| # | Name | Clue | Points | Voters | Anno | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ramki Krishnan | Notable banks operate around Yankee state (3,4) | 39 | 20 | N-E (notable banks) + WORK (operate) around Y (Yankee), def = state |
- Great surface. Lovely wp. |
| 2 | Satyen Nabar | Where one might see extremely nimble Yankee in action? (3,4) | 38 | 20 | N(-imbl)E + Y in WORK; semi-&lit |
- Great surface with subtle baseball reference (solvable but not immediately obvious) - Great surface and wp - What is a semi-&lit? "Where one might see" is doing nothing here; just take the great rest of it and make it an actual clue. |
| 3 | N Anantakrishnan | Liberal Kerry (not Republican) won this state | 28 | 15 | Liberal - anagrind. (Kerry won - R)* Definition - state |
- Close to being a (vague) &lit, but "this" is superfluous. - The wp works fine but the surface doesn''t mean anything as Kerry didn''t run for president. |
| 4 | Madhusudan H | Empire state building owner with key, on vacation (3,4) | 27 | 16 | Defn: Empire State; Anagrind: Building; Fodder : {OWNER}+key on vacation{KY} |
- I don''t know New York by the abbreviation KY. - "Building" is too loose of an anagram indicator for me. |
| 5 | Maya Sharma | Volatile yen works mostly in this city(3,4) | 24 | 12 | Defn is this city, anagram of yen works-s |
- ''volatile yen works'' doesn''t mean anything to me. - NL: not so elegant to delete s from a word, not a bad surface though. |
| 6 | Samit kallianpur | From work, Roy went over to the city (3, 4) | 23 | 15 | Rev telescopic. From = tel indicator. Over = reversal indicator. Def = the city |
- A lovely rev tel. ''to'' isn''t a connector unfortunately. - "To" as a connector is extraneous |
| 7 | Textrous | Yank wrote about firing at the Empire State (3,4) | 20 | 8 | Def: the Empire State (a nickname for NY), YANKWROTE* - AT ("about" is the anagrind & "firing" is the deletion indicator); reference to the 2012 shooting incident |
- Great surface and construction! - NL: not sure whether many Americans find this term offensive but if not, great clue |
| 8 | @LowdownCryptic | State of wonky re-creation? (3,4) | 16 | 12 | "State" (i.e. New York state); "wonky re" (fodder); "of [fodder] creation" serves as anagrind. (Note: not &lit, but entire clue describes itself and cryptic anagram clues in general.) |
- The wp works fine but the surface doesn''t mean anything. |
| 9 | William Snow (@ContoCrosswords) | Where will you find Queens and most cardinals? The home of the archbishop | 13 | 7 | Where will you find Queens = definition / and / most cardinals = NEW (ref. cardinal points of compass) / the home of the archbishop = YORK (ref. The Archbishop of York) |
- Clever use of cardinals. ''the home of AN archbishop'' would have been better as there are many of them. - I love "most cardinals" for NEW, but the rest isn''t working and Queens being capitalized makes the surface read oddly. - Clever attempt! |
| 10 | Mona Sogal | Mad city, many worked haphazardly? (3,4) | 12 | 8 | Mad+ new york = many worked / CA |
- This yields "Mad New York," not "New York," no? - Lovely idea. For the surface grammar, I would use a semi-colon rather than a comma. - Smooth, and good find! |
| 11 | VENKATESAN P | Network cuts time around unknown city(3,4) | 12 | 7 | Definition: City; Anno: {NE(-T)W(Y)ORK}; Cuts=Deletion indicator;Time=T; Unkown=Y |
- Very elegant! - The wp works fine but the surface doesn''t mean anything. - Probably better with a synonym of network |
| 12 | Turn worn key to get big apple | 10 | 6 | ANAGRIND "Turn" ANAGRAM "worn key" Def: big apple |
- The wp works fine but the surface doesn''t mean anything. - NL: Surface? - Surface doesn''t seem to make sense. Also Big Apple needs to be capitalised |
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| 13 | Perhaps Yen works, $ is rejected? Quite the opposite here! (3,4) | 10 | 5 | Anagram of (Yen works) with S ($) deleted. Def is the whole clue |
- Ambitious, stretchy, lovely. - I don''t think ''yen works'' means anything. - NL: picky again but doesn''t seem aesthetically pleasing to take an s off the end of a word - The thought behind this seems to be clever! - $≠S (in the same way that ≠≠=) |
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| 14 | Yonkers: Interminable play about West Gotham (3,4) | 9 | 7 | Anagram fodder: YONKER ("Yonkers interminable"). Anagrind: "play". Containment indicator: "about". Contained letter: W ("West"). -> NE(W)YORK. Defn: Gotham. Surface refers to the play "Lost in Yonkers" by Neil Simon. |
- Is this &lit? I ask as I''m not familiar with the play. - NL: being picky but not so elegant to remove s at the end. Great anagram though. |
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| 15 | Big Apple crowd provides context for Broadway closing: theatrical debut is scrapped (3,4) | 8 | 5 | NE[-t]W(Y)ORK; "Big Apple" = New York; "crowd" = NETWORK, "provides context for" is a container indicator (i.e., surrounds) the Y from "Broadway closing" |
- Great surface and wp - Good connections made! - I like this idea, but “crowd”=NETWORK seems a bit tenuous |
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| 16 | The big apple-tree belt according to Spooner (3,4) | 8 | 5 | Def: The big apple Spoonerism - Yew (Tree) Knock (Belt - as per Chambers) |
- I really want this to work, but isn''t this "New Yock"? Even "Yawk" doesn''t sound quite right. - ''knock'' and ''york'' have very different vowels in my part of the world. The surface doesn''t mean anything. - NL: hp doesn''t work for me, y...or...k not y...ock, that can happen though. - Appropriately non-rhotic! |
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| 17 | State you're in after turning south into West Yonkers High | 8 | 3 | def=state; (YONKER[S>W)*. Yonkers is in NY state; sadly there isn't a West Yonkers High (School) but if there was, that's where it would be! |
- Surface doesn''t quite make sense, but nice idea! - Nice surface. Wouldn''t the def be ''state you''re in''? Otherwise ''you''re in'' is extraneous. - NL: cool idea but I don''t think schools are ever on state borders nor would you instruct one to turn N, E, S or W to go into a school. - Clever! |
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| 18 | Just crowned king inherited monarchy finally, gold and a big place to stay (3, 4) | 7 | 5 | Just crowned king = NEW K; taking monarchy finally, gold = Y OR. Def = a big place to stay |
- There are better defs you could have chosen to fit the context of the surface story: state, city, big city, inland state etc - NL: indirect wordplay to get NEW K from just crowned king, without even a ?. A shame because it''s a fantastic surface. - Topical! (Or will be soon, once the coronation takes place) |
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| 19 | Modern terrier snubs shire for big smoke | 7 | 4 | NEW (modern) YORKshire (type of terrier) deletion indicator (snubs [-shire]) Def: big smoke |
- What is "big smoke"? - Fun story. Great wp. - “The Big Smoke”, to me, means either London or Toronto |
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| 20 | Renew Yorkshires hidden city (7) | 7 | 4 | Hidden word reNEW YORKshires |
- Telescopics ideally straddle 3+ words. The surface doesn''t mean anything. - NL: basically a root issue I guess - Not very hidden—the new in renew and the York in Yorkshire are the same words as their counterparts in New York |
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| 21 | Money, in a second, disappears - work furiously in the city that never sleeps (3,4) | 6 | 5 | {M̶o̶ ney work}* In a second = mo' ; furiously = anagram indicator; definition = city that never sleeps |
- Lovely surface. ''Mo'' doesn''t equal ''in a second'' in my part of the world. ''Mo'' means only ''second / minute'' here. - This is (A [modified] + B)[anagrammed]; I like the "in a second disappears" idea, but the surface is rough. - NL: in a sec = in a mo'' not just ''mo''. A shame, it''s a lovely surface - mo = second (from moment) and not "in a second" IMO |
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| 22 | King, with extreme care, right now traveling across unknown city (3,4) | 6 | 5 | Anno: [K (car)E R NOW]* over Y. Traveling is anagrind . Def: City |
- Great surface and wp - Fair attempt! |
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| 23 | Rocky disheartened in the Big Apple | 5 | 4 | ro(-c)ky disheartened perhaps (reverse anagram indicator) in def: the Big Apple - NEW (anagrind) YORK* |
- Nice idea, but "perhaps" is missing and clue would need tweaking since this reverse anagram is a two-step process - indicator missing per typo, unfortunately - It''s a shame t you didn''t include ? as a reverse anagram clue indicator in the clue. - Interesting device, but quite unfair to the solver, a step too many - NL: indirect wordplay, quite solvable but technically indirect |
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| 24 | Big city in Yemen is in network after timeout? (3,4) | 5 | 4 | Big City = def. Yemen = Y, contained in NETWORK after timeout (i.e. removing T) - NEW[Y]ORK |
- Nice surface. - NL: Surface? - Is Y a standard abbreviation for Yemen? (YE is the tld, YAR is the vehicle registration code.) “Big city, capital of Yemen…” might work better - Surface does not seem to make sense IMO |
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| 25 | Races to skip Ayers Rock, changed follwoing different directions to a big city (3,4) | 5 | 2 | YORK (AYERS ROCK - RACES)* following NEW (N, E, W = different directions) |
- Always proofread prior to submission. - NL: Surface? |
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| 26 | Some ingénue you’re casting in a radio show describes the view looking east from Hoboken (3, 4) | 3 | 4 | Telescopic (‘some’) homophone (‘in a radio show describes’): ingéNUE YOU’RE Casting. New York is what you’d see looking east across the Hudson River from Hoboken, NJ |
- A hidden homophone; gloriously devious. - The first homophonic telescopic I''ve seen; I''m not sure it''s an accepted clue type. - A telescopic homophone, new one for me, kudos for the effort. Feels unfair though, HPs are challenging as is - NL: telescopic homophone. Cool idea. Just a bit long. - Haven''t seen a telescopic + homophone clue before, I''m not sure how fair this is. But I like the way your mind works! |
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| 27 | State of Kanye West run over in backlash after spewing antisemitism initially (3,4) | 3 | 2 | Def State, KANYE W R O* - A |
- Lovely surface story. I don''t accept ''in backlash'' as an anagram indicator. - NL: not convinced by backlash as an anagrind. Impressive surface though. - Topical! But “in backlash” suggests reversal to me, rather than anagramming |
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| 28 | This city's soul knew your loss anyway | 2 | 4 | Composite Anagram. (New York's soul)* = knew your loss. Anyway is anagrind |
- The wp works fine but the surface doesn''t mean anything except for if it were in a poem. - Something poetic about the surface! |
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| 29 | A large crowded city backing yankee or king and Queens is found here | 2 | 2 | Wen (large crowdes city) <=(revesal) Y Or K. Def:Queens (county) is found here. |
- The surface doesn''t mean anything. The surface grammar doesn''t work with ''is'' when combined with ''queens'' in the context of royal people. Better would be ''.... backing yankee or king and queens ARE found here'' but still the surface doesn''t mean anything. - NL: Surface? Clever albeit challenging use of wen. - Clever, though “wen” is a bit obscure |
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| 30 | Occasionally envy capital city (3,4) | 2 | 2 | Occasionally envy = ny, capital = NY, city (definition) |
- I don''t think "capital" works as an indicator to make NY into New York. - Wordplay should give the full answer instead of its abbr. - Wordplay is for NY, not New York - NL: indirect. Wordplay leads to NY not New York. Great surface though. - The wordplay points to NY (2) rather than NEW YORK (3, 4). And I don’t think “capital” contributes anything other than misdirection |
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| 31 | My network dismantled taking out MT for big apple.(3,4) | 2 | 1 | def: big apple. fodder : "my network-mt". Anagrind : "dismantled. |
- What is ''MT''? - NL: Surface? - Big Apple needs to be capitalised |
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| 32 | State the leaders of Newburgh, Elmira, Watertown, Yonkers, Oswego, Rochester, Kingston (3,4) | 1 | 1 | acrostic |
- I am not a fan of long acrostics that are achieved by making a list. - NL: nothing technically wrong with this just not very exciting |
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| 33 | 0 | 3 |
- Lost in New York? Brilliant! - Clearly the best clue here |
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| 34 | City that was nobly evacuated (3,4) | 0 | N(-obl)Y |
- I don’t like the past tense for the cryptic grammar - Wordplay should give the full answer instead of its abbr. - Wordplay is for NY, not New York - NL: indirect wordplay. This is a clue for NY not New York. Nice surface idea except for nobly, needlessly? - The wordplay points to NY (2) rather than NEW YORK (3, 4) |