Subject:      PCWC55 -- Voting Results
From:         tomd@cayman.amd.com (Tom Deneau)
Date:         1996/03/28
Message-Id:   <DoztKK.BuC@txnews.amd.com>
Newsgroups:   rec.puzzles.crosswords

The votes for PCWC55 are in and have finally been tabulated.  The
following are the balloting results.  Congratulations to Clay Colwell
for his first place finish for

    Fee includes a place by the water's edge (5)

Clay has graciously agreed to moderate PCWC56.


Moderator's Comments
--------------------
I chose this word because it seemed to have lots of both container and
anagram possibilities and because it had a couple of distinct
definitions.  It seems coming up with a good definition part for a
clue was not all that easy, though.  That might explain the lower
number of clues submitted.  There were 14 clues and 14 voters.

I did get one e-mail during the balloting from someone who had sent a
clue that had not reached me.  A reminder to all is that most
moderators do send an acknowledgement reply when clues are received so
anyone who does not get such a reply should consider that their clue
might have gotten lost.

-- Tom Deneau



Voters General Comments
-----------------------
The word COAST was an interesting one to clue.  Very easy to create a  
reasonable clue using several different construction techniques, but hard  
to guess what construction would not duplicate everyone else's. 
I was disappointed in the clues, which were either solid and pedestrian,
or technically deficient 

This was a surprisingly tough word to clue, and I never came up with an
entry I was satisfied with.  There are few great clues here, though many
are effective -- I don't feel so bad now!  Shocked that there were so few
cont/charades, with COST, COT, CAST, etc.  The only true bummer was the use
of "at the beach", "by the sea", and such, for the def.  My top 5 clues
would include 3 of the bonus clues... go figure.

A tough word to clue, perhaps, given the unimpressive number
of entries, but none of them are *complete* losers.

The simple word with lots of possibilities
is a welcome change.  I thought anagrams would
not be needed for this word.

I was surprised at the relatively few clues submitted.
I took off points for "at the beach"-type constructs; that tells
us where the coast *is*, but does not *define* the coast.

When I looked this word up, I didn't learn anything, except that in
in addition to the "normal" definitions, a "coast" can also be a hill
that one coasts down.  So "He coasts down the coast to the coast" is
a legal sentence.  Whatever.

C(O)AST ; CO(A)ST ; COA(S)T -- three different single-letter
containers for a five-letter word!
..
In clues 1, 4, and 7, "at" is not very good, it seems like a
waste word and only serves the surface reading.

Since few words have double definitions, when you get one that
does, you should take advantage of it.  These clues get my best
scores.

The chosen word to be clued was great, and the moderator is
a truly wonderful and gifted person.  On the other hand, none
of the clues seemed very good this time -- it makes me wish
I'd entered.

A good word with two basic definitions. No real awful clues. 

Coast seemed a reasonably easy word to clue, so extra marks for a
good surface and definition, and points off for superfluous words.

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

1st place (score 70.26%) - clue 11
From Clay Colwell <eris@bga.com>

    Fee includes a place by the water's edge (5)

Votes (normalized): 11 50 50 56 63 67 67 71 83 88 89 90 100 100

Nice clue; solid construction with a real, meaningful surface. 

quite sound.  it doesn't warrant fireworks, but IMO best of the bunch.

Nice inclusion clue; okay but not outstanding surface.

A surprisingly tough clue for me.

Liked the surface of this one, also.

Well done.  Some of the others had the advantage of shortness
over this one.

Well-constructed.  

One of a 3-way first-place tie.

Let down by the absence of a cryptic for 'a'.

Fee for what?

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2nd place (score 67.54%) - clue 7
From DW Bullock <BULLOCK@whio.lincoln.ac.nz>

    Get out of gear at the beach? (5)

Votes (normalized): 33 43 50 56 56 56 58 64 78 85 100 100 100

I liked the second definition of "get out of gear" better (-; 

nice double use of "get out of gear".  "at" is either extraneous, or part
of an incorrect def.  More effective if the '?' is adjacent to the pun, and
not very sure that it's needed here.

Very clever deceptive definition!  I'd prefer to think of "gear"
as the SCUBA type, myself.

I think the '?' is unnecessary.  A very nice double-definition, with
a good surface.

I thought this was too tortuous.

'coast' is more like BE out of gear than GET out of gear

Double definition OK, but surface reading grates

I don't care for "at" as a link word.

Wonderful clue! Lovely double meaning between the definition
and the surface.

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3rd place (score 67.05%) - clue 3
From joe tozer <joe@tozer.demon.co.uk>

    Set in the heart of Monaco, a studio by the sea. (5)

Votes (normalized): 9 33 44 50 50 57 68 75 83 83 85 100 100 100

In a hidden word clue, the surface is everything.  Why not "state"
rather than "studio". 

not thrilled by the def.  i love the cryptic.  i'll buy the surface, but
then again i'm no geography whiz.  second place!

Nice imagery in the surface; good cryptic (although the 
indicator is somewhat long-winded for what it's doing, and 
easy-to-spot); okay definition.

Nice container.

My favorite of the container clues due to it's surface reading.

Gorgeous surface.  That signal is rather wordy.

Well-constructed, but I dont like hidden words.

Defective: "by the sea" should define an adjective or adverb, not a noun.

A very pleasant outlook indeed, bit pricy though!

People may say it's too obvious but it has a fantastic surface and 
elegance wins out over ease for me.

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4th place (score 63.66%) - clue 6
From bcs@sc.harris.com (Brian Spollen)

    Stucco:  a standard exterior not used in waterfront terrain (5)

Votes (normalized): 33 33 44 50 63 64 67 67 67 70 75 75 83 100

The lack of a hidden-word indicator mars this otherwise smooth clue. 

great surface and def., and i'll overlook the colon interruption.  wasn't
thrilled by the hidden word ind - "exterior not used" would more commonly
be used to strip the first and last letters off a word.

Innovative indicator, well-integrated with the surface of 
the clue.  Slightly long-winded as a result, though.

I like the indicator very much.

I guess my only quarrel with it is that stucco IS used in
waterfront houses...

Way to wordy for simple hidden word clue

One of a 3-way first-place tie.

Not as good a container as 3.

Clumsy surface.

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

5th place (score 63.36%) - clue 4
From sailorjn@pipeline.com (SailorJohn)

    Cook tacos at the beach (5) 

Votes (normalized): 33 43 50 50 50 50 61 64 67 67 75 89 89 100

unspectacular.  "at" is either extraneous, or part of an incorrect def.

A simple but fairly effective clue.  I'll quibble a bit that
tacos are more properly "assembled" rather than "cooked" 
(some elements of tacos are cooked, some aren't).

Hey, there's sand in my taco!

Best surface reading of all the anagram clues; but I think it
would be easy to solve.

I like this one.  Excellent surface reading.

I don't care for "at" as a link word, and I don't buy the attempt to
declare it to be part of the definition.

Good anagram, pity about the pancakes though

Again the surface elegance outweighs the ease.

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

6th place (score 59.84%) - clue 10
From paula@interserve.com

    Sail for shore ?  (5)

Votes (normalized): 0 24 25 33 40 50 57 61 75 83 89 100 100 100

Most sailors would disagree with your first definition... 

the two definitions are too close for me.  why the '?'?

Why the question mark?  Anyway, this strikes me as a very
nice double-definition clue:  distinctly different 
definitions; a surface which conveys a different image than
either.

Why the '?'?

The other of my two favorite double definition clues.

The question mark kind of ruins this for me.  If you believe
'sail' and 'shore' are fair definitions, stand by them, don't
use the 'excuse me' punctuation.

Excellent double-definition, excellent surface reading!  Almost 
perfect.

One of a 3-way first-place tie.

Too close in definition. To coast: To sail along the coast,
to travel from port to port on the same coast. (as well as
the sliding and powerless travels)

Sail is a poor definition for coast.

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

7th place (score 58.18%) - clue 1
From matthew@ella.mills.edu (Matthew A. Merzbacher)

    Glide at the beach (5)

Votes (normalized): 25 35 50 50 50 56 56 57 64 67 70 78 100

Good clue, but surface is a little unlikely 

unspectacular.  "at" is either extraneous, or part of an incorrect def.

A pleasant-enough double definition; I envision hang-gliding
over the warm sand.

My (dull) clue.  Abstain.

One of my two favorite double definition clues.

In such a short clue, the waste word "at" is more objectionable.

Good double-definition

I don't care for "at" as a link word.

A rather bland double definition.

OK but weak surface

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

8th place (score 55.37%) - clue 5

    Seaside taxi (5)

Votes (normalized): 17 22 22 25 50 55 63 67 67 69 69 73 78 100

"Taxi" is to move a vehicle about under its own power, "coast" without
power. 

best double def, though i usually don't associate taxiing with coasting --
seems the former is a tad slower, involving restraint.  but i'm a sucker
for a noun/verb switcheroo.

The surface is really great, and it might have been a winning
clue, would I to buy "taxi" as a synonym for "coast".  But
I don't; every connotation of "taxi" as a verb I've encountered
entails *self-powered* movement (a plane taxiing down a runway 
is *not* coasting).

My dictionary doesn't have "taxi" as a possible definition of "coast"

Least favorite of the double definitions -- due to surface reading
and taxi as definition. Just personal taste here! 

Great idea, a minimalist first place

I dont like taxi=coast

My first reaction was to give this my top score, but then I realized
that taxiing and coasting are two different things.

Taxi: to move under aircraft's own power before take-off etc.
Coast: to move without power. Not enough syn in the synonym.

The best of the double definitions.

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

9th place (score 47.58%) - clue 13

    Spider's head breaks cover slide (5)

Votes (normalized): 0 0 6 30 33 44 50 50 55 67 83 100 100

Wonderful construction, but what does it mean? 

reminds me of an early draft i had: "Front of sofa enters jacket glide".

Excellent clue!  An interesting surface, solid cryptic;
definition cleverly concealed by the surface usage.

What does it mean?  Keep your surface cleaner.  Also 'cover' -> COAT
is a stretch.

Don't like coat=cover

The surface isn't very crisp

A marvellous microscopic clue!

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

10th place (score 43.10%) - clue 12

    Freewheel cycle in front of kiln (5)

Votes (normalized): 0 22 22 25 30 33 39 48 50 50 73 75 93

"Oast" is too obscure for me. 

not bad. i'll have to take your word on "oast" (can't find it in my
dic.) and cycle = c isn't the greatest.  sound surface, interesting
def. helps.

You run afoul of my ignorance, perhaps:  I don't buy the
unindicated abbreviation of "cycle".

Oast is Oast and West is West, and I live in the West, so Oast doesn't
appeal to me.  Still, a nicely constructed clue.

Sort of curious how many others would use C as
standing for cycles?

Obscure word or no, this is excellent.

Huh?

No vote - it's mine - but it's not the best!

I like the oast house but not the cycle.

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

11th place (score 40.98%) - clue 8

    Act so disturbed in sheashore (5).

Votes (normalized): 0 22 22 33 36 40 43 50 50 50 50 50 60 67

Surface is marred by misspelling and lack of meaning; why not "AT
the..." not "IN" 

awkward surface, esp. with "in".

Repeat after me: She sells *sea* shells . . .

Points lost for: sloppy spelling (or a shpeech impediment?);
"in" doesn't suit the surface very well.

Hmmm... No much surface, I'm afraid.

Solid anagram clue, but rather easy to solve.  Some demerits for
"in" seashore; I would have 8)thought "at" or "on" to be more
compatible.

Surface reading grates

I won't penalize the typo, but I will complain about the lack of
a real surface reading.

Se shells shea sells on the sheashore? 

Don't like "in" and marked down for typo.

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

12th place (score 36.91%) - clue 2

    Move effortlessly around a small dwelling (5)

Votes (normalized): 0 0 17 25 25 30 36 44 44 44 56 79 80

Last time I lived in a cot, I found it a little confining. 

cryptically awkward ("around a small, dwelling") but one of the better
clues.

Pretty good clue in all aspects, although it's made more 
challenging by its somewhat complex cryptic instructions.  
Is "cot" some sort of recent "hot cluing element"?  It seems 
to be increasing used in these contests of late, and it's not 
exactly common (in my) usage.

Although the surface is smooth, I think this clue is too difficult.
In particular, the partial indirection of a -> A, small -> S, and
dwelling -> COT seems impossible.

I down-graded this because I don't see an anagram indicator which
would turn ASCOT into COAST 

Never heard of cot = dwelling.

A cot as a dwelling?

The clue is structured wrong - it leads to COASAST perhaps.

Prefer bed to dwelling

Wasn't too keen on small=s, Chambers doesn't recognise it either.

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

13th place (score 19.89%) - clue 14

    It's clear there's no danger (5)

Votes (normalized): 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 14 33 33 36 44 50 56

No cryptic part 

...of this clue being solved.  i'm just another anti-straight-pun yank.
see bonus clue 16 for a similar, effective approach.

This *single* definition would work better if it had been
preceeded by "If"; I'd be even more impressed if it were
more than a single-definition clue (see bonus clue 16).

This is only half of an outstanding cryptic clue, alas.

No subsidiary indication; this is for a different sort of contest.

Somewhat cute, but not terribly explicit.

Cryptic definition only, eh?  You'll never win this contest.

I think it needs a when in it - It's clear _when_ there's
no danger. Also the danger is very specifically that of 
being seen or caught.

Should have a !

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

14th place (score 9.31%) - clue 9

    Bourne - Iconoclast? With icon left out? Silly.

Votes (normalized): 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 13 17 17 20 20 33

I hate this kind of clue 

Bourne - Iconoclast? With icon left out? Silly.
i'll give you the def., but i side with most judges in that sub-anagrams
that involve so many letters are cryptically inelegant.  and the surface?
silly.

Surface - Random? With no real point? Feh.

Interesting try at a geeky, computerese clue (I suppose some
would downgrade for that, but I won't).  But such a torturous
cryptic construction and inadequate definition put this clue
at the bottom of my rankings, I'm afraid.

"approx. synonym"?  No way.  Further, I'm not a big fan of this kind of
indirection.

Seemed too complicated with not a very good surface reading.

Don't get it

No surface reading, and awkward repetition of "icon".

My dictionary gives 'bourn' (no -e) as 1) a goal and 2) limit.
Too remote for a synonym.

Complex construction leads to poor surface.  Who is Bourne and why 
is he/she an iconoclast?

-------------------------------------------------------------------
BONUS CLUES -- COMMENTS ONLY
-------------------------------------------------------------------

clue 15

    Search in Morocco as to the whereabouts of the seven sisters, e.g. (5) 

no comment re: definition.  cryptically, reads better if
"search in ... *for*"

Good thing it's a bonus; the "seven sisters" reference
was lost on me.

good hidden word surface but then gets into rather complicated
(and to some of us, obscure) reference to coasts. 

Too wordy for hidden word clue.

I would have liked this if I'd heard of those seven sisters.

I, for one as an Englander, wouldn't think of the seven
sisters as a coast.

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

clue 16

    "Tosca" dismantled, when it's clear nobody's in attendance (5)

one of the better entries, though it could use an "is" after "Tosca" for
the surface, and perhaps a '?' to point the pun out to us clueless
solvers.

Good clue. But what ever happened to "the show must go on"? :-)

Somewhat too cute for its own good

With a less clunky anagram indicator, I would have wanted to rank
this higher than any of the entry clues.

Cannot really dismantle an opera, only its set maybe.

Didn't spot 'Tosca' - wish I had! 

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

clue 17

    Franco astutely camouflaged shoreline (5)

Very good hidden-word clue, with a solid, meaningful surface 

one of the better entries, though i'm curious if he used aluminum foil
or pink bunting... either way it's art, right???

Liked this one a lot!  Better than some of the official clues.

Don't like it.  Can't say why

As good as any of the entries.

I would have given this top marks were it not a bonus clue.
Franco did actually do this. He shipped in tons of golden
Saharan sand to spruce up the beaches on Tenerife, which 
were made of a black volcanic sand. It's a pity most of it
has been washed away.

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

clue 18

    Beach first canoes on a swift tide  (5)

Didn't understand this one--explanation would have helped 

"first" not a good ind. to take heads of several words.

Not bad, but awkwardly-scanning in the surface.

Solid acronym and a good surface.

'first of' works better for me, in both senses

Huh?

"First" is an inadequate acronym indicator.

Acrostics require a better than average surface. This has a
poor one.

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

clue 19

    Alcoa stocks slide downhill !  (5)

"Stocks" is superflouous--but it is used as a crutch to get "coast"
rather than "coasts". 

is "downhill" serving as both a def. (w/ "slide") and a hidden-word ind?
not sure about that, and i don't believe this qualifies as an %lib.

Did I miss the hidden-word indicator this clue should exhibit?

Good surface, but sort of easy to solve.

All I see is 'stocks' doing double duty.  For this to be an &lit,
"slide downhill" would be part of the cryptic reading, and the
Alcoa stocks be part of the definition.

Ok surface reading.  Don't like hidden words.

Nice surface, but no container indicator.

What's ALCOA?

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

clue 20

    First child on a small tropical beach (5)

"First" should have been plural, but, of course, that wrecks the
surface 

"first" not a good ind. to take heads of several words.

Too easy

OK.

"First" is an inadequate acronym indicator.  Didn't you read my comment
on number 18?

A good surface. Strong clue

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

clue 21

    Water area penalty around fairway #2 (5)

one of my very favorite clues!  i hope this cluer had a better entry
above.  hurt only by "#2", a poor and obvious device to extract the "a".

Not bad, although "cost" = "penalty" doesn't have quite
the same connotation to me.

Awkward definition and awkward surface, in my mind.

Don't like fairway #2 = a

I love the "fairway #2" trick.  The rest is not up to that standard.

Don't like the definition.

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

-----------------------------------------------------------------
 Tom Deneau                    {uunet, cs.utexas.edu!ames}!amdcad!cayman!tomd
 Advanced Micro Devices, Austin TX     +1 512 602 4952     tom.deneau@AMD.COM