| # | Name | Clue | Points | Voters | Anno | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lily Geller (@lilygeller) | Gargling Listerine is tough (9) | 40 | 21 | Def: "tough" – someone who is resilient might be said to be tough. Wordplay: LISTERINE* (anagrind "gargling"). |
- Funny. - Nice idea - Very smooth surface and nice anagrind and anagram finds. |
| 2 | @LowdownCryptic | About 50 entries? I will enter, rising to the challenge! (9) | 38 | 19 | Anagram ("About") of L ("50") + ENTRIES, with "I" entering. Def = "rising to the challenge!" (the challenge being 1ACCWC, in this case!) |
- If there had been about 50 entries this week, I''d have given this a 4 for predictive powers. |
| 3 | Madhusudan H | Strong hearts of oppressed civilians relenting ? (9) | 38 | 17 | Defn = STRONG, Hearts of opp{RES}sed civ{ILI}ians rel{ENT}ing |
- Doesn''t quite work (LI would be the second heart, and "relenting" clashes with the surface), but love the idea! - Good one - heart of civilians = LI not ILI - Lovely |
| 4 | Samit kallianpur | New 'Listerine Strong' (9) | 34 | 17 | Listerine*. New = anagrind. Def = Strong. [Listerine is a common mouthwash] |
- Love this clue. I would suggest New Listerine "Strong"! - Nice! - Will be surprised if this is not the winner. |
| 5 | Textrous | Tough English mum sheltered one after the end of war (9) | 31 | 18 | Def:Tough, English:E, mum: SILENT, sheltered:containment indicator, one:I, the end of war:R |
- "Mum" for "silent" is devious, in the best way. - Probably works with just " end of war" without "the" |
| 6 | Myra Shah | Tries line dancing to get fit (9) | 29 | 14 | (tries line)* anagrind - dancing, definition - fit |
- Definition does not seem quite right - Fun! - Good surface - definition could be improved - How does fit = resilient? - Very nice, just not sure about the def, “to become tough” would have been better |
| 7 | anand ranganathan | Hardy is cooking rice with lentils, dropping bits of curry leaves | 27 | 16 | (RICE+LENTILS)* -CL |
- The misdirect of Hardy as a name, and the cooking theme works really well. |
| 8 | Arjun Mukerjee | Strong interest in Satanic rites (9) | 22 | 13 | LIEN in (RITES)*, "lien" is "the security interest created by a mortgage" (Merriam-Webster), anagrind: "Satanic", def: strong. |
- lien is not interest in any form, it is ''security''. Picking one word from a definition sentence does not work. This will still get votes. - Nice - Very clever. |
| 9 | Adman_i | Bouncy pitch lies inert | 16 | 10 | Bouncy - Definition. Pitch - Anagrind for lies + inert |
- "lies" does not fit well with "pitch" as a cricket pitch |
| 10 | Ramki Krishnan | Strong setter goes through "Listener" cryptic (9) | 14 | 7 | I (setter) in LISTENER*, def = strong |
- Nice surface from a strong setter! |
| 11 | Tough! Settled trade 51 for 500! | 13 | 7 | def: tough ; settled RESIdENT trade (replace) 51 (+LI) for 500 (-d) : RESI(-d)(+LI)ENT |
- Feels like "Settled" is the wrong form ("Settler") for resident; I like the idea of swapping LI/D, but it makes for a bumpy surface. |
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| 12 | Bouncing back I let reins free (9) | 10 | 6 | Def: Bouncing back. Anagrind: Free. Anagram fodder: I let reins | ||
| 13 | Strong as alloy in steel with right ingredients basically (9) | 10 | 4 | Def: strong. Alloy is anagrind. (IN STEEL R I)*. In cryptic reading ‘Strong represented as wp’. | ||
| 14 | Silent ire becomes irrepressible (9) | 9 | 7 | Def - irrepressible, silent ire* | ||
| 15 | Bent tensile Iridium is able to spring back into its original shape. (9) | 9 | 7 | Anagram indicator: bent Fodder: TENSILE+IR (Ir is the chemical symbol for Iridium) Definition: able to spring back into its original shape. |
- Good clue but Iridium is brittle :P |
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| 16 | Tries anyhow to hold battered line, reluctant to back down (9) | 9 | 6 | (Tries)* containing (line)*; Definition: Reluctant to back down | ||
| 17 | Lies inert when ill and is able to bounce back (8) | 8 | 6 | def: able to bounce back; Anagram of (Lies inert); Anagrind: when ill |
- Great anagrind, adds to the surface. - not a fan of "and is" as a connector. |
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| 18 | England's Queen goes back without talking about India being capable of regaining its original shape | 7 | 6 | RE (ER reversed -- England's Queen goes back) SILENT (without talking) about I (India). Definition: being capable of regaining its original shape |
- Regaining shape sort of spoils the surface . Bouncing back would have lifted the clue |
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| 19 | Tough personalities in revolt abandon rubbish soap | 7 | 5 | def=tough; subtractive anagram=*(PERSONALITIES) –*(SOAP) |
- Lovely clue. I wonder whether this could have been made into a composite anagram. |
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| 20 | Firm quiet about core committee chasing money (9) | 7 | 4 | Def: Firm. SILENT (quiet) about I (core committee) chasing RE (money) | ||
| 21 | Strong Queen reflecting with calm about start of interlocution (9) | 7 | 4 | ER(Queen)<<< (reflecting) + (with) SILENT (calm) around I(nterlocution). Def: Strong. Surface refers to Queen watching developments in Ukraine hoping for dialogue | ||
| 22 | Strong Pilsener, it leaves Penny tipsy (9) | 6 | 5 | (PILSENER IT)* - P (Penny abbrev); tipsy= anag ind, defn= strong, both spellings of the lager beer 'Pilsener' and "Pilsner' are fine (checked in Dictionary) |
- A great idea. Your deletion sequence means "penny" minus "it" or "penny" minus "pilsener it". - The "it" is redundant and spoils cryptic reading - The deletion indicator doesn''t quite work for me, directionally |
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| 23 | Hardy in Listener cryptic featuring writer (9) | 5 | 5 | Def Hardy. Anagram of LISTENER containing I (Writer) | ||
| 24 | “That Neil is errant partly”, gave up Hardy (8) | 5 | 3 | Hidden backwards (partly gave UP) in "thaT NEIL IS ERrant". Def: Hardy |
- Thomas Hardy is such a great author; ''The Mayor of Casterbridge'' being my favourite. |
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| 25 | Inter-isle flight’s good for a quick return (9) | 5 | 3 | “inter-isle” anagram ; definition is “good for a quick return” |
- Creative anagram and nice surface - Not sure about the nounal anagram; maybe "flying"? |
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| 26 | Reels it in somehow when situation gets out of control (9) | 4 | 4 | (REELSITIN)* Anagrind - somehow. Extended def. | ||
| 27 | Plastic rattle's walls still contained injurious lead (9) | 4 | 4 | RESILIENT (Plastic) is RE (rattle's walls) + SILENT (still) around (contained) I (leading letter of injurious) |
- I like the wordplay and the story here - The surface doesn''t seem to mean anything. |
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| 28 | Strong relief, getting one right (9) | 4 | 3 | Defn: strong RES(I)(LIEN)T relief=rest, getting - container indicator, one = I right = lien, | ||
| 29 | Silent ire transforms into being strong and adaptable. (9) | 4 | 3 | Being strong and adaptable = Def; SILENT & IRE = Anagram fodder; Transforms=Anagrind |
- Nice surface |
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| 30 | Perhaps line Putin tries crossing is volatile (9) | 4 | 2 | LIEN* (perhaps line) put in (read Putin as put in; PS. setter can use capitalization to mislead) TRIES* (crossing as anagrind in the sense of making a hybrid). Def = VOLATILE |
- Definition does not seem quite right - Like the topical surface and the clever misdirection |
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| 31 | Tough exam retake interrupted by topless alien | 3 | 3 | Exam retake = RESIT; Topless Alien is LIEN; 'Interrupted by' is the container indicator; Def = Tough |
- This one made me titter. |
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| 32 | Flexible about one surrounded by dumb(9) | 2 | 2 | Defn is flexible, about is re, dumb is silent , Re sil(i)ent |
- I think the surface doesn''t work. ie how can something be surrounded by dumb? - One can’t be surrounded by dumb as dumb is not a noun |
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| 33 | Diamondback settles in, desperately tries to be able to adjust to new surroundings | 2 | 2 | NEIL (Diamond) backward in anagram of TRIES |
- I love the wordplay of "Diamondback" |
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| 34 | Strong, bottomless wine's intoxicating beginning in still (8) | 2 | 2 | RE[-d]+SIL(I)ENT | Strong = def; bottomless wine = RE[-d]; intoxicating beginning = I; still = SILENT |
- Not getting sense of the surface |
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| 35 | Tough to release silent ire | 2 | 1 | Tough - definition; release - anagrind; silent ire* |
- Def to Wordplay doesn’t work - it should be Wordplay to Definition. Dont think Release works as an Anagram Indicator. |
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| 36 | Supple elastic independent listener (9) | 1 | 1 | Independent (I+listener) = fodder elastic = indicator Supple= Resilient |
- Nice. For the surface, it would be better to have a comma between each adjective. |
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| 37 | Not exactly lie in rest to be able to recover quickly | 1 | 1 | *lieinrest,, not exactly = anagrind, Definition: able to recover quickly | ||
| 38 | Stretch of isle I unexpectedly found in gulf (9) | 1 | 1 | Def (stretch) // islei* inside rent (gulf) | ||
| 39 | Elastic free of resin crushed with fractured liner. | 0 | Def : Elastic. 'Elastic' also part of fodder; resin =lac . RESILIENT = (elastic-lac+liner)* |
- enum is 9. Lac+liner is only 8 - Nice idea. ''Elastic'' is doing double duty. |
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| 40 | Flexible client loses head following Seri somehow.. | 0 | lient(Client -c) Somehow is anagram for Seri, flexible is the definition. |
- Surface! |