| Comments on the clues |
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| 1. A characteristic of Margarita's treatment of a neurotic horse in French country region |
| 1. | Good effort, but can't find h=horse in Chambers, also 'French country region' sounds a bit forced | | 2. | "characteristic" a stretch for "ingredient" here. Champagne and campagne are same etymology, not ideal |
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| 2. A winter fest, you’ll have heard, is made merrier by black and white Russians. |
| 1. | Seems to be clueing the theme and not the required entries | | 2. | Doesn’t meet the requirements of the competition | | 3. | Sadly I think you completely misunderstood the instructions. | | 4. | Sorry but you didn't read the instructions… | | 5. | The challenge is to clue for CRANBERRY/CHAMPAGNE/COINTREAU 2 |
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| 3. Actioner shot around posh part of cosmopolitan region has hero Cagney robbing banks |
| 1. | I like the champagne wordplay. | | 2. | Great idea but can't see how "robbing" is a deletion indicator, unlike "robbed of" |
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| 4. Airing open wine to make out with a nicer drink |
| 1. | Not a fan of "to make <fodder> <definition>" as anagram clue |
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| 5. Angers spirit? A neurotic's convulsed with simulated agony, they say, becoming bubbly. |
| 1. | Nice idea, but there should not be a linking word ("with") between the clues. |
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| 6. Best bubbly a true icon mixed with ice and tequila for margarita |
| 1. | Couldn't find a reference for 'Best'; 'ice and tequila' just unnecessary padding? |
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| 7. Bubbly cocktail of peach with cut mango, mint and essence of matured rum liqueur (9)(9) |
| 1. | The break between the two halves makes this not so ideal | | 2. | Different inventive wordplay – not my winner but a good clue nonetheless. |
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| 8. Bubbly girl kept by mean chap, sadly a neurotic, turned to drink (9)(9) |
| 1. | sadly spoiled by that 'to' | | 2. | G = girl not in Chambers or Collins, otherwise would have given points | | 3. | Standout winner for me – bravo. |
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| 9. Bubbly Guy, me (half-cut) and little Agnes are in court with no end of beer, drunk at Xmas! |
| 1. | Sorry, but this surface doesn't seem very natural at all |
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| 12. Bubbly winner's date drinks new liqueur with funny reaction for all to see |
| 1. | A small grammar issue with 'drinks', should ideally have been 'drinking' | | 2. | ‘s reads as “has drinks new liqueur” in the parsing 12 |
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| 13. Campaign not one he planned for bubbly liqueur a true icon blended |
| 1. | Surface sounds strange | | 2. | Campaign and champagne are etymologically linked and similar words, so first anagram's not ideal for me | | 3. | Surface doesn’t come across well 13 |
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| 14. Carer with Bryn's new fruit liqueur, drunk to cure an infection, primarily. |
| 1. | Good clue although 'Bryn' rather signals anagram fodder. |
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| 15. Chap (man), e.g., stirred bubbly liqueur a true icon shook |
| 1. | Heads the list of rather strange surfaces |
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| 16. Cordial captain selected for three Italian "golden" clubs fled the best, in singular fashion – the sauce! |
| 1. | Couldn't quite follow this |
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| 17. Corruptly Simpkin, we hear, pretended sheet of stamps confused non-European auctioneer. It's essentially orange. |
| 1. | A somewhat forced surface and a definition that 'stands apart' |
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| 18. Cosmopolitan French quarter – ice ran out, re-ordered Charlie's drink? Fizz! |
| 1. | Definition not right for me, should be "Cosmopolitan's"when there's another adjective after |
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| 19. Drink fizzy tonic water in Reims after a bit of robust bubbly, whipped ganache and slices of mouthwatering pastries |
| 1. | Like "fizzy tonic water in <French place>" (also considered it). No disguise of "bubbly." Not fan of "slices" as first letter selector |
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| 20. Drink making a neurotic bubbly, leads to party adopting mood change, correct |
| 1. | Correct as anagram indicator would be better used in the imperative |
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| 21. French drinks producing fuddled neurotica and sad dampening ignoring drunken din after tea |
| 1. | This doesn’t meet the requirement for two distinct clues |
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| 22. French region's map change ruined a Nice tour; supply drink |
| 1. | Not quite seamless to merit the shortlist | | 2. | End feels tacked on but rest is good |
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| 23. Going astray, change Pam for bubbly cutie Nora, unsteady in drink |
| 1. | The 'change Pam' bit doesn't work so well imo |
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| 24. Hearing foul tales may make a certain coward merry. |
| 1. | Referring to Christmas Cocktails not Champagne/Cointreau | | 2. | Doesn’t meet the requirements of the competition | | 3. | Sadly I think you completely misunderstood the instructions. | | 4. | Sorry, but I don't think you read the brief… | | 5. | The challenge is to clue for two drinks, not for cocktails 24 |
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| 25. ILL town sounds like a wine liqueur cocktail a true icon. |
| 1. | Grammar seems totally off | | 2. | Surface ungrammatical |
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| 26. I'm drunk and spirited, awful loveless roué, action man grabbing married 'holy' woman being bubbly |
| 1. | Not enthused with the surface | | 2. | A bit more interesting than most of the ‘bubbly drink/drunk’ clues, but unfortunately second clue leads to CHAMPAGNES | | 3. | Doesn’t the wordplay lead to champagnes ? 26 |
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| 27. Moan about barren ground, fruit a pale yellow, mangy peach after year spent spraying |
| 1. | Surface a bit forced | | 2. | Should ideally be "year's spent", as "year" is the object of "spent" |
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| 28. Nice guy Alexander McQueen starts ordering cheap sparkling wine for all after avant-garde creation featured in Cosmopolitan |
| 1. | Position of letter picking and anagram indicators not quite ok | | 2. | I like it, but not keen on the anagrind being in the middle of fodder without it being clear that both sides can be fodder. | | 3. | anagrind doesn't work in middle of fodder! | | 4. | Wordplay for Champagne doesn’t suggest NGAM* is again anagrammed with CHEAP* 28 |
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| 29. Play game regularly with panache, getting some bubbly orange drink creation prepared by university |
| 1. | Surface a bit forced, doesn't have a natural ring to it |
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| 30. Pop vocalist’s faux anguish spilled out in a record? Not half, it’s bittersweet and heady |
| 1. | Perhaps the best of the 'sham pain' homonyms in terms of novel wordplay but the defs are quite broad. |
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| 31. Sadly neurotic after swallowing a liqueur with bubbly, to feign distress we hear. |
| 1. | 'With' acts as a connector between two halves, redundant, and not seamless | | 2. | 'with' – ?
there should not be superfluous words separating the clues | | 3. | A very good clue but for using 'with' as a link word to the 2nd clue – not allowed in this month's comp . | | 4. | Don’t think the connector “with” is allowed 31 |
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| 32. Victor and Agnes mostly drink liqueur at our nice club |
| 1. | Succinct with a surface that works, but 'AGNE' as a straight string doesn't seem to be ideal in clueing | | 2. | Club seems like a stretch as an anagrind, but I felt this deserved points for brevity. | | 3. | I don't think 'club' is an acceptable anagrind. 'Clubbed' might be, but then wrecks the surface | | 4. | imperative anagrind needs to be before fodder |
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| 33. Victor has time to consume new bubbly liqueur that's producing the beginning of unforgettable reaction |
| 1. | Should have been 'unforgettable'? |
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| 34. Victor takes his time grasping new, bubbly type of bog – gets sort of red |
| 1. | no need for 'his' | | 2. | The extraneous "his" is misleading |
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| 35. Vintage fashion mag, cheap and new, worried a neurotic contributor to Cosmopolitan |
| 1. | A break between the two halves, so not very seamless | | 2. | Best of many similar clues |
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| 36. Winner's corner having a good bubbly drink unfortunately ice ran out |
| 1. | Does need some punctuation, a comma after 'drink' perhaps | | 2. | I like your story in the clue here, and the clue runs nicely. |
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| 37. Without hesitation substituted cheap magnum in place of wine liqueur (ice ran out unfortunately) (9,9) |
| 1. | 'liqueur wine' rather than the other way round would be the generally acceptable norm | | 2. | Nice idea, but there should not be a linking word ("in") between the clues. |
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