• SCWC 379 announcement

    From wald@math.uchicago.edu@21:1/5 to All on Thu Apr 8 14:06:59 2021
    Many thanks to Luciano for moderating SCWC 378 and for choosing
    my clue as the winner.

    For SCWC 379, please write one, two or three clues for:

    SMOOTHEN (8)

    and post them here. (Bonus clues, as always, are welcome.)

    The deadline is end of April 19 in your time zone. Have fun!

    Kevin Wald wald@math.uchicago.edu | Extra-bright types of http://www.math.uchicago.edu/~wald | star-circling star (5)

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  • From Duke@21:1/5 to All on Fri Apr 9 17:57:08 2021
    Iron, maybe, found in article trapped in small, low nest's entrance (8)

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  • From Rob@21:1/5 to All on Sat Apr 10 12:07:18 2021
    Even out odd length with a layer underneath (8)

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  • From Luciano Ward@21:1/5 to All on Sun Apr 11 09:16:54 2021
    SMOOTHEN:

    Press release from the morons excited the Right (8)

    Luciano

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  • From Luciano Ward@21:1/5 to All on Mon Apr 12 10:56:39 2021
    SMOOTHEN:

    When the moon's out you can do this in the course of an evening (8)

    Luciano

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  • From Luciano Ward@21:1/5 to All on Tue Apr 13 17:53:14 2021
    SMOOTHEN:

    Iron Lady accepts arguable point (8)

    Luciano

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  • From Duke@21:1/5 to All on Wed Apr 14 17:20:50 2021
    Iron plane (8)

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  • From wald@math.uchicago.edu@21:1/5 to All on Tue Apr 20 13:40:27 2021
    And now my interpretations of the clues. ??? indicates a point on which
    I am confused. Please let me know about anything I have missed or misinterpreted.

    Duke:

    Iron, maybe, found in article trapped in small, low nest's entrance (8)
    Iron, maybe = definition
    article = THE
    small = S
    low = MOO
    nest's entrance = N
    THE trapped in S + MOO + N = SMOO(THE)N

    Iron plane (8)
    double definition (Iron and plane)

    Rob:

    Even out odd length with a layer underneath (8)
    Even out = defintion
    odd length = SMOOT (a unit of length used by MIT students
    to measure the Harvard Bridge, equal to 5 ft, 7 in.)
    a layer = HEN
    SMOOT with HEN underneath = SMOOTHEN

    Luciano:

    Press release from the morons excited the Right (8)
    Press = definition
    excited = anagram indicator
    THEMORONS anagrammed = SMOOTHENR
    Right = R
    release from SMOOTHENR the R = SMOOTHENR - R = SMOOTHEN

    When the moon's out you can do this in the course of an evening (8)
    you can do this in the course of an evening = SMOOTHEN
    out = anagram indicator
    THE MOON'S anagrammed = SMOOTHEN
    ??? not sure what "When" is doing

    Iron Lady accepts arguable point (8)
    Iron = definition
    Lady = SHE
    arguable = MOOT
    SHE accepts MOOT = S(MOOT)HE
    point = N (compass point)
    SMOOTHE + N = SMOOTHEN

    Kevin Wald wald@math.uchicago.edu | Later, after spam's covering http://www.math.uchicago.edu/~wald | more than one egg roll (8)

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  • From Luciano Ward@21:1/5 to All on Tue Apr 20 14:35:30 2021
    When the moon's out you can do this in the course of an evening (8)
    you can do this in the course of an evening = SMOOTHEN
    out = anagram indicator
    THE MOON'S anagrammed = SMOOTHEN
    ??? not sure what "When" is doing

    You're right. 'When the moon's is out...' would have been better (but gibberish).

    Luciano

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  • From wald@math.uchicago.edu@21:1/5 to All on Sun Apr 25 14:18:57 2021
    And now my judgements:

    Duke:

    Iron, maybe, found in article trapped in small, low nest's entrance (8)
    Nice definition, and good construction. Surface is okay.

    Iron plane (8)
    Good, and misleading, surface. With regard to the construction: I much
    prefer that double definitions use two completely different meanings of
    the answer; here, they both use the exact same meaning.

    Rob:

    Even out odd length with a layer underneath (8)
    Good surface, good construction, good definition, and special bonus
    points for the use of the MIT's favorite length unit, the smoot.

    Luciano:

    Press release from the morons excited the Right (8)
    Very smooth surface, and I very much like the way it hides the definition. Construction is fine (I'm less keen on anagram-minus-letters clues than
    plain anagrams, though I think the subtraction indicator here is very good).

    When the moon's out you can do this in the course of an evening (8)
    I like the definition here a lot, and the surface is very good. As discussed, though, the "When" ends up being extraneous here.

    Iron Lady accepts arguable point (8)
    Another good surface hiding a definition very nicely. A minor quibble:
    In the cryptic reading, "Lady accepts arguable" is a full sentence, and
    "point" is a noun phrase, so the combination doesn't really make
    grammatical sense; I think this would work better with "accepting"
    in place of "accepts", so it's one noun phrase after another.

    And now, the placements:
    First place goes to Rob's measured clue.
    Second place goes to Luciano's publicized clue.
    Third place goes to Duke's entrancing clue.

    Rob?

    Kevin Wald wald@math.uchicago.edu | Last .4-smoot cat near http://www.math.uchicago.edu/~wald | one hassock (7)

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