| # | Name | Clue | Points | Voters | Anno | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saurabh Upadhyay | Predictable loss at home against England (7) | 25 | 17 | Def: Predictable. Anno: Charade. Loss = ROUT, at home = IN, against = next to, England = E. Surface is sports related | |
| 2 | Suyash Roongta | Complicated in utero procedure (7) | 23 | 17 | {IN UTERO}*. Anagram indicator - complicated. Def - procedure. |
- Simple but very good - Of the two “in utero” clues, I think this one has the better cryptic grammar |
| 3 | Manish Jhaveri | Star out in expensive clothes everyday (7) | 21 | 13 | Telescopic clue with clothes as the hidden word indicator. Def = everyday |
- nicely phrased, but def is "everyday" and surface sense needs "every day" - Should be every day in the surface to make sense - Surface needs every day rather than everyday? |
| 4 | Brian Kogler | General practitioner, out in emergency wards (7) | 20 | 12 | [(practitione)R OUT IN E(mergency), Hidden Indicator: “wards” (guards, protects), Def: “General”] |
- Nice - So many lurkers, but this takes first prize for me! - Good - not sure why you need the comma - Ward (vb) = protect/guard is an archaic usage. Nice surface though - Wards is not a hidden word indicator. |
| 5 | Ramki Krishnan | Countries bombing borders at war is typical (7) | 18 | 13 | Def = typical, Anagram of COUNTRIES with C-S removed (bombing = del ind, borders = end chars, at war = anagram ind) |
- Nice and topical - Don’t know how bombing is deletion Ind |
| 6 | Gayathri Viswanath | It is ordinary but popular in a way (7) | 18 | 13 | Def - it is ordinary ROUT(IN)E |
- root issue? - Route and routine share same roots |
| 7 | Samit kallianpur | Countries endlessly at war....everyday (7) | 17 | 11 | [(-c)ountrie(s)]*. Endlessly = ind to delete both ends of 'countries'. At war = anagrind. Def = everyday [Collins]. |
- Surface needs every day rather than everyday? |
| 8 | Sparsh Sinha | Typical run out dismissing opener at crease (7) | 15 | 13 | Def - Typical, run = r + out + (crease=line , dismissing opener= ine)= routine |
- ‘at’ between the deleticator and fodder hinders the instruction |
| 9 | @LowdownCryptic | Series of letters from affair out in Evening Standard (7) | 15 | 13 | Hidden in "affaiR OUT IN Evening", def: Standard |
- One of the best tele clues |
| 10 | Satyen Nabar | Procedure performed in utero (7) | 15 | 12 | (IN UTERO)*, performed= anag ind, defn= procedure |
- Good but I marginally prefer the other in utero clue for the clearer anagram indication |
| 11 | CrypticBlah | Order developing countries to drop borders (7) | 15 | 11 | Subtractive anagram - developing (c)OUNTRIE(s). Definition order. |
- Very pedantic comment but the order of the instructions seems slightly off since the borders need to be dropped before the anagram - Surface meaning? |
| 12 | Schedule for exciting tour in Capital of Estonia(7) | 10 | 9 | Definition is schedule, anag of tour*+in+e |
- Definition for wordplay - def - def for wordplay |
|
| 13 | Neurotic criminal caught escaping procedure (7) | 10 | 8 | Def: procedure, Anagrind: criminal ("criminal" is a noun in the surface reading but an adjectival anagrind in the cryptic reading), NEUROTIC* - C (caught escaping) |
- Nice |
|
| 14 | It's customary to wander out in expensive trousers | 10 | 7 | Lurker |
- “To” spoils it for me - Is there a verb meaning of trousers ? |
|
| 15 | Predictable defeat during final quarter of game (7) | 9 | 9 | rout + in(during) + e; definition is “predictable” | ||
| 16 | Usual, wild eruption when principle character in play comes out (7) | 9 | 8 | Usual- def, ERUPTION* - P |
- should be "principal" |
|
| 17 | Untie or unite, as usual (7) | 9 | 6 | Anagram indicator: UNITE, fodder: OR UNITE, definition: as usual |
- "unite" doesn''t seem like an anagrind - Surface meaning?? |
|
| 18 | Unopened salt water bottles on sale as usual (7) | 8 | 6 | Unopened = first letter deletion indicator Salt water = BRINE BRINE-B = RINE Bottles = container indicator On sale = OUT As = Connector Definition = Usual {-bR(OUT)INE} |
- Neat wordplay |
|
| 19 | Predictable Canadian specialty – right takes power (7) | 8 | 6 | "Predictable"=ROUTINE (def.). "Canadian specialty"=POUTINE. "right"=R. "takes"=replaces (as in chess). "power"=P. (R replaces P in POUTINE.) |
- The chess metaphor for replacement is a bit of a stretch, but I’m giving this a point for CanCon |
|
| 20 | Way to cover up naked kink act | 8 | 5 | Definition: Act Wordplay: ROUTE (Way) around (to cover up) kINk (naked kink) |
- Route and routine share same roots - Act as a definition is a stretch. Just like note as definition for Mention last week. |
|
| 21 | Constituents of Bridgewater out in election cycle | 7 | 6 | Lurker -'Constituents of' BridgewateR OUT IN Election |
- Constituent would be better cryptic grammar. Fodder should be treated a singular |
|
| 22 | Basically regular, ordinary, usual, typical, invariable, normal, everyday (7) | 7 | 6 | Acrostic &lit; Basically = Acrostic Indicator; First letters of the fodder makes up ROUTINE | ||
| 23 | Regime’s Russian despot beheaded, buried in caviar (7) | 7 | 4 | RO(pUTIN)E; def.: regime |
- (If only!) |
|
| 24 | Wont appear out in everyday clothes (7) | 5 | 4 | Hidden in Plain Sight. Indicator - Clothes, Def - Wont (Chambers) |
- For the clue grammar to work, it will need to be "won''t", right? - I wanted to try wont as a def masquerading as won''t but couldn''t make it work. Sadly neither does this. - Surface reading wants an apostrophe in “wont” - Won’t in the surface needs a hyphen - a shame; nice clue otherwise |
|
| 25 | Usual bluster, out in editorial section. (7) | 5 | 3 | Hidden word (indicated by section). Defn. Usual (in adj. sense) | ||
| 26 | Not neurotic. No craziness to begin with. Just normal (7) | 4 | 4 | Just normal (Definition) - {(NEUROTIC)-(C......s)}*, Not - Anagrind, No - Deletion indicator |
- not sure how ''not'' works as anagrind? - Not sure how not is an anagrind - Not is not an anagram indicator |
|
| 27 | Defeat in everything at the start can be a tedium (7) | 4 | 3 | ROUT IN E. Definition: Tedium |
- root issue? |
|
| 28 | Regularly ordinary, unimaginative tedium, infact normal..everyday beginnings (7) | 3 | 3 | Acrostic |
- ‘In fact’ is two words, which spoils the acrostic (ROUTIFNE) |
|
| 29 | Course of section of river out in Egypt | 3 | 2 | Definition: "course"; "section of" "riveR OUT IN Egypt" | ||
| 30 | Slice headless trout in Europe is normal | 3 | 2 | [Slice]-hidden trigger [headless] {t}rout in E{urope} normal - def. |
- I think that should be "slice *of* headless trout..." - An ‘of’ after ‘slice’ would make both the surface and the cryptic reading work better. And you don’t need ‘headless’, as you’ve got a containment indicator anyway - What does headless do? - Not sure how it properly works |
|
| 31 | Traditional home Inside pathway(7) | 3 | 2 | Definition: Traditional. Anno: (ROUT(IN) E). Home - IN. Pathway - ROUTE. Inside - Content indicator |
- root issue? - Route and routine share same roots |
|
| 32 | Formula 1's new circuit introduced | 2 | 2 | Def - Formula. IN inside ROUTE. Containment indicator - introduced. (Circuit introduced IN) |
- ‘introduced’ suggests ROUTE is in IN rather than IN being in ROUTE - Yoda + route and routine share same roots - 1’s doesn’t work for I, container indicator doesn’t work to contain IN either - root issue? |
|
| 33 | Doctor: "Broken toe in ruin. Just another day!" (7) | 2 | 2 | letters T,O, E in RUIN - ROUTINE |
- Doesn’t work, IMO . Also E is at the end |
|
| 34 | Visiting course at home for practice (7) | 2 | 2 | IN inside (visiting) ROUTE; def = practice (golf surface) |
- Not sure order works for cryptic reading - root issue? - Yoda + route snd routine share same roots |