CCCWC November 2018 competition results
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41 clues entered. 34 votes cast (28 competitors, 6 others).
HUMMINGBIRD
| Pos | No. | Name | Clue | Explanation | Points | Merits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | Tom Borland | Diminutive winger departs after Birmingham settled with United for ace | *BIRMINGHAM with U for A, D = departs; def. Diminutive winger | 48 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | 25 | Steve Randall | Humid days bring out tiny hovering creature | HUMIDDBRING* | 31.5 | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 22 | Pete Milne | High time to become a hermit? | HUMMING (high = smelly) + BIRD (time, as in prison sentence). A hermit is a sort of hummingbird (Chambers). Ref our troubled times. | 31 | 3 | 2 |
| 4 | 32 | Satyen Nabar | One hovering in prison after fixing husband for good | GUMMING (fixing) with H for G + BIRD (prison) | 29.5 | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | 30 | David McKie | Nectar drinker's busy knocking back a wee dram? | HUMMING + DRIB (rev, with ref to Scots usage) | 28 | 4 | 1 |
| 6 | 4 | Rod Beards | Around 2001, suspended prison sentence for flyer | Around MMI, HUNG BIRD | 26.5 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | 21 | John Doylend | High time for in-flight refuelling expert (11) | High = humming. Time = bird. Def= in-flight refuelling expert. | 24 | 4 | 3 |
| 8 | 16 | mark webberley | Frequent flyer is kind of dumb! Ring him! | anagram of 'dumb ring him'; anagrind = kind of; def = frequent flyer | 17.5 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | 24 | Jeffery Robinson | Hmm, during short bit working one is seen buzzing around | HMMDURINGBI(t)* | 17.5 | 2 | 1 |
| 10 | 35 | Shirley Curran | Small flier might be regularly drumming mysteriously | {(m)I(g)H(t)B(e) + DRUMMING} anagram | 17 | 2 | 1 |
| 11 | 27 | In swift order flyer appeared – high time too (11) | High = humming (smelly); time = bird (prison sentence) Taxonomically hummingbirds are in the same order as swifts. | 15 | 1 | 2 | |
| 12 | 11 | Droning on a little about frilled coquette, perhaps | Droning 'HUMMING' on (connnector) a little 'DRIB' about (reversal indicator). Frilled coquette is a type of hummingbird, or a flirty lady for the surface read. | 13.5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 13 | 39 | Spoooner's scrounging scrum is a hoverer | Bumming herd | 11.5 | 0 | 3 | |
| 14 | 15 | Flier's busy attempt to catch rat's head (11) | HUMMING + BI(R)D; def: flier | 11 | 4 | 2 | |
| 15 | 9 | Coquette possibly coming up to tease after smelling blood at last | BIR (reversal of RIB, to tease; assumed as down clue) after HUMMING (smelling) + D (last of blooD). Def by example, a coquette is a type of hummingbird | 10.5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 16 | 18 | Hermit perhaps killed time in cell around 2001 | MMI in hung bird (= prison sentence); hermit type of hummingbird | 9.5 | 3 | 2 | |
| 17 | 17 | Having hovered around, I'm back to sip a taste of mellifluousness…back for a tiny amount | [HUNG (hovered) around (M in IM reversed)] + DRIB rev (back(wards) for); &lit | 9 | 1 | 2 | |
| 17 | 34 | Raising a stink next to cell one has two wings abuzz. | Raising a stink = humming. (Prison) cell = bird. Def: One has two wings abuzz. | 9 | 0 | 2 | |
| 19 | 1 | A flier — Birmingham Airport's first going off, due shortly to fly | anag. of Birmingh(a)mdu(e) | 8 | 2 | 3 | |
| 19 | 12 | Drunken bearded mountaineer, initially hiding rum for himself? | (B[earded] M[ountaineer] HIDINGRUM)*; a bearded mountaineer is a variety of hummingbird. | 8 | 2 | 2 | |
| 19 | 40 | Was really active doing jail time, busy on the wing, we hear? | Humming/Really active..Bird/Jail time..Prison wing. | 8 | 0 | 2 | |
| 22 | 19 | Hermit, perhaps, that flies rapidly from Spooner's begging rabble. | Hermit=type of hummingbird, "flies rapidly" to help the definition a bit, Spoonerism "bumming herd". | 7 | 1 | 2 | |
| 22 | 38 | Spooner's begging picked up a bright little chick. | Humming bird/bumming (=begging) heard (=picked up)/def. ("chick" = a bird, not necessarily of the feathered variety). | 7 | 1 | 2 | |
| 24 | 5 | Ava is a girl who doesn't know the words to a song. (11) | AVA (A name of the topaz hummingbird) = girl (UK "bird") who doesn't know the words to a song "humming". | 5.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 24 | 26 | I'm born humdinger, flying yet in essence not! | [ IM+B(born)+HUMDINGER ]* – E (yet in essence not). Hummingbird's unique hovering stationary flight is the reference used as definition. | 5.5 | 1 | ||
| 26 | 28 | Inca beating big drum starts to make noise inside harem (7,4) | Definition: Inca (Inca is a humming bird in Peru and other South American countries . References OED and Wikipedia). Anagram of {BIG DRUM + Acrostic of M(ake) N(oise) I(nside) H(arem)}* . Anagram indicator Beating | 5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 27 | 31 | Nectarivore, hoverer and can also fly backwards | Triple definition of a hummingbird | 3 | 1 | 3 | |
| 28 | 13 | Dynasty taken over by awfully dumb heir loses state ultimately to a Hermit, say (11) | MING in *(DUMB H[-e]IR); Definition: Hermit by example. Hermit Hummingbirds are a species of the lower Hummingbirds. | 2.5 | 1 | 1 | |
| 28 | 29 | Jacobin's prison sentence received after agitating | Jacobin=political extremist/kind of hummingbird; BIRD(prison sentence) after HUMMING(being audibly astir) | 2.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 28 | 33 | Petite exotic beauty – but even her best friends daren't tell her "B..O.."! | Ref. 1960s ads for (I think) Lifebuoy toilet soap. | 2.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 31 | 2 | American flier buzzing at four o'clock | American flier = definition Buzzing=humming , four o' clock = bird (the friarbird) Story of airman flying low at that position in the sky | 2 | 0 | 1 | |
| 31 | 3 | Anna's a high-flier | Anna's (def) (a species [Calypte anna] of hummingbird) a high(smelling/humming)-flier(bird) | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
| 31 | 14 | Flier for Sound of Music? | Flier = bird, Sound of Music = humming, hummingbird = flier, a round robin? | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| 31 | 23 | High-flyer, coquette perhaps? | HUMMING (High) + BIRD (flyer), def. by example = coquette perhaps. | 2 | 0 | ||
| 31 | 36 | Small flyer is dry: bring him mud! (11) | direct = small flyer; anagram of "bring him mud", dry = indicator. | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| 36 | 37 | Smell space villain – that's a stretch for American flyer | HUM+MING+BIRD (stretch is a prison sentence in U.S. slang) | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 37 | 6 | Avian singing bride distraught after losing voice in the end (11) | {HUMMING} and anagram of {BRID(-e)} | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 37 | 7 | Bring him Mud to remake into a cake | Mud is a 2012 film based in the Mississippi River. Mississippi Mud Pie is a heavy chocolate cake. 'Bring him mud' is an anagram of Hummingbird signaled by use of remade. Hummingbird is also a bakery chain making excellent cakes. | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| 37 | 8 | Colourful flyer, based on very little of substance, raised twice the stink | hum, ming + drib (rev); (hum, ming, stink)= an unpleasant smell | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 37 | 20 | Hi mum. Bring a penny to design this flyer. | anag. HI MUM BRING + D(penny) | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 37 | 41 | White-bearded hermit drumming and hibernating a bit erratically | DRUMMING + HIB anagram; WBH = common species | 0 | 1 | 2 |