Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords
Path: bryson.demon.co.uk!demon!qmw!doc.ic.ac.uk!pipex!bnr.co.uk!bnrgate!nott!torn!uunet.ca!wildcan!sq!msb
From: msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader)
Subject: PCWC 15 results
Message-ID: <1993Jun8.173120.5889@sq.sq.com>
Summary: Bob Gregory wins for "Just a word of acquiescence", and will moderate
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
References: <1993May26.092709.11618@sq.sq.com> <1993Jun2.084503.6090@sq.sq.com>
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 93 17:31:20 GMT
Lines: 315

        		PCWC 15 RESULTS
	        	---------------

I think I'm glad I randomized the sequence of the clues before posting them.
The first three clues on the PCWC 15 ballot finished first, second, and third!


The winner is Bob Gregory (bobg@cullen.demon.co.uk) for his pretty
double definition clue #2:

   Just a word of acquiescence (5)

...and Bob will be the moderator for PCWC 16.


A fairly close second was Amitai Halevi (chr04ha@vmsa.technion.ac.il)'s
clue #1:

   A conservative ceremony from the sound of it (5)


Nancy Klee (Whizzie@iat.holonet.net) got third place for another soundalike
clue, #3:

   To put words on paper, I hear, isn't wrong (5)


And close behind that, in fourth place, was the very simple clue #9,
a partial "&lit" from Mark Meyerson (mdm@usna.navy.mil):

   Straighten girth! (5)


Incidentally, a few hours after the deadline and after the ballot posting
had already gone out, I received messages with two more clues and a bonus
clue.  I present them anonymously at the end of this posting.  I'm not sure
if I allowed as many days for clue-writing as past PCWCs; the moderator's
kit turned out to not include any guideline about that, and I couldn't
remember what had been done before.

As well as the late clue entries, there was also one late ballot, which
arrived while I was preparing this message; as this did not change the top
places but did break a tie for third place, I was happy to count it.


Here now are the detailed voting results, followed by the voters' comments
on the clues, and the late clues.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
        		Detailed statistics
------------------------------------------------------------------------

There were 12 clues and 11 voters; maximum total 121.0

Scores:

	Clue	total	 %max	rank	  mean	 st.dev	 median
	----	-----	 ----	----	  ----	 ------	 ------
	  1	 90.5	 74.8	  2	  8.23	  2.41	  7.50
	  2	 98.0	 81.0	  1	  8.91	  1.29	  9.50
	  3	 73.5	 60.7	  3	  6.68	  2.00	  7.00
	  4	 64.5	 53.3	  5	  5.86	  3.05	  5.00
	  5	 30.5	 25.2	 12	  2.77	  1.47	  2.00
	  6	 60.0	 49.6	  6	  5.45	  3.59	  6.00
	  7	 56.0	 46.3	  7	  5.09	  4.27	  5.50
	  8	 49.0	 40.5	  9	  4.45	  3.02	  3.50
	  9	 70.0	 57.9	  4	  6.36	  2.62	  6.50
	 10	 43.0	 35.5	 10	  3.91	  2.24	  3.50
	 11	 54.0	 44.6	  8	  4.91	  3.06	  4.00
	 12	 37.0	 30.6	 11	  3.36	  3.56	  1.50

Vote distribution histograms:

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

           4 |                    X  
           3 |                    X  
           2 |               X    X  
           1 |             X XXX XXX 
Clue #2      |_______________________
                                  1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

           4 |                       
           3 |                       
           2 |    X   X   X          
           1 |  X X X X X X       X X
Clue #11     |_______________________
                                  1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1

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

------------------------------------------------------------------------
		Comments received for all clues
------------------------------------------------------------------------

 1) A conservative ceremony from the sound of it (5)

reads well, good level of difficulty

Naturally-flowing surface, but "sound" is pretty obvious.
 
-----------------------------------------------------
 2) Just a word of acquiescence (5)

Nice, short clue, but not very tricky.

-----------------------------------------------------
 3) To put words on paper, I hear, isn't wrong (5)

"Hear" is an all-too-obvious homophone indicator.

-----------------------------------------------------
 4) Manipulate height and temperature to be correct (5)

Manipulate isn't quite "rig".  Also, clue would be better with a
comma in place of "and".

manipulate=rig is questionable

-----------------------------------------------------
 5) How frightening it was to be involved in that obligation (5)

With all the possible definitions of "right", why choose such an
obscure one?  Also, sense of container is somewhat backwards.

"obligation" for right is questionable

I prefer hidden words to be contained by more than a single word,
and I never would have known that "right" = "obligation".

-----------------------------------------------------
 6) Conservative in US turns on Red  (5)

A rather American clue -- I like it enough to rate it #2, but I
bet that the non-US contingent downgrades it for provincialism!

Some US states don't have right turn on red, and "turns on Red" would
clue "rights" anyway, not "right."  Good surface meaning, though.

I believe that "right on red" applies neither to the entire US nor
is exclusive to the US, so this part of the clue is a little weak.

-----------------------------------------------------
 7) Backward tollbooth girl embraces Dexter (5)

huh? who's Dexter?

Surface-wise, who's Dexter?  Otherwise, pretty good.

-----------------------------------------------------
 8) Thursday: girl left, left-left, left-left-left? (5)

too difficult to understand, reads badly, but creative

I'm not too thrilled with the "left-left-left" amounting to the 
straight definition, and I get no surface meaning at all.  Cryptically,
it was good up through the "left-left".

-----------------------------------------------------
 9) Straighten girth! (5)

Surface seems a little weak (you may straighten a tie; how do you 
straighten girth?); extra points for brevity and being an &lit

Too easy
 
-----------------------------------------------------
10) Fix headgear without a hand  (5)

'Hand' doesn't mean 'right.'

rig=fix is difficult, hand is not a proper defn

Surface and cryptic okay, but I don't like "hand" as the straight
definition (a type of hand, perhaps, but not just "hand" by itself).
-----------------------------------------------------
11) He stands at this end of the port, looking back (5)

Too confusing and indirect.

no defn! right-hand part of THE is questionable

A little lengthy, but I liked the cryptic part, the straight
definition was just a little tricky, and the break between the
two ("the/port") was delightfully deceptive.

-----------------------------------------------------
12) Conservatively correct architects have freedom to ritually draw
    90 degree angles (5)

This would be a good clue if it were not fatally flawed by 
inconsistency.  The definitions don't always parse ("ritual" = rite
but "ritually" isn't the same thing;  "architects" ==> "Wrights"
not "Wright") and there is no indication of homophones where they
are used (for multiple definitions, only defs for the actual word,
not for variant spellings, are legal).

Nice, but no sounds-like indicator -- and both 'architect' and 'angle'
should be singular, not plural.

neat idea, but rather far from standard cryptic clue.

Sorry, but I prefer my cryptic clues to have 2 parts, not 7.  Besides,
there are no homophone indicators for Wright, rite, and write; Wright
is singular while architects is plural.  Far too long a clue.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                              Late clues
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Correct answer finally on 8-1 (5).

    Even he fell from castle height (5).

    Not left suitable (5)

And, finally, the explanations for the late clues:

--------------------------------------------
Correct answer finally on 8-1 (5).
	Correct = defn.; answer finally = R
	ON EIGHT - ONE = IGHT, R+IGHT;
---------------------------------------------
Even he fell from castle height (5).
        Even = definition
	Castle = rook = R
	HEIGHT - HE + R = RIGHT
------------------------------------------------
Not left suitable (5)
        Not left suitable
        -------- --------
          RIGHT = RIGHT    (dbl. defn.)
------------------------------------------------
-- 
Mark Brader		"Where is down special?" ...		"Good."
Toronto			"Do you refuse to answer my question?"	"Don't know."
utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com
