CWE 4 - MANGALYAAN by Maddy

Thanks Kishore for the excellent work on CWE-3 and congrats once again to all the participants. I accept the poisoned chalice with the hope that I can live upto the high standards set by CV sir and Kishore.  The baton has been handed to me at a perfect time since I am on vacation from 28-02 Nov to attend my sis-in-law’s marriage. So I will (hopefully) have more time to do justice to the task at hand.

Clue writing may not be rocket science but the word I’ve chosen this week definitely is and could not be any more Indian in keeping with the spirit of this contest. So get on the launch pad and let the countdown begin for “MANGALYAAN”. Please note that no other spelling variant of the given word is allowed.

A few guidelines: -

• Two clues allowed per person but no edits or deletions once entered.

• Closing time 2359 on Friday (31 Oct 14). If things go as per plan I will be posting the results sometime after lunch on 1st Nov.

• Complete annotation mandatory, no matter how obvious.

• I would like to try something different in picking the winners this time. One set of top clues will be picked by me (Critic’s choice if you will) and other set selected by popular vote. For the latter, I request everyone, participants or otherwise, to take the effort to mail me their pick for the top three positions (excluding your own clues, of course) by 1200 noon on 1st Nov 14. Reasons for your choices may be given but not mandatory. Would very much prefer that this is mailed to me and not posted as comments, so that others are not influenced. I will work out some point system (not yet decided) to declare the winners in the popular category as well as the overall top three. My id – anish_madhavan2001@yahoo.co.in

• The privilege (?) of conducting the next contest would go to the overall winner decided by a points system averaging my score and the popular choice score.

• What I am primarily looking for, other than the standard clue writing basics, are seamless surfaces and innovative definitions, which is easier said than done for such words. A dash of humor would definitely be an added bonus.

Happy clueing and hope the response this time round is as enthusiastic as for the earlier CWEs. All the best everyone, let the games begin ….

Note by CV: Yesterday Maddy suggested how he would like MOM being used in caps as def and in surface reading. I have attempted one - a non-competition entry. I have also hastily drawn a sketch.