herculis 7th april

[barterboy]

think there is an error today 17down should be pipit however with 16 ac being poetic it can't be....any thoughts out there???

[sarumite]

Catron, whilst I fully accept your point that many people will not bother to send in an incompleted grid, there will almost certainly be a number of entrants choosing to show both answers as I have outlined above.

What is there to be gained by declaring the puzzle void, other than to penalise those who do submit an entry?

[POINCIANA]

Perfect answer Dundurn! Your old English teacher should be very proud.

[Catron]

Sarumite - what is there to be gained by calling the competition void? - very simple - it stops those who know that they can put in an incomplete solution just by reading this here on Answerbank from winning a competition in which the majority will not enter. ALL Telegraph cryptic crosswords have been declared null and void in this situation for many years and that is simply the way it should be here. The Telegraph have treated the majority with disdain by pretending that stating here that an incomplete crossword will be accepted is good enough - it simply is not. The prize should have been doubled next week rather than allow those with inside knowledge to gain from that information. Fairness, it seems, is not part of the Kate Mepham way of doing things and I am ashamed of her and the Telegraph for allowing this.

[sarumite]

Yes, I can appreciate your argument Catron, although from a personal point of view I'm not able to get too "excited" about whichever decision is made.

The main reason I attempt these puzzles is for enjoyment, although obviously being picked as a winner would supplement this.

[x-ray]

Feel I must add to this discussion.
I almost always complete and submit my solution of the crossword, and have done for ,well - many years now.
Like sarumite it is just for the enjoyment - I have NEVER won - and if I did it would be a bonus.
I think it was consideratae of Kate Mepham to actually add to this thread to explain the error - indeed, it was pleasing to know she tunes into our links game.
It is very rare that such a mistake occurs - I see no reason for the competition to be withdrawn, but if it is, so be it - it is not that important

[sarumite]

Thank you x-ray ... as you say "it is not that important".

[Catron]

Sorry but you are missing the point - there are not a few who buy the Telegraph purely to do this crossword - the Telegraph deliberately set up this competition to increase circulation figures for the Monday Telegraph and then hoped to keep that circulation for the rest of the week.

Those that do buy the Telegraph for the competition alone are being ill-used here UNLESS the Telegraph doubles the prizes for next Monday's Hercuils. Will they do so? - of course not and it is this that Kate Mepham and the Telegraph should be ashamed about.

It is NOT rare that mistakes occur. Within the grid itself like this instance, yes, but overall errors appear with regularity in the GK crosswords - unlike the in-house Telegraph crosswords which only very rarely suffer from such errors.

Finally, we can see from the questions to Answerbank that most people do NOT do the prize competitions for fun but to try and win the prizes on offer. Were it the case that people did the crosswords for fun alone, we would see many more asking for help for the 'quick' crosswords that appear in the Telegraph every day - I have seen one or two of these but they are very few.

[taize]

I do not think that it is appropriate for KM to enter into 'preferred' discussion with Abers. It gives Abers an unfair advantage.

Others may -
submit with a 'variety of answers' (E_P_T; guess and put the word 'expat' in; enter pippit and Po e/p tic; etc.)

or not submit at all, knowing of previous way that the DT has handled compiler errors

KM should publish an apology with the answer next week (having apologised to one group (Abers), there is even less reason not to publish an apology to all - in any event, is it not the decision of the DT?