| # | Name | Clue | Points | Voters | Anno | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ganesh Raman | Mint one fake note | 32 | 19 | Anagram of MINT ONE; Anagrind FAKE; Def NOTE | |
| 2 | Avtaar | Middle East country liberated a state (7) | 30 | 19 | ME (Ref Chambers dictionary)- NATION-A. Def: State |
- Neat but liberating would work better for the cryptic grammar |
| 3 | Samit kallianpur | Intimate sex: nobody gets it after retirement (7) | 26 | 14 | [(M) + en(ti)on]. Sex = M (male). Nobody = none. Gets = container ind. It=it. After retirement = reversal ind. Def = intimate | |
| 4 | CrypticBlah | Somehow nominate without a name? (7) | 22 | 16 | Sub anagram *NOMINATE minus A. Definition name. Whimsical surface as it's clearly impossible to nominate(mention by name) without a name. | |
| 5 | Abhay Phadnis | Talk about half of humanity, fifty percent of creation | 21 | 13 | Definition: “Talk about”; Charade of MEN ("half of humanity") + TION (“fifty percent of creaTION") |
- Very nice! |
| 6 | @ahope1.bsky.social | Note after note after note..? Nothing new to note! (7) | 21 | 13 | Charade clue. "Note after note after note" = TI (musical note), after N (abbrev. of "note"), after ME (alt. spelling of mus. note mi). "Nothing" = O (Chambers). "new" = N (abbr.). "to note" = to MENTION. | |
| 7 | Satyen Nabar | Intimate in no time, dancing close to maiden (7) | 17 | 12 | (NO TIME)* + (maide)N; defn= intimate, in= link, dancing= anag ind, close to maiden= n (last letter sel ind) |
- Best clue in a strong field |
| 8 | Heidi Schroeder | Intimate noontime diversion? One round’s enough! (7) | 17 | 11 | noontime* -o; definition is “intimate” | |
| 9 | @LowdownCryptic | Guys into wrestling, say (7) | 16 | 12 | MEN (guys) + INTO* (wrestling); Def: say | |
| 10 | Adman_i | Award is not mine, maybe (7) | 15 | 11 | Award (Definition) - (NOT MINE)*, Maybe - Anagrind | |
| 11 | Guys, turn it on for an announcement (7) | 14 | 11 | MEN <|
| | |
| 12 | Advance soldiers into manoeuvres | 13 | 10 | MEN + INTO*; def = advance, as in suggest a name forward | ||
| 13 | Talk about guys getting into trouble | 12 | 10 | MEN INTO* | ||
| 14 | Quote from leaders of Middle East negotiating trading in oil: "Never!" (7) | 12 | 8 | Def = quote, acrostic | ||
| 15 | Like Josh Inglis and Shubman Gill, Kohli finally cracked century, say (7) | 11 | 8 | Anno: MEN = like Josh Inglis and Shubman Gill (def by example) + I (Kohli finally) going through (cracked) TON (century). Def = say |
- I love this construction, it’s a fab surface, all apart from the definition, sorry! I just think it spoils a really nice surface. |
|
| 16 | Suggestion for guys about lack of sex appeal (7) | 11 | 8 | Definition: Suggestion. MEN (guys) + (<- NO IT = lack of sex appeal) reversal indicated by about. |
- For? |
|
| 17 | Nominate revolutionary to suppress a state (7) | 10 | 10 | Def: state, NOMINATE* (revolutionary is the anagrind) - A | ||
| 18 | Talk about squaddies and leaders in the invasion of Normandy (7) | 9 | 8 | MEN (squaddies) + T I O N (acrostic, indicated by ‘leaders in…’); talk about = def. | ||
| 19 | Soldiers got into trouble for remark (7) | 9 | 8 | Def - remark, men+into* | ||
| 20 | People avoid dictator's state | 9 | 7 | People (men) avoid (shun) dictator's (hp indicator) state (def) |
- Nice idea but doesn’t work so well with dictator’s after avoid - The homophone was a great spot but I don’t think the indicator works in that position sorry! |
|
| 21 | Address soldiers getting into problem (7) | 7 | 7 | Definition: Address. Anno: (MEN) (INTO*). Soldiers - Men. Into - Anagram fodder. Problem - Anagrind | ||
| 22 | People in Bremen called for raise (7) | 6 | 6 | [MENSCHEN (“people in Bremen”, i.e. German for "people") ~ MENTION (HP Indicator: “called”/"called for"), Def. “raise”] | ||
| 23 | Proposal to have space for love making say? (7) | 6 | 4 | MoTION to have EN (space in printing) for O (love) = (making) Say |
- Nearly great but isn’t love-making hyphenated or even one word? |
|
| 24 | People (not I) in excitement get intimate (7) | 5 | 5 | MEN+ NOT I*/ IN EXCITEMENT S ANAGRIND/ INTIMATE IS DEF | ||
| 25 | Running in no time, one is going to get the report (7) | 5 | 3 | (IN NO TIME-I)*. Running: Anagrind. Definition: Report | ||
| 26 | Soldiers from the East avoid sex that's intimate (7) | 4 | 3 | MEN TI ON<<, Def: Intimate, Men - Soldiers, From the East - Reversal Indicator, IT - Sex | ||
| 27 | Say, party time without new song essentially (7) | 2 | 2 | Definition is say, party is anagrind, n in time* + on |
- I don''t see how party works as an anagrind? |
|
| 28 | Say, one in hundred follow Albert Einstein and Erwin Schrodinger, for example | 2 | 2 | Def - say. T(I)ON after MEN - DBE |
- NL: This had great potential but maybe it''s my lack of science background but these don''t seem like interesting people: Trump/Tate/Musk possibly? |
|
| 29 | Guys, sex is backward, live for recognition | 2 | 2 | MEN (Guys), TI (sex IT is backward) ON (live), for (connecting word, Def.: recognition | ||
| 30 | Business from the East carrying no operating statement | 1 | 1 | 'business' = ITEM; 'from the East' yields METI, 'carrying no' yields ME(N)TI, + 'operating' yields ME(N)TI+ON; 'statement'=mention (literal def) | ||
| 31 | State intention to take tin and mix with 10% molybdenum | 1 | 1 | 'State' = definition. Take TIN from INTENTION = ENTION. Mix with 10% Molybdenum (M) | ||
| 32 | State of people into working out (7) | 1 | 1 | STATE- Def, People- MEN INTO* | ||
| 33 | Note one example - Knights not retreating, taking White's central piece | 1 | 1 | Definition: Note Wordplay: MEN (One example - knights) + TON (not retreating) around I (White’s central piece) |