c4countdown

Kai Laddiman wrote:

Phil Reynolds wrote:Kai's score has now risen to 19.5 (10 right answers with one only partially correctly explained).

Can we round up?

Yay! I think I have it!

Mmmm, I suspect I know which 2 I'm missing, but oh well. Was good stuff

Kai 20/20

I don't suppose it's possible to PM for the answers, because I'm not smart enough to solve any of these and I am curious to see what the answers are.

Two revised scores and one new entry:

Clare 20/20 (finally!)
Dinos 10/20
Ralph 19/20 (all 10 answers correct but one incorrectly arrived at)

Joseph Bolas wrote:I don't suppose it's possible to PM for the answers, because I'm not smart enough to solve any of these and I am curious to see what the answers are.

I'll pm you. Obviously answers to be kept to yourself!

Clare Sudbery wrote:

Joseph Bolas wrote:I don't suppose it's possible to PM for the answers, because I'm not smart enough to solve any of these and I am curious to see what the answers are.

I'll pm you. Obviously answers to be kept to yourself!

Thank you for the PM Clare I will keep these to myself

Chris Corby - 20/20. This prize is going to be spread very thinly I'm afraid.

Phil Reynolds wrote:Chris Corby - 20/20. This prize is going to be spread very thinly I'm afraid.

Mars Bar party

Howard Somerset - 16/20

when can we have the answers ?

Eoin.V.Monaghan wrote:when can we have the answers ?

Call me old-fashioned but I thought after the competition closes would be a good time.

Phil Reynolds wrote:

Eoin.V.Monaghan wrote:when can we have the answers ?

Call me old-fashioned but I thought after the competition closes would be a good time.

when does it end?

Eoin.V.Monaghan wrote:

Phil Reynolds wrote:

Eoin.V.Monaghan wrote:when can we have the answers ?

Call me old-fashioned but I thought after the competition closes would be a good time.

when does it end?

Tomorrow night (Tuesday) at midnight. It's considered good manners, Eoin, to look for information yourself before asking for it to be repeated.

Ralph now also has 20/20.

Yes Mister Reynolds. sir.

The response to this has been good and I'm looking forward to being able to announce the results on Wednesday morning. If that seems a long time to wait (it certainly does to me, but bear in mind I was asked to extend the deadline!), here's a bonus one just for fun to keep you ticking over. No need to PM me, just work it out and the first one to post the answer gets a big smile from me.

Here goes:

• First man to the right in ancient Rome.

(Hint: it's a newbie.)

More excitingly, I've nearly finished preparing a proper C4C cryptic crossword which I'll post in the next day or two. This will be a genuine competition with a real, tangible prize for the winner.

Phil Reynolds wrote:The response to this has been good and I'm looking forward to being able to announce the results on Wednesday morning. If that seems a long time to wait (it certainly does to me, but bear in mind I was asked to extend the deadline!), here's a bonus one just for fun to keep you ticking over. No need to PM me, just work it out and the first one to post the answer gets a big smile from me.

Here goes:

• First man to the right in ancient Rome.

(Hint: it's a newbie.)

More excitingly, I've nearly finished preparing a proper C4C cryptic crossword which I'll post in the next day or two. This will be a genuine competition with a real, tangible prize for the winner.

Adam Porter?

First man = ADAM, Right=R, PORTE is near Rome now but Porte was known as Rome eons ago............

Chris Corby wrote:Adam Porter?

First man = ADAM, Right=R, PORTE is near Rome now but Porte was known as Rome eons ago............

Nope. Wrong newbie I'm afraid, and the explanation doesn't work - it would require the R to be contained within PORTE, rather than tacked on the end. (Your geography may also be suspect, but I'm ill-equipped to comment.) Good effort though!

Phil Reynolds wrote:

Chris Corby wrote:Adam Porter?

First man = ADAM, Right=R, PORTE is near Rome now but Porte was known as Rome eons ago............

Nope. Wrong newbie I'm afraid, and the explanation doesn't work - it would require the R to be contained within PORTE, rather than tacked on the end. (Your geography may also be suspect, but I'm ill-equipped to comment.) Good effort though!

Well it was worth a quick stab. Seems odd for you to point out that there is no R contained in 'PORTE' !

Chris Corby wrote:Seems odd for you to point out that there is no R contained in 'PORTE' !

I didn't say there wasn't an R in PORTE, I said the R (viz. the one you derived from 'right' in the clue) isn't in PORTE. To get PORTER from 'to the right in ancient Rome', you would somehow have to make 'ancient Rome' = POTER. There's no anagram indicator in the clue. You probably knew all this and were just being whimsical.

ADAM DEXTER!

Kai Laddiman wrote:ADAM DEXTER!

Well done.

Damn. Beaten to it. ;o)

Kai Laddiman wrote:ADAM DEXTER!

Humour me with an explanation, or was that just a search for newbies called Adam?

Matt Morrison wrote:

Kai Laddiman wrote:ADAM DEXTER!

Humour me with an explanation, or was that just a search for newbies called Adam?

Adam was the first man, and http://www.wordinfo.info/words/index/info/view_unit/640

Michael Wallace wrote:

Matt Morrison wrote:

Kai Laddiman wrote:ADAM DEXTER!

Humour me with an explanation, or was that just a search for newbies called Adam?

Adam was the first man, and http://www.wordinfo.info/words/index/info/view_unit/640

Thanks Michael but the only bit I wanted to know about, the reference to Ancient Rome, was the only bit you didn't explain!
The Adam bit had already been explained, at that point anyone could have solved it by looking through the new members for an Adam, I was just asking (not in an accusatory way) whether that is what Kai had done or if he'd worked it out. Cheers anyway.

Matt Morrison wrote: Thanks Michael but the only bit I wanted to know about, the reference to Ancient Rome, was the only bit you didn't explain!

It's just a clue to use Latin, Dexter being Latin for right.

Paul Howe wrote:

Matt Morrison wrote: Thanks Michael but the only bit I wanted to know about, the reference to Ancient Rome, was the only bit you didn't explain!

It's just a clue to use Latin, Dexter being Latin for right.

Quality stuff, thanks Paul.

Matt Morrison wrote:

Paul Howe wrote:It's just a clue to use Latin, Dexter being Latin for right.

Quality stuff, thanks Paul.

To be fair, the link that Michael posted did tell you that.

Right, the competition has now closed so here are the answers..

1. Deceive (or start to terrorise) partygoers.
   Conor Travers (deceive = CON, or = OR, start to terrorise = T, partygoers = RAVERS)
2. In France, I shop around for missile.
   Joseph Bolas (in France I = JE, JE + SHOP around = JOSEPH, missile = BOLAS)
3. Nine blows, approximately.
   Ben Wilson (anagram of nine blows)
4. Scottish church gives bill of exchange for French wines.
   Kirk Bevins (Scottish church = KIRK, bill of exchange = BE, French wines = VINS)
5. Crudely bears analysis.
   Clare Sudbery (anagram of crudely bears)
6. Exercise room, we hear, with posh car.
   Jim Bentley (exercise room we hear (i.e. homophone of gym) = JIM, posh car = BENTLEY)
7. Told little lies back when faced with shortage.
   Debbi Flack (told little lies (i.e fibbed) back = DEBBIF, shortage = LACK)
8. New York goes in to maze.
   Tony Warren (NY in TO WARREN)
9. Dickens initially keen to overdose on his little heroine.
   David O'Donnell (Dickens initially = D, keen = AVID, overdose = OD, on = ON, his (i.e. Dickens') little heroine = (Little) NELL)
10. Brand new? Makes me sick!
    Jon O'Neill (Brand = JO, new = N, me sick = ONE ILL)

As Gary hinted, number 2 is slightly unfair: it requires you to first decode 'In France, I' as 'je' and then use that word along with 'shop' as anagram fodder. By convention, words that are to be 'de-anagrammed' should appear in the clue as plain text. Luckily, most of you saw through this pretty quickly.

So, the results in reverse order:

• In 9th place: Matt with 1 point
• In 8th place: Dinos with 10
• In joint 6th place: Howard and Michael with 16...
• ...and, the joint winners, five people with nothing better to do over the weekend - Gary, Kai, Clare, Ralph and Chris with perfect scores of 20/20.

Special mention must go to Gary who submitted his fully correct entry just 2 hours after the competition was first posted.

I did originally say that the prize would be something highly desirable; it was going to be a salacious photograph of me but, given that one of the winners is a minor and I value my liberty, I've had to think better of it. So, instead, here's a picture of Chris Tarrant at the precise moment he realised the tabloids had found out about his affair:



Enjoy.

Thanks Phil great clues, some of which now I cant believe I didn't get! But then they're only easy if you know the answers...

Phil Reynolds wrote:The response to this has been good and I'm looking forward to being able to announce the results on Wednesday morning. If that seems a long time to wait (it certainly does to me, but bear in mind I was asked to extend the deadline!), here's a bonus one just for fun to keep you ticking over. No need to PM me, just work it out and the first one to post the answer gets a big smile from me.

Here goes:

• First man to the right in ancient Rome.

(Hint: it's a newbie.)

More excitingly, I've nearly finished preparing a proper C4C cryptic crossword which I'll post in the next day or two. This will be a genuine competition with a real, tangible prize for the winner.

It's ME! I know I'm late but I didn't know this existed And I can't do the other clues... it's not like The Telegraph!

Thanks Phil. Great competition, and congrats to the five winners.

Very annoyed at not getting number 5, as I was on the right lines, but when I extracted BRIAN from those letters couldn't make a sensible surname from what was left. Just didn't pick the right person.

I got hit by the number 2 problem. While out in town this morning, I was wondering whether all the words in the clue might have to be translated into French, and when I realised that the letters of DANS and MAGASIN all appear in DAN V's name, I thought I had to be on the right track.

I hope you're working in the next one now. And I really look forward to seeing the clue anyone can come up with for Dan V

Howard Somerset wrote:Very annoyed at not getting number 5, as I was on the right lines, but when I extracted BRIAN from those letters couldn't make a sensible surname from what was left. Just didn't pick the right person.

Also, you fell into my carefully planted trap by picking the wrong word ('crudely') as the anagram signifier. So you were looking for an anagram of 'bears analysis' instead of 'crudely bears'. (Amusingly, Clare herself also spent a while down this particular cul de sac.)

I hope you're working in the next one now.

My full-scale C4C cryptic crossword will be published later today or tomorrow - I'm just finalising details of how I'm going to finance the prize.

And I really look forward to seeing the clue anyone can come up with for Dan V

Amanda's having inn demolished?

Phil Reynolds wrote:Amanda's having inn demolished?

Nice one.

Some very good clues there Phil

They were too smart for me to solve , even #2, as I could only work out how you got JOSEPH .

Phil Reynolds wrote:Amanda's having inn demolished?

And destroying a Ford Transit. And shaming Ian, to boot.

Phil Reynolds wrote:

• First man to the right in ancient Rome.

Haha. I remember thinking when I set this clue that "Adam Dexter" sounded like the kind of iconic name that a thriller writer would choose for an incorruptible detective or avenging superhero. Unfortunately, of course, such names also tend to be chosen by "actors" with rather specialised CVs...