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Top 10
| # | Name | Clue | Points | Voters | Anno | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shobha Nayak | Wine expert mixed Rosé with lime and hint of mint | 32 | 14 | Def= wine expert, Anagram of ROSE + LIME + M | – That guy needs to be disbarred from being called a "wine expert" at once (verlainex) |
| 2 | VENKATESAN P | Happy memories about Lebanon's top wine professional (9) | 25 | 13 | Definition: Wine professional. Anno: (MEMORIES*) around (L). Happy – Anagrind. Lebanon's top – L. About – Containment indicator. | – Happy as Anagram indicator?? (Kalyan Bandyopadhyay) |
| 3 | Textrous | A wine server left, consumed by drunken memories (9) | 23 | 10 | Def: A wine server; L in MEMORIES* | – Sad would work better as anagrind (Ramki Krishnan) – Superb! Best of the lot. Take all the points. Cheers. (Pundit JEE) |
| 4 | PunMadMan | Tipsy mom relies on wine steward (9) | 22 | 9 | Anagram Clue – (MOMRELIES)*; Anagrind – Tipsy; Defn – wine steward | – Great minds…… (Nathan Townshend) |
| 5 | Adman_i | Wine expert from East African country, reportedly (9) | 20 | 10 | Wine expert (Definition) – East African country – SOMALIA, Homophone clue | – Lol, take 1 point for creativity (Pundit JEE) – Sommelier and Somalia aren’t homophones. (Aashirwad) – Not really homophonous (at least in the pronunciations I’m familiar with) (@qpheevr) |
| 6 | Abhay Phadnis | Wine waiter adding a sampler of Marsala to rose and lime concoction (9) | 19 | 10 | Definition: “wine waiter”; adding M (“a sampler of Marsala”) to anagram (“concoction”) of “ROSE” and “LIME”. (Apologies to oenophiles for imagining such a concoction!) | |
| 7 | Ramki Krishnan | Waiter is very immoderately drunk – not working today (9) | 18 | 7 | Def = waiter, SO (very) + anagram of IMMODERATELY – anagram of TODAY. drunk and working are anagrinds. | |
| 8 | Satyen Nabar | He tells you blend of Merlot, for the most part, is extremely memorable (9) | 14 | 7 | [MERLO(-t) IS M(emor…)E]*; semi-&lit, blend of= anag ind. | |
| 9 | Amrita Majumdar | Restaurant staff with nip of scotch and more lime on the rocks (9) | 11 | 6 | S + MORELIME* | – Nice, 1 point deducted for sub-optimal definition that pulls down an otherwise excellent wordplay (Pundit JEE) |
| 10 | @LowdownCryptic | Mom relies on drugs and bottle-opener (9) | 10 | 4 | (MOM RELIES)* anagrind: on drugs; def: bottle-opener (a sommelier often opens wine bottles for diners) | – Nicely different definition (Nathan Townshend) – Nice exploitation of structural ambiguity in “relies on drugs”! (@qpheevr) |
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.

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