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Diabolically Arcane

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Glencadam Gold

10 November, 2012

This was a Storm without Precedence, receiving entires from as far as Ethiopia and Dunedin. The idea was to craft wordplay morsels for the three top horses, plus one unplaced favourite, and the standard was as high as the Flemington breathalyser readings. Let’s parade the champs in the mounting yard below.

GREEN MOON clues were excellent in general, with 6 different players receiving applause. But the best two were Godolphin on 15 points/3 votes for the wonderful Gillard idea (Gillard leader no more, entangled), running second to Slack Caviar (18/3) for a classy reduction anagram: Fashion model from Montenegro.

FIORENTE was a two-horse race, with two new players joining the scramble. Rene Pogel notched up 14/5 for invoking a nostalgic gameshow: L&N not showing in Florentine broadcast. But the triumphant jockey on 16/5 was yours truly, aka Persuader, for channelling Lily Serna: Bungled five or ten minus five.

Being hard to clue, JAKKALBERRY elicited some creative desperation. Notably, two new syndicates entered the fray, with 6/5 for Flutter’s ploy (Frost heard Gore proclaim cover-up) losing in a photo to Fascinator (6/3) for a bizarre code recipe: Jump and kick, kick and left, back extend right, repeat your first positions.

So who won the crucial dark horse derby? Dead heat, people, with Slack Caviar and Birdcage both on 9/3. Their clues in order:

MOUNT ATHOS: Southampton in strife without leading player
SANAGAS: Popular Aussie lunch, a sandwich

You can now guess our winner, with Slack Caviar hitting the winning post twice, when the stakes were utmost, collecting a total of 35. Next was Persuader on 28, then Rene 24, Flutter & Fascinator spliced on 18, Godolphin 15, Birdcage 9 and Quinella under a steward’s enquiry. Kudos and the Clayton Cup to the Supreme Slacker (is it an Unusual Suspect??), and thanks to all connections for a grand event.

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