| # | Name | Clue | Points | Voters | Anno | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Satyen Nabar | Fine actor in unconventional part (8) | 36 | 25 | F + (ACTOR IN)*; fine= F (abbrev), unconventional= anag ind, defn= part |
- Neat |
| 2 | Samit Kallianpur | I avoided conflict for a bit (8) | 26 | 16 | [Fr(-i + a)tion] Friction, with I leaving for a. Conflict = friction. Def = bit |
- Not sure the substitution quite works |
| 3 | CrypticBlah | Party split by resistance to proportional representation? | 25 | 14 | Insertion of R (electrical resistance) in FACTION (party). Cryptic and literal definition proportional representation. Surface is true of many political parties. |
- Lovely! - Great surface. Not keen on ‘to’ as link word |
| 4 | Aaron Riccio (@thatcrypticguy) | Unpopular crime like 9/11? (8) | 24 | 14 | [-in]FRACTION | |
| 5 | manish jhaveri | Leaders of Far Right movement create division [8] | 22 | 13 | F R (= leaders of Far Right); ACTION (= movement); DEF = DIVISION (create is the connector) |
- Nice clue but create is incorrectly conjugated. Creating would fix this. - (no need to capitalise “far right”) |
| 6 | Suyash Roongta | Section of Republicans in coalition (8) | 19 | 14 | R (Republicans) in FACTION (coalition). Def - section. | |
| 7 | Mona Sogal | In fantasy, I become God for a bit (8) | 17 | 8 | Fantasy is fiction... I become Ra (god) / a bit is definition |
- "become" is awkward when you mean "becomes" - Nice surface, but cryptic grammar would be more accurate with "became" instead of become - should be i ''becomes''...? - ‘Become’ is the wrong part of speech in the cryptic reading where I becomes RA |
| 8 | Ramki Krishnan | Following director's order, includes composer's final piece (8) | 16 | 10 | Def = piece, F (following) + ACTION (Director's order) around R (composer's final) |
- The comma intrudes slightly on the cryptic instruction |
| 9 | VENKATESAN P | Female actor in dancing division (8) | 15 | 12 | Definition: Division. Anno: (F) (ACTOR+IN*). Female - F. Dancing - Anagrind | |
| 10 | @ahope1.bsky.social | Two thirds say law-breaking "not cool" (8) | 14 | 10 | "Two thirds say"=FRACTION (def. by example). "law-breaking"=INFRACTION. "not"=deletion-indicator. "cool"=IN. (Delete IN from INFRACTION.) |
- Are infraction (countable) and law-breaking (uncountable) quite synonymous? |
| 11 | Part of coterie controlling party essentially | 13 | 9 | Def - Part. Faction around R | ||
| 12 | Female reverses car into building for a bit | 13 | 7 | F(emale) CAR< INTO* (with profuse apologies for unintended misogynistic imagery) |
- ‘Reverses’ is the wrong part of speech |
|
| 13 | Ratio of N divided by 100, minus 0, represented as N/100 maybe? (8) | 12 | 7 | (RATIO OF N + C - O)*, anagrams=represented, def= N/100 maybe | ||
| 14 | Part of novel in which artist overcomes ego (8) | 11 | 7 | RA (artist) replaces I (ego) in FICTION (novel); def = part |
- How does the solver get from “artist” to RA? (I’m guessing the reference is to Sun Ra, but “artist” is a very vague description) |
|
| 15 | Wildly fornicate, avoiding the last part (8) | 10 | 7 | (FORNICATE)* without the last; "part" is definition |
- lol..should be fornicat(-e)* |
|
| 16 | Part for acting mostly crazy (8) | 8 | 6 | Def: Part, FOR ACTIN(-g)*, Indicator - Crazy | ||
| 17 | Scrap? I craft no scrap! | 8 | 6 | Scrap, def and anagram indicator. Anagram of I CRAFT NO | ||
| 18 | Fellow with no time to purchase grain (8) | 8 | 5 | Purchase = Traction. F (-T)RACTION. Definition: Grain (Collins) | ||
| 19 | Bit vulgar maybe (8) | 7 | 6 | DD. Defn. (1) Bit; Defn. (2) DBE (refers to vulgar faction in Maths) |
- same root meaning? - Vulgar itself isn’t an example of a fraction, it’s a description of one |
|
| 20 | A part of group around King (8) | 7 | 5 | Def - a part F(R)ACTION | ||
| 21 | Portion vacated for campaign | 5 | 5 | def: portion ; vacated for FR; campaign ACTION | ||
| 22 | Right wing going around for a scrap (8) | 5 | 5 | Right=R, wing=FACTION, going around=containment indicator, a scrap=definition | ||
| 23 | A small section is working on Friday (8) | 3 | 3 | Working = Action Friday = Fr (Chambers) On = Position indicator (A on B = BA) Definition = A small section |
- “Working after Friday” would be a fairer position indicator, I think. (A on B would definitely suggest AB in a down entry; not sure what it implies in an across) |
|
| 24 | E.g., half-ton car, if wrecked (8) | 2 | 2 | Anagram: (TON CAR IF)*, indicated by “wrecked”. Def. by example: “E.g., half” | ||
| 25 | Right in the group in part | 2 | 1 | R in Faction ( group) | ||
| 26 | Conflict as Indian replaced by American chip(8) | 2 | 1 | Definition is chip, conflict means friction, I replaced by A in friction | ||
| 27 | Compound last of first chemical nitrogen ratio for...ratio? | 0 | [Compound]-ana. [last] {o}f [first] c{hemical} n- (nitrogen) ratio (=fraction)...ratio - def. | |||
| 28 | Part of border in for combat (8) | 0 | F,R(Border in "for") + ACTION (combat). Def: Part. Border can mean both sides |
- I disagree it should be borders plural for F and R. - Lovely wordplay, not so keen on the surface |