CCCWC January 2020 competition results
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55 clues entered. 41 votes cast (37 competitors, 4 others).
TWO-FACED
So, Mr Tozer starts the new year with a bang – well done John – neat clue with a lovely surface, John's first win since 2017.
You can't keep a good man down and last year's Annual Prize winner, Steve Randall, was just behind in 2nd place. Loved the definition in that clue!
A new name in 3rd – congratulations to Alexander for his debut podium finish. If nothing else we can thank Mr Trump for the ammunition he supplies to clue writers!
David Mckie nabs a top spot for the first time since his excellent year in 2018. Another with a clever definition.
The final podium placing went to Roslyn who found an ingenious slant for defining the clue word.
We are off and running for 2020 – good luck for February!
| Pos | No. | Name | Clue | Explanation | Points | Merits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 41 | John Tozer | Lying in midst of pasture, a cow fed freely | t + anag. | 45.5 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | 50 | Steve Randall | The week officially starts having coffee brought round with a couple of mugs (3-5) | Initial letters for TWO + DECAF< | 37 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | 11 | Alexander Antao | Crooked de facto world leader is untrustworthy (3-5) | Crooked: anagrind | de facto world leader: DE FACTO W | is | untrustworthy: TWO-FACED || Surface: describes the POTUS, using his taunting descriptor "crooked" against him. Lock him up! | 33 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 | 9 | David McKie | Cat few do fancy, being cute one minute, vicious the next? | *CAT FEW DO | 30.5 | 1 | 4 |
| 5 | 38 | Roslyn Rougvie | Like Zaphod's cow – fated to be cooked | Def. like Zaphod is: cowfated* | 27.5 | 1 | 5 |
| 6 | 25 | John Appleton | Double-dealing de facto leader of Welsh Assembly | (DE FACTO +W)*; definition "Double-dealing" in Chambers Thesaurus | 25 | 0 | 5 |
| 7 | 35 | Jeffery Robinson | Insincere act few do mistakenly | ACTFEWDO* &lit. For 'two-faced act' see http://www.ft.lk/top-story/a-two-faced-act/26-72787 | 24.5 | 1 | 3 |
| 8 | 27 | Robert Vere | Duplicitous few do act badly | (few do act)* | 22.5 | 2 | |
| 8 | 34 | Rod Beards | Initially Trump wrote about one Democrat: “Duplicitous!” | T(rump) W(rote) OF ACE D; definition- duplicitous | 22.5 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 | 14 | Neelima | Deceitful cad we oft dealt with (3-5) | (CAD WE OFT)*, anagram-ind: dealt with, def: deceitful | 21 | 1 | |
| 11 | 22 | Dissembling wife has de facto played around | W (wife) with DEFACTO anag around | 19 | 1 | 1 | |
| 12 | 37 | King of hearts, say, with deuce, following ace on top of deck | King of hearts = definition (= two-faced) Deuce = TWO + F(ollowing) + ACE = D(eck) | 16 | 1 | 4 | |
| 12 | 39 | Looking both ways somehow starts to dispel fears of every anxious walker crossing traffic | anag. of initials | 16 | 1 | 3 | |
| 12 | 51 | To confront daughter drinking whiskey is hypocritical (3-5) | t(w)o-face(d) to confront daughter = to face d , drinking =inclusion indicator , whiskey = w + definition | 16 | 2 | 3 | |
| 15 | 1 | Amazing fact is, we do not essentially wish to be phoney (3-5) | [fact is we do – is]*, deletion ind.: not essentially wISh, anag. ind.: amazing. Definition: phoney | 14.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 16 | 49 | Sounding very friendly at the outset, a Democrat could be deceitful (3-5) | Sounding very = TWO (homophone of TOO), friendly at the outset = F, a = ACE, Democrat = D, def = deceitful | 12 | 1 | ||
| 17 | 15 | Deceitful de facto rogue's taking in wife | Def=deceitful. (DE FACTO)* including W … anagrind=rogue | 11.5 | 1 | 1 | |
| 17 | 26 | Double-decaf brewed to Janus’ specification | Double (two); decaf (fodder); brewed (anag ind); Janus’ (Roman god) specification (ie two-faced) (def) | 11.5 | 0 | ||
| 19 | 16 | Deceitful, devious, we do act faithfully at first. | Definition: deceitful. Anagram indicator devious, grinding "WE DO ACT F". | 11 | 0 | ||
| 19 | 28 | Duplicitous Trump will outrightly fib and concoct exculpatory deceptions at first (3-5) | Acrostic. Trump will outrightly fib and concoct exculpatory deceptions | 11 | 0 | 1 | |
| 21 | 24 | Double dealing's criminal act few do | actfewdo* | 10 | 3 | 3 | |
| 21 | 31 | Fleetwood Mac in wrong turn leaving motorway: ELO unexpectedly playing Little Lies | Anagram of Fleetwood Mac minus (anagram of) ELO plus M(otorway). Fleetwood Mac had a hit with Little Lies. ELO were also a famous band. Def: playing Little Lies. | 10 | 0 | 2 | |
| 21 | 55 | Where we do act deceitfully, fine being so described? | (we do act)* around f(fine); &lit | 10 | 0 | 2 | |
| 24 | 21 | Dishonest in fact we do wrong (8) | anagram of FACT WE DO | 9 | 2 | 3 | |
| 24 | 48 | Shifty, like Janus | TWO-FACED (double def.) | 9 | 0 | 1 | |
| 26 | 13 | De facto wife could be false (3-5) | (DE FACTO W*) could be (anagrind) false (def). A de facto spouse is a legal status observed when couples have lived together for a long time. | 8.5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 27 | 19 | Designing couple prepared to switch British origins to France | Designing (hypocritical, two-face – Bradford's) [solution] couple (two) prepared – braced – to switch British origins (Br) to France (F – International Vehicle Registration) [faced] | 7 | 1 | 3 | |
| 27 | 52 | Unconventional wife; de facto deceitful! | Unconventional (anag ind) wife=w + de facto = deceitful (DEF) | 7 | 0 | 1 | |
| 29 | 32 | Harry de facto, admitting wife’s hypocritical (3-5) | {T[W)OFACED}*, Harry – Anagrind, Wife – W | 6.5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 30 | 18 | Deceitful of cadet slyly trapping wife | w in *of cadet | 5.5 | 1 | ||
| 31 | 5 | Beans failing to leave you full of beans – something's up which is rather contradictory | "Beans failing to leave you full of beans" = DECAF, "something" = OWT, "up" = reversal indicator, "rather contradictory" = definition | 5 | 0 | 3 | |
| 31 | 8 | Cardinal takes hot drink back for the faithless | Cardinal number + DECAF reversed, & lit | 5 | 0 | 4 | |
| 31 | 12 | Daft cow with field strength gets muddled and proves false (3.5) | (DAFT COW E)* | 5 | 0 | 3 | |
| 31 | 44 | Pair confronted double-dealing | Pair=two ; confronted=faced. Double-dealing=two-faceo | 5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 35 | 10 | Couple met with accusation of being disloyal. | TWO/couple..FACED/met with….. Ref: Harry & Meghan | 4.5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 35 | 17 | Deceitful facade that hides answers as often as not, wot? | (FACaDE & WOT)* [Only one A deleted in anagrind; def. = deceitful, doing double duty] | 4.5 | 0 | ||
| 37 | 36 | Janus and hypocritical? | Janus was two-faced which is a synonym of hypocritical | 4 | 0 | 2 | |
| 38 | 40 | Lying down after imbibing fifth of Scotch, inebriated sailors must be discharged | (DOWN AFTER C)* – RN (sailors); def: lying | 3.5 | 1 | 3 | |
| 39 | 42 | Most of town's perhaps encountered, someone like Janus (3-5) | Most of town is tow/ perhaps as Anagrind/ encountered is faced /someone like Janus is def | 3 | 0 | ||
| 40 | 2 | Anything returned in Yorkshire? Twelfth month looking up after nothing dishonest. | 'Owt' returned = 'Two'; 12th month looking up = CED (down clue); 'FA' = nothing; Def: dishonest | 2.5 | 0 | 4 | |
| 40 | 29 | False move with cad beginning to trick foe | *W+CAD+T+FOE ind by move | 2.5 | 2 | 1 | |
| 40 | 47 | Perhaps Janus will be the ruin of de-facto Western leader. (3, 5) | Janus is an example of a two-faced god of ancient mythology. "Western leader" gives W, and when added to DE FACTO and "ruined" (i.e. anagram), this gives TWO FACED. There is also a very tenuous hint of a reference to James Bond, Goldeneye. ;) | 2.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 40 | 53 | Unfaithful wife wedded to de facto drunk | Unfaithful = def; wife = w*; wedded to = united with; de facto* drunk = anagrind | 2.5 | 0 | ||
| 44 | 6 | Being hypocritical is posssibly better than being alone! | Ref: two heads are better than one. | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| 44 | 45 | Pair Confronted Janus | Pair (two),Confronted (faced), Janus (God depicted as having two faces {two -faced}) | 2 | 0 | 1 | |
| 46 | 33 | Hypocritical factor drew potential king and queen to exit | (FACTORDREW)* – RR; potential= anag ind, king=R, queen=R, topical ref to royal couple's exit. | 1.5 | 2 | ||
| 47 | 3 | At a very young age, confronted for double-dealing | At = juxtaposition indicator, a very young age = TWO, confronted = FACED, for = linkword, double-dealing = definition | 1 | 1 | ||
| 47 | 43 | Not one, five hundred dial in like Janus. | Not one (TWO) five hundred (D) dial in (FACE inserted). | 1 | 0 | ||
| 47 | 54 | Unreliable, like the coins in your piggy-bank (3-5) | simple cryptic def | 1 | 1 | ||
| 50 | 7 | Being insincere, Spooner says old Labour leader gave an untouchable delivery. | Def./[Michael] Foot aced (Spoonerism) – ref. tennis service. | 0.5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 50 | 30 | False trick coin (3-5) | Double definition 1) false and 2) trick coin (a coin with two faces would have two heads). | 0.5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 52 | 4 | B2B double-dealing? | Rebus plus definition, masquerading as a cd | 0 | 1 | ||
| 52 | 20 | Devious turns in Dow regularly affect CAC after opening (3-5) | Def: Devious. Anag (Turns in) of {DOW a(F)f(E)c(T)+c(AC)}* . Dow is commonly used short form for the Dow Jones index (in papers, google etc). CAC is the Paris stock market index. | 0 | 2 | 3 | |
| 52 | 23 | Double cut by Fed affected Dow, producing jump | *AFFECTED DOW minus FED; def. Double | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 52 | 46 | Pair squared up after one's deceitful | Charade: pair = two + squared up = faced | 0 | 0 |