Voting Information

Voting is open until Midnight UK time on Friday 18th January.
 
Please award FIVE points maximum to the clue you judge best: FOUR points for second, THREE for third, TWO for fourth, down to ONE point for fifth; but otherwise you may distribute your votes as you see fit including ½ marks for split voting – as long as you award no more than 15 points IN TOTAL and no more than 5 points to any one clue…
 
…and of course you may NOT VOTE for your own clue!
 
COMMENTS:
 
Your comments in general and on individual clues, however much or little you write, are always most welcome! Please remember that if any particular clue or clues do not find favour with you, it is more helpful to offer constructive criticism – many of our members are keen to learn and hone their clue writing skills through our competition – feedback may be useful for their future efforts!

Entry Information

Your Christmas challenge is to clue a pair of words of your choice that form an XMAS STOCKING FILLER. This must be one word (of any length) ending in X, and another word (of any length) beginning with MAS. In addition when XMAS is removed from the two words, a third word is formed when the gap is joined!
 
Your clue should consist of two definitions for the -X and MAS- words, and a subsidiary indication of the third word formed (i.e. excluding the XMAS). The three elements of your clue may occur in any order.
 
By way of example, you could choose LAX and MASTER (with LATER being formed by the removal of XMAS) and clue thus:
 
Some bewail a terrible salmon season (3, 6)
 
Expalnation: LAX = salmon, MASTER = to season, LATER subsid. indication is hidden "bewaiL A TERrible".
 
I hope that all makes sense, enjoy the challenge!
 
Closing date is MIDNIGHT GMT MONDAY 31ST DECEMBER