From: guy@ulysses.att.com (Guy Jacobson)
Subject: PCWC 1 results
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 16:18:12 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories

     PEOPLE'S CLUE WRITING COMPETITION NUMBER 1 RESULTS

The best-loved clue for the word DEMOCRATIC was submitted by
Ralph Kennedy:


    5) Nervous disorder finishes disturbed comrade of the people (10)


Ralph gained almost 80% of the maximum points, and he is hereby invited
to moderate PCWC 2.

Second place goes to Peter King for:

    12) Crass trio came as insiders to Washington Party (10)

And third place to Scott Mathew Glazer for:

     9) Popular comedic art: Twister (10)

The other clues with above-average finishes were:

 4) Fair use of comic trade! (10)
    (by Norman Bridges)
 2) Representative destroys 500 mice, or cat (10)
    (by Brian Spollen)
13) The opposite of me and the converted actor I succeeded in Washington! (10)
    (by Tom Deneau)
 1) By popular demand, madcap comedy is terminated prematurely by initial
    reviews:  "Act 1 is horrendous" (10)
    (by Larry Baum)

-----------------------

As a glance at the histograms below will tell you, tastes in clues
vary widely.  The winner:

 5) Nervous disorder finishes disturbed comrade of the people (10)

is a straightforward clue that reads very well.  Many voters really
liked it, and no one could find anything to dislike about it.

The most controversial clue of the contest was:

13) The opposite of me and the converted actor I succeeded in Washington! (10)

Which came in sixth in the ranking, but received more clear
first-place votes than any other clue.  While some people (including
me) loved this clue, others must have been put off by its complexity
-- this is apparent from its bimodal histogram.

I guess the moral is that if you can't think of a clue that everyone
will love, you should enter one that no one will hate.


------------------------- Statistics ------------------------

There were 14 clues and 20 voters; maximum total 260.0

Scores:

	Clue	total	 %max	rank	  mean	 st.dev	 median
	----	-----	 ----	----	  ----	 ------	 ------
	  1	139.5	 53.7	  7	  6.97	  3.84	  8.25
	  2	149.5	 57.5	  5	  7.47	  3.30	  7.75
	  3	 95.0	 36.5	 12	  4.75	  2.85	  3.50
	  4	161.0	 61.9	  4	  8.05	  3.24	  8.25
	  5	207.0	 79.6	  1	 10.35	  2.64	 11.50
	  6	108.0	 41.5	  9	  5.40	  3.46	  5.00
	  7	 76.5	 29.4	 13	  3.83	  3.05	  3.50
	  8	 96.5	 37.1	 11	  4.83	  2.77	  4.00
	  9	166.0	 63.8	  3	  8.30	  2.85	  8.75
	 10	106.5	 41.0	 10	  5.33	  4.01	  4.75
	 11	129.0	 49.6	  8	  6.45	  3.28	  5.50
	 12	173.5	 66.7	  2	  8.68	  3.21	  9.25
	 13	148.0	 56.9	  6	  7.40	  4.20	  8.00
	 14	 64.0	 24.6	 14	  3.20	  2.75	  2.50

Vote distribution histograms:

           6 |                           
           5 |                           
           4 |                           
           3 |                           
           2 |    XX XX        X        X
           1 |    XXXXX       XXXXXXXX  X
Clue #1      |___________________________
                                  1 1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3

           6 |                           
           5 |                           
           4 |                           
           3 |                 X         
           2 |          X    X X       X 
           1 |   XX XX  X X XXXX XX  XXX 
Clue #2      |___________________________
                                  1 1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3

           6 |       X                   
           5 |       X                   
           4 |       X                   
           3 |     X X                   
           2 |     X XX          X       
           1 |   XXXXXX X     XX X   X   
Clue #3      |___________________________
                                  1 1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3

           6 |                           
           5 |                           
           4 |                    X      
           3 |                    X      
           2 |       X  X XX      X    X 
           1 |    X  X  X XX  XX  X XX XX
Clue #4      |___________________________
                                  1 1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3

           6 |                           
           5 |                       X X 
           4 |                       X X 
           3 |                       X X 
           2 |                       X XX
           1 |        X   XXXX  X X XX XX
Clue #5      |___________________________
                                  1 1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3

           6 |                           
           5 |                           
           4 |                           
           3 |       X                   
           2 | X   X X  X  X      X  X   
           1 |XX   X XX X XXX  X  X  X   
Clue #6      |___________________________
                                  1 1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3

           6 |                           
           5 |                           
           4 |                           
           3 |     X X                   
           2 | X X X XX X                
           1 |XXXX X XX X  X  XX       X 
Clue #7      |___________________________
                                  1 1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3

           6 |                           
           5 |                           
           4 |       X                   
           3 |       XX    X             
           2 |     X XX X  X             
           1 |  XX XXXX X  X  X   X    X 
Clue #8      |___________________________
                                  1 1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3

           6 |                           
           5 |                           
           4 |                           
           3 |                   X       
           2 |            XX X  XX   X   
           1 |X         X XX XXXXXX  XX X
Clue #9      |___________________________
                                  1 1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3

           6 |                           
           5 |                           
           4 | X                         
           3 | X                         
           2 | X   X            X X      
           1 | XXX X X XX X  X XX X  X X 
Clue #10     |___________________________
                                  1 1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3

           6 |                           
           5 |                           
           4 |                           
           3 |        X                  
           2 |       XX X X    X    X  X 
           1 |  X   XXXXX XX   XX   X  X 
Clue #11     |___________________________
                                  1 1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3

           6 |                           
           5 |                           
           4 |                           
           3 |                       X X 
           2 |       X       X X     X X 
           1 |    X  XX    X X XXXXXXX X 
Clue #12     |___________________________
                                  1 1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3

           6 |                           
           5 |                           
           4 |                           
           3 |       X                  X
           2 |       X           XX  X  X
           1 |  X XXXXX X  X     XX  X XX
Clue #13     |___________________________
                                  1 1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3

           6 |                           
           5 |                           
           4 | X                         
           3 | X   X X                   
           2 | X X X X                   
           1 | XXXXXXXX X X    X     X   
Clue #14     |___________________________
                                  1 1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3


-- 
_________________________________________________________________
Guy Jacobson   (908) 582-6558              AT&T Bell Laboratories
        uucp:  {att,ucbvax}!ulysses!guy	   600 Mountain Avenue
    internet:  guy@ulysses.att.com         Murray Hill NJ, 07974
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords