Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

1 vote each for;
dorrien 14
paul 15
spike 23
jono 27
paulh 29
patrich 33

Two people still need to vote
Their favorite clues they'll denote
The time I'll extend
As prizes depend
On their quote-ballots-unquote

Apologies, forgot I entered...

1 each to:
jono @10
mattrom @12
spike2 @22
jono @25
paulh @29
patrich @33

Time's up, bakers. At issue was ISSUE, a word with over 90 synonyms in Chambers Thesaurus. While no one attempted the rare octuple-def, the clues were, as always, of the highest quality. On the podium we have 6 votes for paul@15 and 7 votes for mattrom@12, with a tie on 8 votes for both jono@27 and paulh@29.

Since jono got an outright first place vote and paulh did not, tie goes to jono@27 for the crickety:

Aussie spin not Atherton’s first concern

Well done jono!

First, a victory limerick:

A brave group of scribes (most from Britain)
Set forth clever clues they had written.
A fellow named Jon
(En Español, "Juan"):
With his entry it's clear they were smitten.

Next, indicating that it's perhaps best to start with the prize and work backwards, I found that there are very few YouTube videos related to ISSUE that aren't just political rants. So in the spirit of cryptics I will instead anagram the word and present two prizes based on that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LojqhHnmyvc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBg5EkLwnus

Well done, Jono (and PaulH). Thanks for hosting, Buddy.

Thanks to Jono, PaulH, Mattrom and Geeker for the votes. Pleased to get something for my efforts.

Well done, jono. Well-deserved, I probably should have voted for that clue but cricket references go over my (American) head. Difficult choices, entrants have been on top of their collective game recently.
Thanks to buddy for hosting.

Many thanks Buddy for the challenge and the clips. Thanks to all for votes. Sorry to pip you PaulH, there’ll be other times. See you all next weekend if not before.

In limerick response… (sorry it’s best I could come up with)…

When faced with a challenge from Buddy
The waters can get somewhat muddy
Old cricketing puns
Might seem like some fun
Or are they a little fuddy-duddy?

Bravo jono, a real googly of a clue. Thanks for a very nice word, buddy and thanks to tyke51, spike2, jono, dorrien and mattrom for your kind votes.

Well done, Jono. My two votes for you showed that I, a Times man, forgive you for Atherton not being dead yet.

Thanks to all who gave me a vote or two and thanks for hosting, buddy. Did you realise that on Friday, your setting day, The Times clued ISSUE thus as 7 down:

Leader dissociated from lies, potentially, in publication (5)

Wouldn't have been in my top 6 here.

Well done Jono - cheers Buddy - thanks for a vote Chrise!