From: msm@src.dec.com (Mark S. Manasse)
Subject: PCWC #4
Organization: DEC Systems Research Center
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 01:39:13 GMT


     PEOPLE'S CLUE WRITING COMPETITION NUMBER 4

Welcome to the People's Clue Writing Competition Number 4, originally
devised by Guy Jacobson.  Instead of just a single judge, the PCWCs
are judged by all of you, the readers of rec.puzzles.crosswords.
Read the rules section below for details.

The word for PCWC 4 is:

  LANDSLIDE

The moderator for this round is: Mark Manasse <msm@src.dec.com>

The dates for PCWC # are:

  Thursday  12 November 23:59 PST  Deadline for PCWC 4 entries
  Friday    13 November            I'll post all the PCWC 4 entries
  Wedneday  18 November 23:59 PST  Deadline for receipt of PCWC 4 votes
  Thursday  19 November            I'll post an annotated list of the
                                   best-loved clues for PCWC 4.

RULES:

Here's how it works: near the beginning of this posting, you saw a
single word.  It isn't ROT13'ed or anything.  You are invited to
submit a single cryptic clue for this word to the moderator by
electronic mail, along with an explanation of how your clue works.
(Also, make sure to include your own Email address and an indication
of whether or not you would like to moderate the next round).
Do not post your clues to the net.  The moderator may not submit clues.

When the entry deadline is up, the moderator will post a list of all
clues received along with explanations.  Authors' names will be
stripped and the clues will occur in random order, identified only by
number.  You, the readers of rec.puzzles.crosswords, are then invited
to vote for your favorites by sending Email to the moderator.
Finally, the moderator will tabulate the votes and post the names of
the authors of the best-loved clues along with their scores and
whatever commentary he or she deems appropriate.

The author of the highest scoring clue will be asked to moderate the
next round, with ties broken by the moderator.

CLUE FORMAT:

Clue submitters are asked to make sure that the Email containing their
clue looks something like the following, to make life easy for the
moderator:

Kind moderator,

Here is my entry to PCWC 4; I hope you like it.
Actually, I guess it doesn't really matter whether
or not you like it since you can't vote.

------------------------------------------------
The word you're looking for is LANDSLIDE (9)

        "The word you're looking for is" indicates
               LANDSLIDE = LANDSLIDE
------------------------------------------------

I am available to moderate the next contest,
by the way.

-- Joe Clueless (joec@ximenes.com)


In particular, make sure that 

  1) Your clue and explanation are together in between a pair of lines
     consisting only of many dashes.

  2) There's nothing else between the dashed lines.

  3) Your clue is flush left and indicates the number of letters in
     the word.  There is no period at the end of the clue (but there
     may be a question mark or exclamation point).

  4) There is a single blank line between your clue and the explanation.

  5) Your explanation is block-indented eight spaces.

VOTING:

In my post of all the submitted clues, each clue will be identified by
a single number.  To vote, send me a piece of Email that looks like
this:

Kind moderator,

Here's how I felt about the entries to PCWC 4

---------------------------------------------
3 7
5 4 1
8 2 6
---------------------------------------------

         E. Pluribus 

         e@pluribus.unum.edu


This specifies a partial ranking of the clue numbers, with

3 = 7 > 5 = 4 = 1 > 8 = 2 = 6 

The first line contains the numbers of the clues you like best; the
second line those you like second best, etc.  Within a line, list
clues numbers that you like about equally well in any order.  Any clue
numbers that don't appear in your ranking will be added at the end on
a line by themselves; all equal and worse than any that you did list.
The number of lines is up to you: if there are 10 clues, for example,
you can have up to ten lines.  If you are lazy, you can just send me
a single number of the clue you like best; note, however, that the
greater an effort you make to differentiate between all the clues, the
more accurate the results will be.  If you list a number more than once,
you will be sent to the farm, immediately.

Should you wish to make critical comments regarding any or all of the
clues, your comments may be sent along to the authors anonymously
provided everything is clearly divided by clue and you don't present
the kind moderator with an editing nightmare.

Please note that the lines with clue numbers in your voting should be
bracketed by lines with only dashes, to facilitate automatic
tabulation of the scores.

Both clue submitters and non-submitters are allowed to vote.  You ARE
allowed to vote for your own clue, but please try to be honest.  Of
course, one vote per person; DON'T use multiple accounts or aliases to
stuff the ballot box or encourage your cronies and cohorts to vote for
your clue just so you can win.

SCORING:

The scoring will be as in tournaments, with 1 point for each better
ranking and 1/2 point for a tie.  So, for example, based only on the
votes of E. Pluribus above, the scoring would be

Clue  Pts.
 1     4
 2     1
 3     6 1/2
 4     4
 5     4
 6     1
 7     6 1/2
 8     1

The total scores will be the sum of the scores from all voters.  The
moderator does not vote.
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords