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Another good voter turnout this month with 57 voters. Like last month, there was a good spread of winners, with 10 people sharing 14 awards. |
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This was one of the closest General Category competitions for quite a while. Mey broke clear at the 12 hours mark, with a strong seven-point lead and clearly looked like the favourite. At 24 hours, Ellie had narrowed the gap to just two points with "dupe" and Rick a few points back. At the half-way mark, Ellie had a one-point lead on Mey, with a small bunch (dupe, Rick & Deano) dropping back off the pace. The lead seesawed between Ellie and Mey, who was one point clear with 24 hours left to go. On the final day, Ellie polled strongly for a nice six-point win. Dupe also finished fast to join Mey in second place. It was his first award (well, at least under that name, whoever he is). |
1 | Ellie | 47 | Archaeologists = Goal is to search. |
2 | dupe | 41 | Islamic fundamentalism = Damn fanatic Muslim lies. |
2 | Mey Kraus | 41 | The medical profession = Help to confirm disease. |
4 | Rick | 30 | Anger is worst when ~ the answer is wrong. |
5 | Larry Brash | 21 | Middle management = Madman led meeting. |
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This was another closely contested category. At the 12 hour mark, Toby, Scott & HSP were at the top, but by the end of Day One, HSP was leading by one point over Scott and Ellie. By the middle of the contest, Ellie broke clear by six points from Scott and HSP. The final day saw a great battle, with Ellie and HSP either sharing the lead or taking turns for the lead. Ellie scraped home by three points at the very end. |
1 | Ellie | 49 | The James Bond movies starring Sean Connery = His command's greatest: I never enjoy Brosnan. |
2 | Horrid Stretchy Pus | 46 | All Things Bright and Beautiful = Lift a bible, laugh and sing truth. |
3 | Toby Gottfried | 36 | The Folies Bergere, Paris = See if girl bares top here. |
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This was a start-to-finish win for Deano. Deano started well with a six-point lead after 12 hours, gradually opening it up to a 16 point winning margin. This was Deano's fourth win this year and his seventh all-up. |
1 | Deano | 66 | Threat to Iraq leaders? = The Al-Qaeda terrorist. |
2 | palusch | 50 | New Orleans evacuation = A violent ocean as we run. |
3 | Horrid Stretchy Pus | 41 | Gates may file for iPod patent cash = Microsoft shafted Apple yet again. |
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At the 12 hour mark, this was anyone's competition with six people within two points of the lead (not including the ultimate winner). By the end of the first day, Rik had charged up the Leaders' Board for a three-point margin over HSP. He then maintained that lead, but with HSP mounting (pun intended) a strong challenge and even briefly leading on the last day. Rik hung on to win his first award by three points. Congratulations, Rik, on your first award (wherever you are!). |
1 | Rik | 51 | Leonardo da Vinci = Dead icon - no rival. |
2 | Horrid Stretchy Pus | 48 | Madonna Louise Ritchie = "I can mount a horse", I lied. |
3 | Toby Gottfried | 41 | Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery = Brits forge army and handle Rommel. |
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It is so hard to tell how your own anagrams are going to go in the competition. I had hopes for my Topical (it came 4th) and my Long (it came last!), but I didn't really think that my entry here had a strong chance. I thought Tony's was more likely to win. Mine was one of those anagrams that was discovered with virtually no effort of my part. I used by "Anagrams 2.4" for Macintosh (appropriately!) and there it was 19th on the list! This was a really exciting contest (well, it was for me and Tony). I led by five points at 12 hours, then Tony's was ahead by five after 24 hours. We were tied at the halfway point, then I was one point ahead with 24 hours to go. The final day was neck and neck, but I kept a small lead to win my 6th award for this year, giving me a total of 93. |
1 | Larry Brash | 54 | Microsoft Developer = Deliverer of compost. |
2 | Tony Crafter | 51 | Stonehenge and Avebury in Wiltshire = When in England, base your visit there. |
3 | Rick | 37 | Clears land mines... Oh-oh! Forgot one! = The Congressional Medal of Honor. |
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This was the least close category for this month. The beginning was close for the first 12 hours, but then Mey powered on with an ever-increasing lead. He was 33 points ahead at the finish line. |
1 | Mey Kraus | 77 | "If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world." = |
2 | Tony Crafter | 44 | A Society couple are making love: |
3 | Larry Brash | 42 | The members of Queen: Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor, John Deacon, and Brian May = |
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As soon as Ellie posted this hilarious anagram at the beginning of the month, I think we all knew it was a winner. The rest of us had to make a real effort to even do a long anagram to compete. Not surprisingly, Ellie was 13 points clear at the end of Day One, and extended this to a 19 point final margin. A fantastic month for Ellie with three wins, doubling her total in one fell swoop. |
1 | Ellie | 64 | A MEDITATION FOR DE-STRESSING Picture... = You can easily make out the face of t... |
2 | Horrid Stretchy Pus | 45 | These five people won the right to ente... = the 'Golden Ticket' group; very avera... |
3 | Tony Crafter | 35 | Lady Legge-Bourke took more than the nor... = Sir Stuart Haynes-Fyffe, the Lord of t... |
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A good-sized field here this month and some really surprising results. Several of the big names in this category (Richard, Mey, Mike and David) were on hand and looked likely to be the ones fighting it out. However, I had forgotten how clever and funny HSP's entry was here. Richard led out and always kept a handy gap on the field for a well-deserved win. However, it was the minor placings that were the most interesting, with HSP and Mey very close for second and third, and amazingly, Mike being pushed out on the the top three. Richard's win was his second this year and his 52th since the inception of the awards. He is one of only three people to win an award every year since 1998 (Mey and I are the other two). Mey won three awards this month, elevating his total to 218 awards. HSP's win gives him six wins altogether, and his first in the Special Category. Well done! |
1 | Richard Brodie | 38 | A poem by Lord Byron. |
2 | Mey Kraus | 33 | Charles Lamb's poem about a baby's death. |
3 | Horrid Stretchy Pus | 32 | A beauty from The Sound of Music. |
4 | Mike Keith | 29 | Edna St. Vincent Millay's famous poem on Euclid is anagrammed into some thoughts on Euclid's proof. |
5 | Gregory Betts | 22 | From a book of poetry, where all of the poems are perfect anagrams of each other, without any comput... |
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This was another category where the likely winner stood out before voting started. Rick's really funny anagram was ten points ahead after 12 hours and over 20 ahead with 24 hours. His final margin was 26 for one of his most impressive wins. This was his 6th win this year and his 12th ever. |
1 | Rick | 55 | Visit the bathroom = Shit, bathe or vomit. |
2 | David Bourke | 39 | Giant testicles ~ testing elastic. |
3 | Rik | 26 | Pension = No penis. |
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This was an easy choice this month. Tony was often leading Other Names and the contest went right down to the line. His anagram read so well and you need not have heard of Avebury to understand the anagram. The best anagrams are always self-explanatory.
This was Tony's 14th award. |
Congraulations to all the winners. Thank you all for voting.