Masterlist-in-the-Making

Thanks DA - all good there for mine.

Maybe my clue for BOGART instead of WELTANSCHAUUNG? I'm not sure though, what do others think?

BOGART - Spooner supporting Simpson soak up the spotlight.

I haven't had a chance to look for a couple of days but I love Boniface's OCHE and DUENDE and Mr X's BALDACHIN

DA - Happy to swap my usufruct for nepenthe. My only slight quibble with nepenthe was a technicality - is nepenthe truly penned within "One pen, the" or does there need to be another letter at the end ? People's thoughts ?

I really like your BOGART Simon L, and surely no list is complete without a spoonerism?

Btw I only just noticed JT's Bogart. Superb.

ps Simon L, the only suggestion re your BOGART would be the surface (is it missing a "to"?) I would have gone for something like-

Spooner urging Simpson to hog the limelight

Happy with those choices DA.

Interestingly I would have chosen my redraft of Duende and I also would have chosen my Skirl with kilted lad.

But I'd like to stick to the three you've chosen as your eyes will be more closely aligned to Loroso's than mine.

Cheers and good luck all!

X I think you're right...it isn't "penned" as it stands. Could use "their" or "these" but detracts a bit from the surface.

Thanks DA looks good - maybe adopt Mauve's suggestion for my Bogart clue? "Greta Garbo outrage! Cast hog the limelight!"

I guess nepenthe could become "One pen, the two pens that wipe memory". Not quite as tight but accurate.

hm my myrmidon seemed better to me in the early hours of the morning...but i'd be happy to replace with

BALDACHIN: Spooner sent for a trashcan as sunshade?

btw, great clues all round. glad i'm not the judge

The 'pen' problem is sticky. I failed to spot the fault line at first glance. So stick with USUFRUCT, Mr X, which is sound and sweet.

Re the SKIRL idea, Mauve, the kilt/bagpipe pairing is deft, though I reckon the wordplay breakdown is toilsome compared to the breezy nominees.

Have also made those requested tweaks to the clues of Simon L and Sam, as well as adding Nib's neat CONTUMELY [adding a signpost] and giving due credit to our other players, Alec Ihm and Anthony Douglas.

Soon as JD, Philth and JT reply, or 2pm clicks round, these babies are aweigh.

I think I needed to get a third hat in the ring to qualify, so here are my (only) three, after editing:

CONTUMELY = Raving maniac overwhelmed by stunning insult
AMPSTER = Cockney pet known to wet himself at the circus, even though he knew better
KAROSHI = Office overkill as result of substantial hours involved!

Oops - did I miss the last bit, or did you edit the post after it hit my feeder? Never mind...though I like the Karoshi one :)

Yeah, sure, I'm happy if you're happy. I hate going back over things and revising. I don't think Loroso is going to have an easy job choosing three. Good luck chaps!

Anthony, you've collided with a cryptic no-no in the CONTUMELY clue:

Raving maniac overwhelmed by stunning insult

Namely, an indirect anagram. Solver should never be expected to mix an inferred word - in this case, NUT. Not fair, and not on. Beware of this tempting trap for next time.

Meantime AMPSTER is a workable homophone, but I'm not hip to Phase 2 of the clue. While KAROSHI, I reckon, is far too tough a word to rely on an oblique definition, or Tee-Hee clue, as they are known.

Hope I'm not sounding too harsh. I'm sure you, like all of us, have learnt a load from this exercise.

DA, my two cents loved your "Unlocked a feature canopy" for Baldachin. "Unlocked" was a wow for me

Cheers Mauve - though I've opted for the funnier alternative of a nude, as I'm banking on humour as an x-factor. The ploy may ignobly backfire, of course.

Thanks for the feedback, DA. Perhaps a nut job in stunning insult wasn't too obvious...

Karoshi too hard a word? Man, which ones were the easy ones??!! There's a part of me that thinks all of these words should be clued by initials, out of mercy ;-)

Oops. My bad, Anthony. I dind't even detect your acrostic in the KAROSHI clue - well camouflaged, and my apologies.

And you're right about obscurity. There is no household word in this list, which is part of the fun, I suppose.

The list is sent by the way. Now we wait.

I fooled DA?! I claim a points victory ;-)

Mr X: just remembered. I love you VIRGA clue, and was surprised to see it miss your own short list. Would have won my vote. For those who missed it:

Free Viagra ! Not a hint of drizzle (5)

Thanks - Virga does have that cheeky tee-hee factor. Interestingly, I didn't even think about nominating it. Because it came so easily and it seemed such an obvious way to go, I just assumed that there'd be a few similar offerings amongst the hundreds of constructions.