CCCWC March 2017 competition results
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45 clues entered. 44 votes cast (35 competitors, 9 others).
TRUMPETER
Hard to believe, but I overlooked the obvious when choosing this clue word! Interestingly and coincidentally, Azed's chosen word this month was TRUMP! So no surprise that a certain US President featured strongly here!
Congratulations to Andy Smith – who has podiumed once before, but this is his first win. Andy rather cleverly managed to reference Mr T's predilection for tweeting into his neat clue!
David McKie was close back in second – he truncated the POTUS to incorporate the old favourite PETER = SAFE! Well done David!
In a tightly bunched top 3, Colin Thomas recaptured some of his 2016 form with the first of the non-presidential clues, a nifty switch between referencing the famous jazz trumpeter and dizzy's dictionary meaning.
Very nice to see long-standing competitor Peter Cargill achieve his first podium in a while, with a simple but effective construction, managing to reference a previous President!
Russ Cook completes the line-up with his second podium in a row – amazingly finding an identical breakdown to the 3rd place clue!
Thanks to all for an entertaining month – it will be fascinating to see how Azed competitors have dealt with the TRUMP issue over the next couple of days!
| Pos | No. | Name | Clue | Explanation | Points | Merits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Andy Smith | Blowhard President on Twitter taking everyone, ultimately, for a fool | Trump + [Twitter, with e for twit]. Blowhard = U.S. def'n + literal activity of a trumpeter. | 49.5 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 19 | David McKie | I proclaim US President not entirely safe | TRUM(P) + PETER | 44 | 3 | 2 |
| 3 | 10 | Colin Thomas | Dizzy, perhaps, with fluctuating temperature after leaving A&E | Dizzy (Gillespie), one of the most famous trumpeters of all time. Anag TEMPERATURE minus A&E | 43 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | 30 | Peter Cargill | President chopped tree, he proclaims | TRUMP+*ETER; ref Washington announcing he chopped cherry tree; trumpeter=person who proclaims | 38.5 | 3 | 1 |
| 5 | 11 | Russ Cook | Dizzy? Temperature? Sadly there's no A&E. | (TEMPER[A]TUR[E])* – Ref Dizzy Gillespie. | 37.5 | 4 | 2 |
| 6 | 29 | Satyen Nabar | Perhaps mutter softly with hesitation? Not this chap! | (MUTTER + P)* + ER; Semi-&lit | 33 | 4 | 2 |
| 7 | 3 | John Tozer | An ass in a fancy old hairdo – Republican one who proclaims and denounces | rump in tête(2) + R | 28 | 2 | 1 |
| 8 | 7 | Dhirendra Tripathi | Braggart president to tee off with Rory initially (9) | Definition: braggart Wordplay: TRUMP (president) + ETE (tee off) + R (Rory initially) Reference: A widely reported round of golf… | 24.5 | 1 | |
| 9 | 43 | Barry Solomons | This bird's a slut, after removing top starts entertaining regulars? | S/trumpet…starts (E)ntertaining (R)egulars. | 21 | 1 | 4 |
| 10 | 17 | Dinshaw | Herald gets President to chop tree (9) | Herald = actual definition; President Trump with anagram of "tree" | 17.5 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | 45 | Time to get suspicious with safe-blower | T+RUM+PETER | 15 | 3 | 4 | |
| 12 | 27 | One praising Satchmo? | Double def (Satch played trumpet) | 14 | 0 | 1 | |
| 12 | 35 | Say, elephant in rut with temper tantrums? | Say elephant – Def, (RUT+TEMPER)*, TANTRUMS – Anagrind | 14 | 0 | 1 | |
| 14 | 13 | Fish that's tasty eaten for starters in great Australian batter | T(asty) + E(aten) in TRUMPER; def = an Australian food-fish; ref. Victor Trumper, celebrated Australian cricketer | 13.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 14 | 44 | This swan's ill-matched with mute partners | comp. anag. & lit ref. different species mute swan/trumpeter swan, silent/vocal; TRUMPETER SWAN* = W MUTE PARTNERS; trumpeter="a trumpeter swan" (Chambers) | 13.5 | 1 | 1 | |
| 16 | 41 | Swan's odd domestic animal to be kept in terrace (9) | RUM PET in TER | 13 | 0 | 1 | |
| 17 | 18 | I loudly denounce mad nutter with perm, blanking out November | *(N)UTTER + PERM; def. I loudly denounce | 12.5 | 1 | 3 | |
| 17 | 23 | Met Rupert about swan, perhaps. | Anagram: trumpeter swan. | 12.5 | 2 | 2 | |
| 19 | 2 | American President and French Queen? He's a man with the horn perhaps? | TRUMP+ET+ER; def = a man with the horn (a horn being a slang term for a trumpet). A play on Trump's alleged 'reaction' to the opposite sex! | 11.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 19 | 20 | I proclaim with polls dropping, Labour better dump leader – finally! | anag less b & d + r labour = work out; Corbyn refusing MPs' longstanding calls to resign | 11.5 | 0 | 3 | |
| 19 | 31 | Remains entertained by half-hearted rock musician | remains = RUMP; half-hearted rock = TE(e)TER; T<RUMP>ETER | 11.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 22 | 22 | Maybe Donald, The Great Escape actor, finally becomes musician | TRUMP + [th]E [grea]T [escap]E [acto]R | 10 | 0 | ||
| 23 | 4 | Australian fish frantically utters short roar at first, caught by Melbourne's leading piano player. | Def; anag(frantically) of UTTER(s) + R(oar) is around M(elbourne's) + p + e (The trumpet fish makes a trumpet-like sound {blare or roar} when pulled from the water.) | 8 | 0 | 3 | |
| 23 | 32 | Safe…with the Donald?! Not one scintilla of principle, a braggadocio | TRUM(P) + PETER. Examples in OED support this sense of "trumpeter" | 8 | 3 | 1 | |
| 23 | 37 | Strange – dropping sea temperatures disorientated fish (9) | ((TEMPERATURES) -(SEA))*; dropping = -; disorientated = *, fish = def.. | 8 | 1 | 5 | |
| 26 | 12 | Elephant perhaps better trained when not starting to guzzle buns | [B]ETTER* to guzzle RUMP (buns) | 7.5 | 2 | 2 | |
| 27 | 24 | Network back chasing President's spokesman (9) | (Network = RETE rev) ETER after TRUMP Surface ref. to grilling of Shaun Spicer by Certain News Network. | 6.5 | 1 | 1 | |
| 27 | 36 | Someone who often blows his own horn, U.S. President collides with saintly pope | TRUMP merged with PETER | 6.5 | 1 | ||
| 29 | 8 | Can all but last of the President make actor Sellers such a musician? | All but last of the President is TRUM (Donald TRUMP minus P) and PETER (actor and musician PETER Sellers) making a musician TRUMPETER (Peter Sellers' 'The Trumpet Volunteer') | 6 | 1 | ||
| 29 | 39 | Swan sees strong saint! (9) | Definition SWAN (TRUMPETER) = TRUM (OLD ENGLISH FOR "STRONG") + "PETER" (SAINT) | 6 | 0 | 2 | |
| 31 | 28 | Origin of fanfare for president and French Queen? | Origin of fanfare=trumpeter TRUMP + ET (French "and") + ER (Queen) | 4.5 | 1 | ||
| 32 | 9 | Dizzy, he may be, but Donald's safe, one might say. | Def (Dizzy [Gillespie])/Trump + peter = safe (homophone). | 4 | 0 | 2 | |
| 32 | 14 | Flier safe after endless blast | Definition = 'Flier' = bird. 'safe' = PETER; 'after' = at the back; 'endless blast' = TRUM(p) | 4 | 1 | 2 | |
| 32 | 25 | Network backed by President. "Good news", he announces (9) | Network backed = rete to eter by Trump (President) + definition | 4 | 5 | 1 | |
| 32 | 34 | Satchmo the Swan? (9) | Double def, reference Louis Armstrong nicknamed satchmo. | 4 | 0 | 1 | |
| 36 | 26 | "Newscaster indulged in hot rum", Pete replied. (9) | direct = newscaster; container: hoT RUM PETE Replied. indicator = "indulged in" | 3.5 | 0 | ||
| 37 | 40 | Swann for one type of swan. | Rick Swann is a NI trumpeter + def. | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| 37 | 42 | The current President has limited term after base gives him a bird | Trump+E(base)+ter(m); bird is def. | 3 | 0 | 1 | |
| 39 | 33 | 'Satchmo' for one could deceive alien queen. | Satchmo (DEF) deceive (TRUMP) alien (ET) queen (ER) | 2.5 | 1 | 1 | |
| 40 | 1 | A musician and model on the game, met a politician before Easter – as it goes | Def + model (T) on the game (RU) politician (MP) Easter – as (ETER) | 1.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 41 | 15 | 'Game-player May has lost face meeting US President' — from a loud denouncer? | Trump + (P)eter, ref. Peter May, former England cricket captain | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| 42 | 16 | He can be seen playing Donald Duck in Newcastle with Mrs Daley – parking is limited (9) | The def "He can be seen playing" refers especially to a fanfare trumpeter – the normal use of the term. Wordplay is: TRUMP PET (NE term of affection) 'ER (indoors) – only one P | 0.5 | 1 | 4 | |
| 42 | 38 | Swan in to stop Democrat replacing the President | DETER with D replaced by TRUMP | 0.5 | 0 | 3 | |
| 44 | 5 | Bird or Satchmo emerges from speaker we brought out when entertaining prat? | RUMP in T(we)ETER (kind of loudspeaker); ref nicknames of Charlie Parker and Louis Armstrong (trumpeter also being the name of a bird) | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 44 | 21 | Loud-voiced American creature regularly stirs up parliamentarians mostly and foreign royal | (s)T(i)R(s)U(p) + MP(s) + ET + ER | 0 | 0 | 2 |