[Max Goodman]

Congrats to all the winners and HMs!

Is Ms. Casement saying that Bob's entry didn't rhyme well for her ear? (I must, as usual, be misunderstanding something.)

[Roger Slater]

Good point, Max. I didn't notice that. I can't tell what she meant by that comment. My entry, which was certainly not nearly good enough to win on numerous grounds, used only perfect rhymes and did not employ inversions or strained syntax to accomplish those rhymes. It was a bit boring and lacking in overall wit, I'll acknowledge, but the rhymes were not the culprit.

[FOsen]

Congratulations to the rogue's gallery -- John, I trust the diet lemonade is on you, this week?

Frank

[Gail White]

Hurray, I thought John had a winner there.

[Lance Levens]

Good skimping, John and Chris. I thought George's shrinking piece would win.

[Chris O'Carroll]

When I read John's entry, I assumed that mine was a goner. Surely there wouldn't be two winners with that more-salvation-bound-than-thou attitude. And if there was to be just one, the obvious choice was the poem with the longer lines and juicy internal rhyming. There's a voluptuous aural pleasure there that's fun for its own sake, and even more fun for its contrast with the joyless life the poem describes. (Comparable to the contrast in Pirates of Penzance between the loud bombast of the "catlike tread" song and the lyrics about stealthy silence.) I trust those vouchers will buy some taste treats that Simeon Stylites would abominate.

The judge's "early death" quip is baffling. Maybe the point is that somebody who pees just once a week is courting death by renal failure?

In any event, congratulations all around.

[Roger Slater]

Chris, I think you figured out "early death" -- at least it's as plausible as any other explanation they can expect their readers to infer.

[Jerome Betts]

John, you posted the Staggers 'Asceticism' result on 26 February and it was Comp No 4165. 'Lonelyhearts' was Comp No 4166 and we haven't had the result yet, presumably due this week. However the tweaked book titles one which you referred to as 'Clever Staggers' seems to have the number 4167 and I haven't seen a result posted here, but would presume if the numbering is right it will be next week. However, you replied to Orwn's query about 'Clever Staggers' with something like 'nothing for any of us there' suggesting you had seen a result. Has the Staggers got the numbering wrong or something?

I ask because I received an email from 'Vicky' the the comps editor at the NS this afternoon asking for my address via a 'Reply' to my book titles entry of the 19th January. (Although my address was actually on the entry in the usual manner.)