heart-rendingly = anagram indicator.  Alternatively, it 
	                     might mean to anagram the middle: 
T(hatcrie)S

# Not the strongest definition.  I prefer the "anagram the heart of"
# explanation, but feel that the middle seven letters of a nine-
# letter phrase is too large to be its "heart".

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

  Role-playing the racist is perverse (9)

  "Role-playing" = definition of THEATRICS
  "the racist" = anagram fodder
  "is perverse" = anagram indicator
  Surface comment:  One does have to make career sacrifices to advance
                    one's acting career!

# I usually like my anagrams better mixed than this (similar
# comment for an earlier clue).  The surface seems forced;
# "Playing the racist role" would be more conventional.

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

Their cast's handicraft! (9)     BONUS

  "their cast" = anagram fodder
  "handicraft" = anagram indicator
  &lit def.

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

Cockney declared, "The scoring threesomes what's needed for 
successful play" (9)            BONUS

  "Cockney declared" = homophone/dialect indicator
  "the scoring threesomes" = "the 'at tricks" ("the hat tricks")
  "what's necessary for successful play" = def.
  (self-appraisal:  flawed homophone, as the "th" sound in "the"
  is voiced, while in "theatrics" it's unvoiced)

# Interesting surface.  How do you know when a threesome is
# "scoring"?  Followups to some other newsgroup, please.

--------------------------------------------------------------
CLUES FOR "BLACK"
--------------------------------------------------------------

This stallion sounds like a train in reverse. (5)

sounds like a train:  ell -> L
reverse: BACK
L in BACK: BLACK
This stallion: The BLACK Stallion

# Deb Bouchard <ncalvin@netcom.com> wins first place for this
# word for the most evocative surface reading.  I feel the
# partial-homophone style is well under control and admissible
# here.  Now, just a quibble or two... "Describing a stallion"
# might be more accurate ... and please lose the terminal period.

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

Oddly, Balkan cake is not served with milk (5)

	Oddly                = every other letter
	BaLkAn CaKe          = fodder
	not served with milk = def.  (black as in coffee)
	Yeah, it's easy and obvious, but it would make a great "Got 
Milk?"
	commercial.  I like it.	

# A pretty good alternating-hidden clue; however, "Balkan cake"
# seems unnatural, given the multiple cultures holding sway there,
# and ... can't black coffee be served with milk anyway?... as
# long as it's not added by the server? ... just in case the
# customer changes her mind.

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

  Sinful profitability (5)

  Double definition:
  "Sinful", as in a black heart, black motives, etc., etc.
  "profitability", as in "in the black"
  Surface comment:  as spoken by a socialist, perhaps

# Black is possibly a state of profitability but not profitability
# itself.

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

Without milk, a vitamin deficiency (5)

   Without milk = BLACK (as in coffee)
   a vitamin    = B
   deficiency   = LACK (noun)

# Well, there are several vitamins, and worse, dietetics seems
# to be in a state of flux as to which ones they are.  That
# notwithstanding, an honorable mention award for a tight
# clue from Pete Mitchell <pwm@mv.mv.com>,

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

A vitamin deficiency is unfortunate (5)

A vitamin     = B 
deficiency    = lack            
unfortunate   = defn. 

# A similar clue is weaker, by virtue of the definition (I
# don't think "unfortunate" is a strong enough word to describe
# something such as "Black Friday").

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

The dark laboratory stirred One perfume (5)

Defninition : dark = black
Laboratory stirred = lab stirred = bla
One perfume = CK One ----> CK
bla + ck = black (tough math)

Note: I felt "One perfume"for "CK" is a stretch as it is, and not
capitalizing the O would be unfair.

# Yes, the stretch is that CK is unknown to many, and, at that,
# is an attribute of the perfume rather than a synonym for it.
# The usual convention for anagrams (LAB) is that the solver is not
# required to abbreviate or find a synonym before anagramming.

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

Colorless, even when leading cast member has new replacement  (5)

Colorless=definition of BLACK (in the sense of having no pigment)
leading cast member = C
has new=N
replacement= replace C with N to get BLANK, another word meaning 
colorless.

# A different approach that doesn't quite come off.  The definition
# part is reused in the cryptic; BLANK means pale or colorless only
# in an archaic sense (Websters III New Int); I can't equate
# "without color" (which I might accept for BLACK) with "colorless";
# and "new" is not ideal in the surface (you can only be new once).
# Death of a thousand cuts, eh?  It really wasn't as bad as I make
# it sound.

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

Milkless first-borns have a deficiency (5)
	Milkless - definition of BLACK
	first-borns - B
	have a deficiency - LACK

# Some indicator problems.  I see "xxx's first" or "first of xxx"
# as the preferred forms, with "first xxx" being flawed.  Also,
# "have a" seems wasted, especially in that "have" means Container
# in many clues.

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

Colourless dye?

colourless = BLACK (as in the absence of light)
dye = BLACK (as in shoe polish)

The clue is obviously a double definition, but I felt the "?" was
appropriate because of the somewhat misleading overall surface reading.

# My earlier comments on colourless apply.

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

Dumb; lacking enigmatic tone of "The Raven" (5)

  "dumB LACKing" = hidden word fodder
  "enigmatic" = hidden word indicator
  "tone of the raven" = def.

# Love the definition.  On the other hand, "enigmatic"
# doesn't mean "hiding"-- you can't be enigmatic of a secret.
# And I wish the first word were apter, especially since it
# could have been "Bab", "dithyramb", etc.  (This is the clue
# that was close enough to honorable mention rating, to snag
# Brian Spollen the overall third-place award -- necessary
# because places #1 and #2 will not be able to moderate the
# next contest.)

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

	Darkest onyx revealing a hint of passion -- this need ROT13 (5)
	======= ONYX ---------           P          ---------------
	defn.         container                     ROT13 OYNPX to
	              indicator                     get BLACK

I think of sexy black eyes smouldering with lust.  The steaminess
of the imagery requires some sort of encryption.  :-)

# A few mistakes and unsolvability problems here.

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

Essentially, color adopted by a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers! (5)

Explanation: &lit.  "Essentially, color" =  L  "member of the...Steelers" 
=
BACK (as in fullback, halfback, etc.) "adopted by"= container indicator.
 [Note:  I know the Steelers are technically black AND silver, but black 
is
their main color statement, which makes it "essentially" true and 
solvable.]

# And another clue that asks the moderator, "Who are you?" and
# the answer comes back, "Not a US puzzle editor".  So I had
# to deduct something for the chauvinism, but this is still a
# pretty fair &lit that wins an honorable mention for Cruciver
# <cruciver@aol.com>.
# No, I'm not an Oakland Raiders (Men in Black) fan.

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

Need buzzer before pitch. (5)    BONUS

Need: lack
buzzer: bee (B)
pitch: definition

# Would be improved with a homophone signal to go with BEE.
# And "pitch" is questionable.  You can "black" a ship's
# rigging with tar, according to my dictionary, but that
# doesn't make pitch = BLACK.

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

"Ebony"'s second-rate deficit (5)  BONUS

  "ebony" = def.
  "second-rate" = "B"
  "deficit" = "lack"

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jake Bergmann                    jbergmann@bbn.com
BBN Domain Corporation
Cambridge MA USA                 617-873-2872