Results: Clue writing contest 1565 Homespun
One instruction for you this week: We’ve just had to resend a cheque because the name someone used for entering was not a name for which they had a bank account. I’ll carry on using the same name for them here until requested otherwise, but I don’t have time to check a list of multiple noms de plume when telling other staff who won or writing these reports. So unless you’re happy to frame the cheque, real names please.
Winner
Fiona Jackson, Edinburgh
Phones mum endlessly, desperate for her sort of wisdom
Phones mu(m) = anagram fodder
endlessly = final letter deletion indicator
desperate = anagram indicator
for = wordplay/definition linkword
her sort of wisdom = definition
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This is not a very difficult clue, but it tells a very good story indeed – good enough to hide the usual meaning of “endlessly” for a while. Because “homespun” as a one-word noun only means a kind of cloth, “sort of wisdom” is required rather than just “wisdom”.
Good clues
Neil Lawson-May, London NW3
In setter’s initial wordplay the solution is straightforward
This also tells a good story, and relates to the revision of clues done before the crossword editor gets his hands on them. The final wordplay here is in=HOME, S=setter’s initial, PUN=wordplay. I wondered whether “setter’s initial” could only mean something like T for Tim, but a dictionary confirms that initials are typically rather than always letters from people’s names or words in phrases.
Valerie Coleman, Broadstone, Dorset
Unaffected by tornado, how Dorothy took off for Oz
This is a double definition – “unaffected” for the “sort of wisdom” meaning, and then a literary indication for “home spun”. Not the exact words I saw when I checked the Wizard of Oz text, but accurate. There are other things to ponder — “took off” can be seen in a literal or metaphorical sense, and “Oz” could mean Australia.
Steve Randall, Reading
Crude speech ending with some awful joke
The surface meaning here might be “the best man I never spoke to again”. The “speech ending” gives us the H, then we have an anagram of SOME, and PUN=joke.
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Ross Harrison, Dechmont, West Lothian
Posh! Me? Maybe not!
This is an all-in-one clue, using an anagram of “Posh, Me”, then “un-” as a prefix meaning “not”. I think some setters are reluctant about using prefixes and suffixes in standard cryptics, but there’s no compelling reason to reject them.
RC Teuton, Frampton Cotterell, South Gloucestershire
Rustic’s hope – sun and a bit of morris dancing?
For once, RC Teuton didn’t send an all-in-one clue. Here, the definition is “rustic”, and the dancing letters are “hope, sun, m”.
Bob Price, Edinburgh
Men push rickety fencing over, made by shoddy DIY?
This clue uses O=over in an anagram of “men push”. I can’t remember whether any of our setters have used “fencing” as an imaginative containment indicator yet, but it makes as much sense as “bottling” which now seems to be standard fare. There’s a bit of general knowledge in the definition — “shoddy” as an inferior yarn, which can be spun.
Bill Webster, Hove, East Sussex
Web made simple
My favourite three-word clue this week. “Spider’s web made” would be a clearer first definition, but would ruin the apparent title for a talk or book.
Terry Timblick, Chichester, West Sussex
Chez Tarantula?
A two-word clue is also possible, and this cryptic definition of “home, spun” indicates the spider too.
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Peter Hartley, Radcliffe, Greater Manchester
Crude in-house joke?
The first entry received, along with a statement of willingness to share the prize with many others. The wordplay is a translation of “home’s pun”. I didn’t get many duplicates. Maybe other entrants felt that although “home’s” for “in-house” is fine, a pun belonging to a home seemed odd.
Fio Easey, Axminster, Devon
Posh menu could actually be very simple
This is one of several anagrams with the same contrast in the surface meaning. There’s nothing wrong with them, but my notes on the contest classified this one as “Stock WP 1”, and internet searches suggest that this idea has appeared several times.
ST Sahasrabudhe, Mumbai, India
Rough translation of poems in German
This is a representative of another group. Logically sound, but “Hun” is derogatory, so either unacceptable or too likely to require writing some apologetic replies.
Lothar Schwarz, Troisdorf-Bergheim, Germany
Unhappy Huns mope in plain
From Germany, here’s a way to use “Hun” safely. Here it can (and presumably does) mean the original Huns.
Keith Berrett, Wilmslow, Cheshire
Simple poems translated into German? That’s unacceptable
Here’s another we could probably use, as it includes its own apology.
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Susan or Glen Walker
Sherlock’s joke we hear is rude
This is one of several clues based on “Holmes pun”. It seems pretty straightforward, but everything works (unless you believe that all English speakers pronounce the L in Holmes). As far as I can tell, all the others gave me an excuse to ignore them.
Ciaran Daly, Cork, Ireland
Old PM’s diminished by quip made in the House
This uses a similar structure but replaces Sherlock with Alec, the last Prime Minister to do the job as a member of the House of Lords. This time, “diminished” doesn’t tell us to lop a letter off the end of a word, but recognises that he was really Douglas-Home.
Comments on some other clues
Pie-shop menu is plain and simple
I liked this version of the menu idea, but “pie” as an anagram indicator relies on a Chambers dictionary definition, so this is one for Mephisto rather than the Sunday Times crossword.
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A detective’s joke? A plain and coarse yarn
This tells a good story, but includes no reason for the solver to convert “Holmes” to something that can sound the same.
Coarse Private Eye joke misunderstood
I’m happy with “misunderstood” as the sounds-like indicator, but for me “coarse” took the “unsophisticated” meaning of the answer a bit too far.
It’s emoh, plain and simple
This is a “wordplay in the answer” clue — “home spun” gives us emoh. One meaning I can find for this word is “The first solo album by Sebadoh and Folk Implosion frontman Lou Barlow”. Not an album in my collection, and not bands or a singer I can recall. I’ll happily admit that indie rock is not my field, but my guess is that too many of our solvers would be equally baffled without web searches, and I can’t see a reason to spell it in lower case. “Emoh” would at least allow solvers to realise that it was a proper noun not known to them. I can’t see that other meanings findable with Google are any better.
unsophisticated mouse with phone no 3 5
This has a fair definition, but the wordplay is too unorthodox and the surface meaning requires too much generosity from the solver – accepting that a mouse can be unsophisticated and simultaneously have a phone number, and that “3 5” can be a phone number. The letters of homespun come from “mouse” and “ph(o)n(e)”. I would be reluctant to use “A no B” to indicate a deletion instead of “A with no B” or similar, and if we’re indicating letters to delete, we do this with words unless using numbers contributes to a really good surface meaning. Why? Because the words can mean something else, if we choose them well enough. We’ve also got no anagram indicator, or “unsophisticated” is both definition and anagram indicator.
Clue writing contest 1568 Leg before wicket
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, September 7, 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