12) What are ACC, CWC, and PCWC? (Crosswords)
Description
This article is from the Crosswords FAQ, by James A. Lundon (jlundon@xstacy.enet.dec.com) with numerous contributions by others.
12) What are ACC, CWC, and PCWC? (Crosswords)
These are cryptic clue writing competitions run regularly in the
newsgroup. In each a word, or words, are set for which the
participants must write a cryptic clue(s). Completed clues are
E-mailed to the moderator or setter. The author of the winning clue
has to option of setting, and moderating, the next round of the
competition. The competitions don't have a final round; they just
keep going.
The three competitions are:
ACC, for "Araucaria Clueing Contest", was started by Ray Steiner (and
named by Dave Corne, the first winner). The winner of each round
gets to set and judge the next round. (For those of you who don't
know who Araucaria is, he is a famous British crossword setter who
writes very fine puzzles and clues for the Guardian.) The moderator
has considerable freedom in imposing a particular task on the
setters. This has resulted in some ususual word combinations/phrases
being given in the past. It's probably the most flexible of the
three competitions. (FYI: Araucaria is really an elderly Yorkshire
based Clergyman.)
CWC, for "Clue Writing Competition", was started by Ian Gent. Two
words are given: one is intended to be easy to clue and the other
more awkward. The best single clue wins the contest though a winner
for each word is announced. Also, it often has a shorter time
between the setting of words and submission deadline than ACC, but
that is up to the person running the competition to decide.
PCWC, for "People's Clue Writing Competition", was started by Guy
Jacobson. Unlike ACC and CWC, submitted clues are posted before the
winner is judged. Readers of the newsgroup (except for the
moderator) then vote for their favourite clues. The winner sets the
next word, but the judging is always done by the people. The ranking
system, by which the winning clue is chosen, has come in for some
criticism of late.
Member of the newsgroup who don't have access to a UNIX system may
have problems moderating the PCWC competition since the ranking
software (which is located in the crossword archive) uses UNIX to
tabulate the scoring. Various people in the newsgroup have offered
to help if this situation arises in the future.
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