Top 10
| # | Name | Clue | Points | Voters | Anno | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nathan Townshend | Changing climate, with leaders of petroleum industry to blame | 45 | 16 | CLIMATE + P + I * blame = def | – I think this may be the best of the climate-change clues; very tidy and coherent (@qpheevr) – Something is amiss in straight reading, but this is atleast satisfactory on cryptic reading, which is mandatory, not optional. (Pundit JEE) |
| 2 | Kalyan Bandyopadhyay | Incriminate little rascal, one caught in spinning tale (9) | 22 | 9 | IMP (little rascal) + IC (I = one, C = caught) inserted into an anagram ("spinning") of TALE. = L (IC) ATE; Def.: Incriminate | |
| 3 | Ajeesh V M | Translated Tamil epic for associate (9) | 21 | 8 | Anagram of Tamil epic . Anagrind is translated . Definition is associate | – Simple, pithy, elegant. (Abhay Phadnis) – Nice. Simple. Elegant. Humble. Clear. Take all the points. (Pundit JEE) |
| 4 | PunMadMan | Involve leaders of insignificant minority parties left in coalition after the elections (9) | 18 | 8 | Acrostic clue; Involve – Defn; leaders of – acrostic indicator; Insignificant Minority Parties Left In Coalition After The Elections – fodder | – Kudos on an acrostic that could be a real headline (Abhay Phadnis) |
| 5 | Ramki Krishnan | Expose one politician's falsehood about competitive exam in India (9) | 18 | 6 | Def = expose, I + MP + LIE around CAT (competitive exam in India) | |
| 6 | Manish Jhaveri | Compromise one partner with dirty clip (9) | 16 | 7 | Definition: Compromise; I (one) MATE (partner) containing PLIC (anagram of clip with dirty as the indicator) | – with as container? 'Over' would be better. (Ramesh Ss) |
| 7 | Karol S | Incriminate a politician with pussy-grabbing story (9) | 16 | 5 | I (=“a”) MP (=“politician”), with LIE around CAT (“pussy-grabbing story”). In this *adjectival* construction, “story” does the “grabbing”. (Chambers has “9. A lie, fib” for story.) | – Interesting device, and witty to boot. I don't think the clue needed that long explanation. (Abhay Phadnis) – POS? (Pundit JEE) |
| 8 | Satyen Nabar | Involve in adaptation of Tamil epic (9) | 12 | 6 | (TAMIL EPIC)*, adaptation of = anag ind, def = involve | |
| 9 | Sampath Srinivasan | Involve one political leader in the matter of climate change (9) | 12 | 5 | Charade with first letter, containment and anagram; def = involve; I (one) + P (political leader) in (containment) (CLIMATE)* change anagrind | – “Change climate”, “changing climate” and “changed” climate would all have superior cryptic grammar than “climate change”. (Aashirwad) |
| 10 | Abhay Phadnis | Accuse no one at first in sabotage of atomic pile (9) | 12 | 5 | Definition: accuse; [AT(-o)MIC PILE]*; deletion indicator: “no [O]ne at first”; anagram indicator: “sabotage of" |
Congrats to the toppers and all those who participated.
Over to Nathan Townshend for the next contest.
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