Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords
Path: bryson.demon.co.uk!demon!pipex!uunet!stanford.edu!EE.Stanford.EDU!EE-CF!quinn
From: quinn@EE-CF.Stanford.EDU (Christine A. Quinn)
Subject: PCWC 6 Results
Message-ID: <1992Dec15.193727.11506@EE.Stanford.EDU>
Summary: And the winner is...
Keywords: results,winner,fun
Sender: usenet@EE.Stanford.EDU (Usenet)
Organization: Stanford University
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 19:37:27 GMT
Lines: 330

Well, that was fun!

And the people's choice for ADMINISTER is:

6) What the governor does when man is tried wrongfully (10)

Interestingly enough - two people predicted the win!  (see
comments below) Congratulations to Brian Spollen for his 
artfully crafted cryptic clue.

Brian has agreed to moderate PCWC 7.

-chris

p.s. Just got my main stride, though I'd strain me to run this contest 
again. The results are sent mid air, hope you don't mind satire 
amid insert.  It'll be a sad interim until the next seminar; it'd 
better be easier to run!

The following are the scores and histograms for all clues, followed
by the anonymous comments sent in for each clue.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Scores:

	Clue	total	 %max	rank	  mean	 st.dev	 median
	----	-----	 ----	----	  ----	 ------	 ------
	  1	154.5	 71.5	  3	  8.58	  2.68	  9.25
	  2	 49.0	 22.7	 13	  2.72	  2.50	  2.00
	  3	107.0	 49.5	  7	  5.94	  2.87	  5.75
	  4	123.0	 56.9	  5	  6.83	  2.84	  6.75
	  5	 53.0	 24.5	 12	  2.94	  2.77	  2.00
	  6	168.0	 77.8	  1	  9.33	  2.67	 10.50
	  7	 85.0	 39.4	 10	  4.72	  2.56	  4.50
	  8	100.5	 46.5	  8	  5.58	  2.46	  5.50
	  9	141.5	 65.5	  4	  7.86	  3.01	  8.50
	 10	 89.0	 41.2	  9	  4.94	  2.87	  5.50
	 11	157.0	 72.7	  2	  8.72	  2.46	  9.00
	 12	 56.5	 26.2	 11	  3.14	  3.21	  1.75
	 13	120.0	 55.6	  6	  6.67	  3.18	  7.50

Vote distribution histograms:

           5 |                         
           4 |                         
           3 |                     XX  
           2 |            XX       XX  
           1 |      XX    XX  XXXX XXXX
Clue #1      |_________________________
                                  1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2

           5 |                         
           4 |                         
           3 |X X                      
           2 |X X X X                  
           1 |XXXXX XX XXXX      X     
Clue #2      |_________________________
                                  1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2

           5 |                         
           4 |                         
           3 |       X   X             
           2 |       X   XXX           
           1 |   XX XX   XXXX   XX  X X
Clue #3      |_________________________
                                  1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2

           5 |                         
           4 |                         
           3 |       X                 
           2 |       X     XXX         
           1 |   X   X X XXXXX   XXXX X
Clue #4      |_________________________
                                  1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2

           5 |                         
           4 |  X                      
           3 | XX                      
           2 | XX X XX                 
           1 | XXXX XXX   X   X     X  
Clue #5      |_________________________
                                  1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2

           5 |                         
           4 |                     X   
           3 |                     X  X
           2 |            X      X X XX
           1 |     X     XX X    XXXXXX
Clue #6      |_________________________
                                  1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2

           5 |                         
           4 |       X   X             
           3 |       X   X             
           2 |  X   XX   XX            
           1 |  X X XX   XX X  X     X 
Clue #7      |_________________________
                                  1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2

           5 |                         
           4 |           X             
           3 |           X             
           2 |      XX   X  X  X X     
           1 |  X X XX   XXXX  X X     
Clue #8      |_________________________
                                  1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2

           5 |                         
           4 |                         
           3 |                         
           2 |            X    X X X   
           1 |   X X  X  XXX  XX XXXXXX
Clue #9      |_________________________
                                  1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2

           5 |           X             
           4 |           X             
           3 |           X             
           2 |    X      X   X         
           1 |XXX X  X X XX  XXX   X   
Clue #10     |_________________________
                                  1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2

           5 |                         
           4 |                         
           3 |           X         X  X
           2 |           XXX       XX X
           1 |           XXX  XX X XX X
Clue #11     |_________________________
                                  1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2

           5 |                         
           4 |                         
           3 | XX                      
           2 |XXX    X                 
           1 |XXXXX XX X  X    XX  X   
Clue #12     |_________________________
                                  1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2

           5 |                         
           4 |                         
           3 |    X           X        
           2 |    X           X        
           1 |    X XXX  XX X XX XXXXX 
Clue #13     |_________________________
                                  1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2

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

COMMENTS for PCWC6. (every other is comment indented)

 1) Manage to enlarge cabinet for speaker (10)

A deceptive clue.  I like the use of "to enlarge cabinet" here,
but I'm not too happy that "minister" is spelled the same in both
the homophone and the word itself.

  Pretty good.  Reads well, and the cryptic is much more cryptic 
  than all the other parsings into some version of ad+minister.  
  BUT the "to" doesn't belong in either half; "to enlarge cabinet" 
  = "to add minister", not "add minister".

A I like it.  Reads well and feels like one
that would be tough to solve but having solved
it, you would feel you should have gotten it sooner.
---------------------------------------------------------------

 2) Carry out eerie rites and damn me! (10)

"Eerie" isn't the best anagram indicator; "weird" would have read as well
and been better.  The "me" -> I transformation required before anagramming
lowers the quality of what is otherwise a decent clue.

  Indirect anagram.

F indirect anag.  also, how know eerie goes with damn me?
---------------------------------------------------------------

 3) Give to government official in charge of propaganda, perhaps? (10)

A solid pun/two meaning clue.  "Give to" is a nicely deceptive definition.

  Too easy; too obvious.

C Breakup into AD+MINISTER may be too easy?
---------------------------------------------------------------

 4) Execute commercial evangelist! (10)

Short and nice.  I don't think the ! is called for, though.

  I would have rated #4 at the top (equal with #3) except that I don't like
  "execute" as a definition of "administer".

Too easy; too obvious.

  C Normal breakup into AD+MINISTER, but reads nicely.

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

 5) Doctor, one mad is ominous, if not begun to perform rites (10) 

I don't know how I should rate this clue. Either of the two cryptic
readings by itself makes a barely passable clue.  But the fact that
the author was able to employ two completely different cryptic
parsings for the same word is an incredible feat, and should be
rewarded.

  Obviously, many of us have never seen a double-parsible clue before.
  Have you ever seen a puzzle constructed in which this was the theme,
  that is, with every clue having double readings?

I found it difficult to judge, and settled just on evaluating the
single reading that I thought was a little better.  On that basis,
the other ``normal'' clues had a built-in advantage.  Nice try,
though!

  Intriguing, but the surface reading makes no sense.  I really like 
  the way that the clue parses in two different ways to form a clue.

F Doesn't read smoothly.
---------------------------------------------------------------

6) What the governor does when man is tried wrongfully (10)

An excellent anagram.  Reads very naturally, and gives one the
deceptive mental picture of the electic chair/waiting for the phone
to ring/the pardon from the governor cliche.  This one should win
PCWC 6.

  Clearly destined to be the winner.  Reads well, flawlessly constructed, 
  kind of boring.

A Nice anagram
---------------------------------------------------------------

7) Rule makes one department head succeed another (10)

I am assuming that the AD is another reading of "one department head".
This is a bit murky, but the clue is not bad overall.

  A bit more deceptive than 3 and 4, since "rule" is used both as 
  noun and verb.

F how does AD = another?
---------------------------------------------------------------

8) Apply to be a new-age clergyman.

This clue reads very well.  Using "new-age" for AD is creative, if
a little tenuous.

  Also a bit less obvious than 3 and 4.

D Normal breakup (AD = newage?)
---------------------------------------------------------------

9) Since Christ's birth reformed men, is it right to execute? (10)

A very good clue.  Seasonal, (sort of) and it reads well.  I like
"Since Christ's birth" for AD better than "new-age" from clue 8, and I
feel the author should be rewarded for avoiding the obvious AD +
MINISTER charade.

  Nice charade+, nice surface reading.
---------------------------------------------------------------

10) Run around inert maids (10)

I don't like "around" as a anagram indicator.  Anyway "inert maids"
isn't a very natural-sounding phrase, so the clue doesn't seem to mean
a lot.

  Reasonable anagrams, without quite as nice a surface reading as 6.

C Short.  What are inert maids, though?
---------------------------------------------------------------

11) Manage to stir maiden into a frenzy (10)

A better-reading clue than the similar #10, and with a better anagram
indicator, too.

  Reasonable anagrams, without quite as nice a surface reading as 6.

C "to" is extraneous
---------------------------------------------------------------

12) Give back Greek wine: it's turned dim (10)

I like the use of RETSINA, but reading "it's turned dim" as "including
an anagram of DIM" is a stretch.  The surface reading is pretty natural.

  Overly tricky charade; "dim" is unlikely as a descriptive word 
  for a wine, although possible, which makes the surface reading 
  weak. 

A nice charade.
---------------------------------------------------------------

13) Supply quad mini-stereo packaging (10)

A very nice concealment. "Supply" as a definition isn't quite
accurate enough for my tastes.

  I really thought this was cute!  Clever to get a longish word into a 
  hidden clue.

Nice idea for a hidden word, but "quad mini-stereo"?

  B Decent hidden clue.  Could read a bit more smoothly though.
---------------------------------------------------------------
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Amidst the lists and unix quotes,       |  Christine A. Quinn
With awkish scripts and starkest posts, |  Stanford University
She pounds the keys and C's the most,   |  Electrical Engineering
and still insists she frees the host.   |    Computer Facility
