EXAMINER’S REPORT.
Here is another award at last to excite indignant comment and criticism. So large was the number of first-rate solutions that we had to pounce upon the most trifling errors with a keenness worthy of a better cause. After we had examined and re-examined again and again, we were rewarded for our exertions by finding that faults abounded, the enormity of which might fairly be expressed in sixteenths.
For instance, a failure to indent the lines properly was reckoned one-sixteenth of a mistake. The substitution of “around” for about was counted two-sixteenths, and so on, with arithmetical precision. As only a limited number of names can be mentioned, all we have to do is to draw the line at a certain point (in this case it was at nine-sixteenths), and say: “Beyond that, no mention.” The result is an adjudication which can face criticism with a very fair amount of confidence. And here let us say that if any competitor thinks that an injustice has been done, we hope she will not harbour the thought privately, but frankly let us know as soon as the report appears. We much prefer to have the opportunity of acknowledging a mistake or of proving that none has been made.
To return to the puzzle. Many competitors failed to notice the “s” in the title, and wrote “Exploding Lamp.” This could only be regarded as a whole mistake, and was therefore fatal to any chance of success.
The rhythm of the first line, No. 6, was often marred by the insertion of “an.” In the second line, as we have already intimated, “around” could not be considered equal to about, for a reason which a reference to the puzzle will divulge. In the fourth line “face” was continually given for head, though the better sense of the latter reading is obvious, and the puzzle form of spelling “detach” was often adopted without thought.
In No. 7, “Cycling” was the title generally given, though many solvers were careful to read the two into it. This was an error we could not very severely condemn, and as a matter of fact two solutions which were perfect in every other respect, were admitted into the prize bundle. In the first line “you are” would not do instead of the contraction you’re, neither did the insertion of “a” before hedge improve the rhythm of the last line but one. In the same line we did not object to the more strictly grammatical “accord” in place of accords, although the puzzle gave the latter.
We have received several letters questioning our award on “An Accidental Cycle II.” We have turned up every solution written about, and find that absolute justice was done to each. For the benefit of a very large number of solvers who cherish similar doubts in silence, we may say that the mistake of spelling “some one” as one word was a very important factor in the adjudication. That our report should have contained no reference to this point was an unfortunate circumstance.
The award on the whole series of Accidental Cycles cannot be published for two or three weeks, the number of solutions being very large.