Shobha Nayak wins the contest by a thumping margin, scoring 68 points for
Somehow, I see a farce, not a truce
Silver goes to
Fierce sea storms resulting in call to stop rowing?
Aashirwad with 32 points
Bronze secured by
Break free as ICE makes deal to stop shooting
Nathan Townshend with 27 points
In 4th place is
The onset of consented calm following fury?
Textrous with 24 points
In 5th place is
Agreement suspending engagement on all fronts during fierce fighting!
@LowdownCryptic with 23 points
Thank you all for the clues and votes. Over to you Shobha Nayak.
Top 10
| # | Name | Clue | Points | Voters | Anno | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shobha Nayak | Somehow, I see a farce, not a truce | 68 | 24 | Anagram (suggested by somehow) of I SEE A FARCE minus A (not a), Def = Truce | – Simply brilliant! |
| 2 | Aashirwad | Fierce sea storms resulting in call to stop rowing? (8) | 32 | 12 | Anagram of FIERCE SEA, indicated by “storms” as the anagrind. The definition is “call to stop rowing?” where “rowing” has the double-meaning of “fighting” as well as “rowing a boat”. | – I like the “rowing” wordplay! |
| 3 | Nathan Townshend | Break free as ICE makes deal to stop shooting (9) | 27 | 11 | Break = grind; FREE AS ICE = fodder; deal to stop shooting = def | |
| 4 | Textrous | The onset of consented calm following fury? (9) | 24 | 8 | &Lit; The onset of consented: C, calm: EASE, following: F, fury: IRE | – Very nice device but "consented calm" seems odd – something like consensual might make the surface work well – Neat &lit – “Consented calm” is a bit stilted (“consensual” might work better) |
| 5 | @LowdownCryptic | Agreement suspending engagement on all fronts during fierce fighting! (9) | 23 | 10 | &lit clue: ASE by acrostic (on all fronts) inside FIERCE* (fighting) | – I don’t think “on all fronts” indicates starting letters of the preceding words. – Nice clue, but the commonly used insertion indicator "during" is questionable. The dictionary meaning signifies a temporal setting rather than a spatial position. |
| 6 | Nitish Asthana | Stop shooting! I see France is out-numbered and beaten | 20 | 9 | Anagrind (suggested by beaten)- I see France, with \'N\' removed (suggested by out-numbered); def\'n- stop shooting! | – The definition seems to treat cease and fire as separate words – Out-numbered for deleting N is certainly creative, but it doesn’t work in terms of cryptic grammar. |
| 7 | Amrita Majumdar | Suspension of hostilities after fierce sea bombing (9) | 19 | 9 | FIERCESEA* | – "after" looks out of place as a connector |
| 8 | Veera Raghavan | Suspension of hostilities and relief in the midst of endless fierce fighting (9) | 18 | 7 | C(EASE)FIRE*. Fighting: anind. Definition: Suspension of hostilities | |
| 9 | Anne de Pimodan | A termination of hostilities essentially suppressing fierce fighting? (9) | 16 | 5 | A + ~S + ~E~ + FIERCE*. &lit | – The clue is technically fine, though I don’t think suppressing is the best choice of word for the surface. – How does E, not being the central letter, come from hostilities? |
| 10 | Pundit JEE | A fierce battle always ends, ordered by this (9) | 10 | 5 | Anagram (ordered by) of ( a fierce e s) , last letters of battlE alwayS, semi andlit(this) | – To be grammatically correct, the letter selection indicator would have to be “ends of battle always” or “battle always’ ends” for ES. – Should be ends of battle always |
Congrats to the toppers and all those who participated.
Over to Shobha Nayak for the next contest.
Here’s the link to the full results
Also Check out the Leaderboard for 2026.
We love to hear from you..Let us know what you think..