Results: Clue writing contest 1592 Bicameral
The definition for this answer is “with two (parliamentary) chambers or words that convey that meaning, accepting that “chamber” in this context is a “house of parliament.
Winner
Lynne Davis, London NW7
Lamb and rice — a funny type of diet!
Lamb and rice — a = anagram content – ie “lamb, rice, a”
funny = anagram indicator
type of diet = definition – ie a type of legislative assembly — “diet” means this in relation to some governments, notably that of Japan.
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I’ve written a fair number of disparaging comments about “recipe” clues, mainly because operations like “mixing” and “chopping” can be used — to indicate anagrams and word-shortening in these cases. I’ve made an exception this week, mainly because in the context of a clue to “bicameral”, “diet” is a deceptive definition in this context, which apparently has nothing to do with government. Other deception: we need to split up “a funny” to see the cryptic reading, and we have to do a bit of interpretation of “lamb and rice — a” to get to the anagram fodder.
Good clues
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John Fowler, Nara, Japan
Fancy crab meal? I like the Japanese diet
With a bit of help from local knowledge, here’s an alternative anagram, narrowly pipped for the prize. Unless other contestants saw the diet-based definition but decided to avoid a recipe clue, only two of you saw this opportunity.
Alastair Putt, London SE20
As America’s Assembly, after British centre of legislation?
The best excuse for having a definition that’s not deceptive is the clue being an all-in-one/&lit, as this one is. After B=British, we have an “assembly” of the letters of “America”, then the centre of “legislation”. For the definition reading of the clue, we must read “after” as “in the style” of, and accept that the USA’s choice of a bicameral assembly was copying the UK’s one. I don’t have time to confirm whether it was, but it seems possible, which is all it needs to be.
Paul Tully, Hexham, Northumberland
Within confines of bill, America’s new constitution is with two legislative chambers
This uses similar wordplay, with a separate definition. And it appears that “bill” means the same in their legislature as in ours.
Wil Ransome, London N6
Largely American construction replacing centre of barrel with two chambers
Similar wordplay again, but the right words have been found to make us think of guns rather than government.
Martin Price, Maidenhead, Berkshire
Overheard advice to those who wish to shoot: “Load initially with two chambers”
Another gun-related surface meaning here, but a novel choice of wordplay. The overheard advice is “buy camera”, to which we add L = “load initially”. Some people object to a homophone providing part of the answer, but this one seems very accurate, and the real meaning of “load initially” isn’t very too hard to see.
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Bob Price, Edinburgh
Blair mostly raves about the PM, not on what our legislature is
This uses Camer(on), inside an anagram of “Blai(r)”. It’s a political story and hence not a very deceptive one, but it’s still a pretty good story. In the surface reading, the switch from “about” to “on” is possible, but seems unlikely in everyday speech.
Mick James, London
Blair came to change the nature of the UK legislature
This is a straightforward anagram, but tells a good story — very commendable for what seems to be Mick’s first attempt in this contest. He may need to know that in order for us to send the prize promptly, we need a full postal address with each entry.
Michael Hill, Winchester
“Right amicable” — new parliamentary style used in Westminster
This anagram clue whimsically explores the possibility of alternatives to “Right Honourable”.
Ciaran Daly, Cork, Ireland
Appropriate type of legislature for the half-hearted?
Martin Leonard, Otford, Kent
Congress is so half-hearted!
Two of the several clues to use the fact that the human heart has four “chambers”, so is logically quadricameral. It’s nice to see a clue in which “half-hearted” is not indicating a change like the one from “bitter” to “biter”. And with congress often meaning “sex” in the cryptic reading of clues, it’s also nice to see one where it can only mean this in the surface reading.
Luciano Ward, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Alongside lake, I appeared in women’s underwear having two “chambers”
This uses “I, came(=appeared)” inside BRA, all next to L=lake. The logic is impeccable, but even in quotes, “chambers” as underwear components seem unlikely.
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Comments on some other clues
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Having two houses represents a crime in most of Bala
This is an anagram of “a crime” inside BAL. The logic side is fine, but I can’t really see why the story should apply to Bala, or most of it. I haven’t been there, but I suspect that applies to many of our solvers.
Just like Parliament, swinging both ways until Dave loses to a Liberal
This uses BI = swinging both ways, Camer(on), A,L. The solver has to equate “to” with “on” – possible from ideas like “nose to the grindstone”, but tricky. They also have to accept that “until” means “next to”, which I’d count as impossible rather than tricky.
Type of legislature as set out in Rab C email?
This anagram clue is perfectly fair, but too fair I think. “Type of legislature” is a very plain definition, and “Rab C email” seems very obviously anagram fodder — as far as I recall, he communicated verbally and constitutional matters were not often the topic.
Bill takes a cut, holding snapper in upper and lower case
Up to “snapper”, there’s a reasonably convincing sentence. But I can’t think of any kind of “snapper” that would be held in “upper and lower case”. And most importantly, I can’t agree that “in upper and lower case” indicates “with upper and lower chambers/houses”.
America operates within the confines of baseball, like Congress
This is effectively spoiled by one word – “baseball”. I can’t understand how America or Congress can be seen as operating “within the confines of baseball”, so the surface reading is poor. If there’s another B…..L word that produces a plausible statement, we’ve got a decent clue. But my guess is that there isn’t, in which case one should simply decide that a potentially fruitful idea has turned out to be a dead end, and try something different. What we don’t get to see in a winning entry is the list of possible clues that were considered and rejected —another guess, from my experience of trying to write cryptic clues, is that there may well be several.
Tease a bactrian — a dromedary more like!
This is an anagram of “rib a camel”. I suppose “bactrian” is unlikely to mean anything other than “camel”, but there are three letter alternatives to “rib” for tease, such as “rag” and “kid”, so the solver has to find the right anagram fodder among multiple possibilities. This is why indirect anagrams, with minor exceptions, are counted as unfair. We also have to accept that a camel’s humps are “chambers”, which seems doubtful. On a pickier level, as two-humped camels are named after Bactria, an ancient Asian country, they need a capital B. The one-humped kind don’t, as their name is derived from a Latin or French term for “fast camel”.
Clue writing contest 1595 Codswallop
Readers are invited to compose their own clues for the word above. Clues must be original and cryptic, of a standard similar to those in the Sunday Times Crossword.
Email your entry to puzzle.entries@sunday-times.co.uk. The contest closes on Monday, March 14, and the best entry wins £20.
Previous articles in this series
1355: ABDOMINAL CRUNCH – Introduction to the series
1356: APERY - Structure of cryptic clues
1357: AULD REEKIE - Definitions in cryptic clues
1358: BLANK - Anagram and sandwich clues
1359: BROAD ARROW - Homophone and double definition clues
1360: CATCH
1361: COLD SHOULDER
1362: CRANKY - Additive and cryptic definition clues
1363: DARBY AND JOAN - Hidden and takeaway clues
1364: DEPONE - Reversal and letter switch clues
1365: EMPTY-NESTER – All-in-one and novelty clues
1366: FADDY - Hybrid clues
1367: FLASH DRIVE
1368: GEODUCK
1369: GREEN-WELLIE
1370: HONESTY
1371: IDIOT BOARD
1372: JIGSAW
1373: LIFE TABLE
1374: MANGONEL
1375: MINIMUM WAGE
1376: NOWELL
1377: ORIGINALLY
1378: PHRASAL VERB
1379: PREACHIFY
1380: PROBLEM PAGE
1381: SABRE
1382: REFERENCE BOOK
1383: SAMOVAR
1384: SELF-ABSORBED
1385: BUTTERFLY
1386: SHIRK
1387: SPARKLING WINE
1388: SUPERIOR
1389: ASYMMETRIC BARS
1390: APRIL FOOL
1391: TERRA FIRMA
1392: TOOTLE
1393: MARATHON
1394: URBAN MYTH
1395: VEGGIE
1396: WIENER SCHNITZEL
1397: ABSENTLY
1398: REPECHAGE
1399: DIAMOND JUBILEE
1400: ANTIQUARIAN
1401: BATIK
1402: STARTING BLOCKS
1403: BELAYING PIN
1404: BRAZIL
1405: CHEEKBONES
1406: CLICHE
1407: SLOW MOTION
1408: CRAMPED
1409: CROWN DERBY
1410: DIVIDERS
1411: EMBARRASSINGLY
1412: ENTRAILS
1413: FELLOWSHIP
1414: GIRDLE
1415: AGINCOURT
1416: GLOTTAL STOP
1417: HOSEPIPE BAN
1418: HUMBLE
1419: INTIMIDATED
1420: LAMBRUSCO
1421: LOOSE END
1422: MEDICINE BALL
1423: MOLTEN
1424: NEGOTIATE
1425: PALLADIAN
1426: PERFORMANCE ART
1427: PLATFORM
1428: PRESENT
1429: STARK RAVING MAD
1430: TWELFTH DAY
1431: ROMAN HOLIDAY
1432: SALIVATING
1433: SLIDE RULE
1434: SMOOTHLY
1435: STREAM
1436: SWORN ENEMY
1437: TOMATO SOUP
1438: UNIVERSAL
1439: VOLTAIRE
1440: WITH PLEASURE
1441: POMEGRANATE
1442: ALICE BAND
1443: BAFFLEGAB
1444: BEER BELLY
1445: BRADSHAW
1446: CARRY ONE'S BAT
1447: CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
1448: CROQUE-MONSIEUR
1449: DOC MARTENS
1450: DRUM MAJORETTE
1451: FEDORA
1452: FORBIDDEN FRUIT
1453: GOLDEN DELICIOUS
1454: HEADS WILL ROLL
1455: HOPPING MAD
1456: KNOWLEDGE
1457: LITTLE RED BOOK
1458: LOSE FACE
1459: MORAL HIGH GROUND
1460: NO-BRAINER
1461: OPEN SEASON
1462: PICKING OAKUM
1463: QUICKSILVER
1464: ROUGH DIAMOND
1465: SEPTEMBER
1466: SHUT YOUR FACE
1467: STUMBLE
1468: TIN LIZZIE
1469: UNMENTIONABLES
1470: WINKLE-PICKERS
1471: AFTERSUN
1472: ARMAGNAC
1473: BARBARIZE
1474: BOMBER-JACKET
1475: BURLESQUE
1476: CENTRAL POWERS
1477: CLOUDSCAPE
1478: CONTEMPLATE
1479: CROWDIE
1480: CENTENARY
1481: DING AN SICH
1482: EDMONTON
1483: FALLACIOUS
1484: FLUGELHORN
1485: FURROW
1486: GRISSINI
1487: HOLDING PATTERN
1488: INFORMATICS
1489: JOIN UP
1490: KILDERKIN
1491: MACHAIR
1492: MATRICULATE
1493: NAPIER’S BONES
1494: NETTLESOME
1495: OXTAIL
1496: PERNICKETY
1497: PISCICULTURE
1498: PUPPY LOVE
1499: REALLOCATE
1500: SEBASTIAN COE
1501: ROWDYISM
1502: SCULPTURE
1503: SIPHON
1504: SPECTATOR SPORT
1505: STYROFOAM
1506: TAIKONAUT
1507: SARAJEVO
1508: TRADITIONALLY
1509: UNDERSHOOT
1510: VIBIST
1511: ZORBING
1512: AIR SHOT
1513: ANACRUSIS
1514: BAD BLOOD
1515: BIG DIPPER
1516: BUCKYBALL
1517: CELEBRITY
1518: CLOSING DATE
1519: CONTRABASS
1520: CRASHWORTHINESS
1521: DAMPEN
1522: DUCKWEED
1523: ESTUARY ENGLISH
1524: FISHCAKE
1525: GERONTOCRACY
1526: GOOGLE
1527: HOLY ROLLER
1528: INFLATIONARY
1529: JACK KETCH
1530: LARGER THAN LIFE
1531: LOOSESTRIFE
1532: MESSIAH
1533: MOJO
1534: NINETEENTH HOLE
1535: OVEN-READY
1536: PEDANTRY
1537: POOL TABLE
1538: PROFESS
1539: QUIZMASTER
1540: ROUGHHOUSE
1541: SECRETIVE
1542: SHEEPDOG TRIAL
1543: SOFTEN UP
1544: STRONG-ARM
1545: TAUTOLOGY
1546: TOP DRAWER
1547: TURMERIC
1548: VISCERAL
1549: YOUTH HOSTEL
1550: ALCHEMY
1551: SWINGOMETER
1552: BAMBOOZLE
1553: BORE
1554: CALAMITOUS
1555: CHAIN REACTION
1556: COELACANTH
1557: WATERLOO
1558 DEFROCK
1559: DOORSTEP
1560: ELEPHANTINE
1561: EUREKA
1562: FLYING SAUCER
1563: GRATE
1564: HERCULES
1565: HOMESPUN
1566: INCOMMUNICADO
1567: JUGGERNAUT
1568: LEG BEFORE WICKET
1569: MALIGN
1570: MERMAID
1571: TWICKENHAM
1572: NOODLE
1573: OVER-THE-TOP
1574: PERFECT
1575: POMPADOUR
1576: ANNIVERSARY
1577: QUEEN OF PUDDINGS
1578: RECORD
1579: ROSETTA STONE
1580: SCHMALTZY
1581: SNOOKER
1582: SPIRIT LEVEL
1583: FRANK SINATRA
1584: TURKEY
1585: TAKE ONES TIME
1586: VENTRILOQUIAL
1587: WAFFLE
1588: ZUCCHETTO
1589: AIR WAYBILL
1590: APORT
1591: BAIN-MARIE