It was great fun hosting this week with MUSICAL, a word very close to my heart and profession as a composer!
As I suspected, many cluers defined the solution by example, with references to Hamilton, Oklahama, La La Land, Evita, Cats and others.
Two particularly well disguised examples included:
@qpheevr’s “States involved in dubious claim—Oklahoma, for one” and Anne de Pimodan’s “Recurrent problem with internal-combustion starts to annoy Lewis Hamilton?”
However, leading the chorus of clues by some way with 40 points was Satyen Nabar’s highly topical “Foolish claims about leader of USA being harmonious”.
Many congratulations to all those on the podium, leaderboard, and all entrants for their brilliant compositions. Over to you Satyen!
Top 10
| # | Name | Clue | Points | Voters | Anno | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Satyen Nabar | Foolish claims about leader of USA being harmonious (7) | 40 | 16 | CLAIMS* around U(sa); foolish= anag ind, about= container ind, leader of USA= U, def= harmonious | |
| 2 | Anne de Pimodan | Recurrent problem with internal-combustion starts to annoy Lewis Hamilton? (7) | 26 | 8 | SUM< + IC + A+L = Hamilton? (QM to indicate definition by example). Sum = problem; IC = internal-combustion; recurrent = running back in the opposite direction (all Chambers) | – Super clue – (Why is there a hyphen in “internal combustion”?) – SUM doesn’t really = problem |
| 3 | @qpheevr | States involved in dubious claim—Oklahoma, for one (7) | 21 | 9 | US (= ‘[the] States’) in (CLAIM)* (‘dubious claim’ = M_ICAL); DBE: ‘Oklahoma, for one’ | – I like it but what is the dubious claim? |
| 4 | Aashirwad | Broadway ultimately boycotts clumsy AI-generated play (7) | 17 | 8 | “Play” is the definition, as a musical is a type of play. Anagram of CLUMSY AI, minus Y (“Broadway ultimately boycotts” being the deletion indicator for Y). “Generated” as an anagram indicator is not listed in clue clinic, but its close synonym “created” is listed. I feel it’s not too much of a stretch to use “generated” in the same way. | – I love the surface and like the experiment with “generated” as anagrind. I am not sure “play” by itself works as definition. |
| 5 | Manish Jhaveri | Wild claim shows America as La La Land, say | 16 | 7 | Anagram of claim holding US (shows America) . def = La La Land, say | – “Shows” does not indicate containment. – Not convinced that ‘shows’ = containicator |
| 6 | Abhay Phadnis | Melodious medley of overtures from Liza Minelli’s absolutely unforgettable songs in ‘Cabaret’ (7) | 15 | 6 | Definition: “melodious”; anagram (“medley of”) of acrostic (“overtures from”) = [LMAUSIC]* | – Medley of overtures is a bit unlikely |
| 7 | Amrita Majumdar | Bizarre claim about American Cats, for example (7) | 14 | 6 | CLAIM * around US, Cats for example- def | – Very nice surface slightly marred by the need to (correctly) capitalise the first letter of Cats – The capitalization of Cats interferes with the surface reading |
| 8 | Shobha Nayak | Theatrical performance of melodrama using songs in chorus and libretto, primarily | 14 | 5 | Acrostic, def= theatrical performance | – The surface reading of “songs in chorus and libretto” doesn’t make sense to me – ‘Primarily’ spoils it…. |
| 9 | PunMadMan | Leaders of many urban settlements in central Argentina lionise Evita, say (7) | 11 | 4 | Acrostic; Evita is an example of a musical | – Hmmm coastal Argentina is more likely! |
| 10 | Veera Raghavan | Melodic recital essentially calms heart of injured in a riot (7) | 11 | 4 | Anagram of (…I…CALMS …U…). Definition: Melodic. In a riot: anind |
Congrats to the toppers and all those who participated.
Over to Satyen Nabar for the next contest.
Here’s the link to the full results
Also Check out the Leaderboard for 2026.
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