Results: Clue writing contest 1423: Molten
One difficulty with this word is avoiding “melted” in the definition — “molten” is an archaic version of the same word (compare “hidden”), and although the etymology might not be common knowledge, the sharing of M?LTE? makes it much too helpful.
Winner
J McAllister, Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland
Liquid hydrogen not used in menthol distillation
Advertisement
Liquid = definition
hydrogen not used = remove H from …
… menthol = anagram fodder
distillation = anagram indicator
This clue tells a clear story, and the phrases “liquid hydrogen” and “menthol distillation” help to disguise the structure in the cryptic reading, which I counted as fair compensation for a vague definition, in combination with fairly indicated wordplay.
Good clues
G Macdonald, Glasgow
Second Officer’s bearings less solid than before
This is an additive clue – MO=short period of time=second, Lt. = Officer, E,N = bearings. In the surface reading, I like “less solid than before”, but the idea of bearings being solid seems a bit unnatural.
Victoria Spencer, Leeds
Lemon tea is said to be refreshing liquid
This anagram clue uses “tea is said” to give us the T to mix with “lemon” — something you might not see very often in printed puzzles, but it seems fair for a single letter, and is used to good purpose in the surface reading.
Elizabeth Bayliss, Twickenham
Glowing review of new motel
This clue, with TripAdvisor surface reading, uses another way of adding one letter to anagram fodder.
Nick Stevenson, Sevenoaks, Kent
Design of new motel in a state of flux
Same wordplay, different story. As “in a state of flux” is used metaphorically to describe indecision or confusion, it should ideally have a question mark when the solver needs to take it literally.
Advertisement
Keith Mead, Cheltenham
Cooked lemon tart initially is runny
This is another anagram plus one letter recipe, with a surface that seems accurate enough to justify the fairly familiar “initially”.
David Kaye, Edinburgh
Flowing lines originally seen in Monet composition
I liked this clue for the combination of “flowing lines” and “Monet composition”, but “originally” seems less convincing, so the solver should quite easily identify two possibilities — (MONET+S) anag. = “flowing lines”, or (MONET +L) anag. = “flowing”.
Colin Fearon, Barnstaple, Devon
Liquefied metal? No, not a fluid
As most dictionary definitions for molten include “liquefied”, the definition here is bullet-proof. This time we’re subtracting one letter from anagram fodder. Surface readings including contradictions seem quite common in cryptic clues. This one seems better than some, as the contradiction doesn’t give away the clue structure.
Lothar Schwarz, Troisdorf-Bergheim, Germany
Dissolved menthol is free of hydrogen when bottled
“Bottled” doesn’t quite convince me as an anagram indicator, but is on a list of anagram indicators in a crossword dictionary, and fits the surface reading very well. As a definition, “dissolved” may look wrong, but there is a “melted” meaning in Collins.
Advertisement
Comments on some other clues
Yorkshire town said to be in a state of flux
As a southern softie, it took me a couple of goes to work out the right spelling for the market town of Malton — I came close to writing that Moulton (near Scotch Corner) couldn’t possibly count as a town. I think the pronunciation of a place with a population around 4000 is too obscure for our purposes.
Fused light found in car inspection unit
The surface reading here is excellent. To that end, I don’t mind the vagueness of “unit” for the printer’s measure “en”. But obvious as it might seem, I can’t find dictionary support for L as an abbreviation for light. This is one of the cryptic clue requirements which you can solve puzzles perfectly happily without knowing about, thinking that any word in a clue can indicate its first letter. It may seem that way, but we don’t do that!
For a starter Tea with Lemon is poured very hot
The surface reading here is good, but “for a starter” doesn’t mean the same as “for a start” unless the entrant is using a local colloquialism (this entry came from Ireland).
Advertisement
100,005,010 affected by thaw?
This is the first of two maths-based clues — 1000 = M, 0 = O, 50 = L, 10 = TEN. I’m being very strict, but “100,0” isn’t 1000 – I think the number without separator commas would have been better.
One zero zero zero zero five zero one zero — it’s not hard
This one presents the numbers in text, which is one way of avoiding the comma issue. But the result doesn’t mean much to me, and “it’s not hard” seems a very vague definition. Something like “1000 + 0 + 50 + 10 — it’s not hard” seems fairer, although easier.
Mike! Frothy John Smith’s ready to pour!
This clue, with a pub barman surface, has lots to like, including “(black)smith’s ready to pour” as the definition and the accurate description of the beer, but requires the solver to equate John with Elton to find most of the anagram fodder. There are too many other possible Johns for this to be fair, and this is why indirect anagrams are not used in most current cryptic crosswords. There are two exceptions: using abbreviations like H=hot to justify replacement of a single letter with the word abbreviated, and the rare cases where the indirect anagram fodder is the only possible interpretation of the clue content.
Inner crust of pork pie turns to liquid on heating
This is another indirect anagram — of the “elton M” inside “Melton Mowbray”. Although the link from “pork pie” to “Melton Mowbray” seems considerably easier than the one in the previous clue, “Inner crust” seems both perverse as a phrase, and inaccurate as applied to the pie.
Lava can be found in Melton Mowbray
This time, the anagram content is in plain sight, but there is no clear anagram indicator. It’s not quite clear what was meant to be the definition. “Lava” alone would be a noun indicating an adjective, and “Lava can be” is a description rather than definition.
Soft refusal reportedly?
The idea here is that soft = molten (vague, but possibly OK), and “refusal” sounds like a combination of “re”=about and “fusile”=molten). Although “fusile” is in Collins dictionary, and so is the required “made by having been melted” definition for “molten”, this is difficult vocabulary. More importantly, “fusile” and the “fusal” part of “refusal” have different sounds in the second syllable unless you pronounce “fusile” in the American style for words like “missile” or “fertile”. There’s also the requirement for the solver to break up this version of “refusal” and interpret one part of the sounds-like as an anagram indicator, which seems too much to expect, even though the clue helps by using “refusal” itself rather than a synonym.
Clue writing contest 1426: Performance art
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, December 17 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