![]()
Winner of the contest is
Salmonella, possibly from bad crab I ate
@LowdownCryptic with 34 points
In 2nd place is
Cabaret dancing stopped by India’s highly cultured lot
Pundit JEE with 29 points
3rd spot goes to
Care a bit about germs that may benefit the gut
Textrous with 23 points
In 4th place is
Fabricated content about germs
Adman_i with 17 points
Finally we have
Tiny creatures in nails, hair, etc. abound, that are revolting
Sampath Srinivasan with 13 points
Thank you all for your time. Over to you Larry.

Top 10
| # | Name | Clue | Points | Voters | Anno | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | @LowdownCryptic | Salmonella, possibly from bad crab I ate (8) | 34 | 13 | CRAB I ATE* (bad); Def: Salmonella, possibly | – Very nice use of “possibly” (@qpheevr) |
| 2 | Pundit JEE | Cabaret dancing stopped by India's highly cultured lot (8) | 29 | 11 | Anagram (dancing) of (cabaret*) around (stopped by) I (India, NATO), def – highly cultured lot | |
| 3 | Textrous | Care a bit about germs that may benefit the gut (8) | 23 | 10 | Careabit*, anagrind: about, def: germs that may benefit the gut | – It’s nice to see one clue that recognizes some bacteria are beneficial! (@qpheevr) |
| 4 | Adman_i | Fabricated content about germs (8) | 17 | 8 | Germs (Definition) – f(ABRICATE)*d, Fabricated – fodder, Content – what's inside, About – anagrind | – Nice find! (@qpheevr) – Should be "content of " IMO (Ramki Krishnan) |
| 5 | Sampath Srinivasan | Tiny creatures in nails, hair, etc. abound, that are revolting (8) | 13 | 7 | Telescopic, reversal. def = bugs; in – containment indicator; revolting – reversal indicator; hAIR ETC ABound << | – Role of 'nails' in the clue? (Kalyan Bandyopadhyay) – How does “nails” fit in here? (@qpheevr) |
| 6 | Shobha Nayak | Disease-causing organisms from bat I care about | 11 | 5 | Anagram of BAT I CARE | |
| 7 | Aashirwad | Beginning of epidemic observed in Central Asian region – pneumonic plague, possibly (8) | 11 | 5 | E (beginning of epidemic) contained in BACTRIA (central Asian region), with definition by example. Inspired by recent headlines | – 'observed' is unnecessary (Nathan Townshend) – Topical and well-constructed (@qpheevr) |
| 8 | Amrita Majumdar | Bugs in twisted hair etc abhorrent (8) | 10 | 5 | Reverse Telescopic | |
| 9 | Casey Callaghan | Broadcast: "Alien transport brought back tiny organisms!" | 10 | 3 | AIR (Broadcast) + ET (Alien) + CAB (transport) reversed (brought back) = BACTERIA (tiny organisms) | |
| 10 | VENKATESAN P | Setter hugged by wild bearcat gets germs (8) | 9 | 6 | (BEARCAT*) over (I). Setter – I. Bearcat – Fodder. Wild – Anagrind. Hugged by – Containment indicator. Definition – Germs. |
Congrats to the toppers and all those who participated.
Over to @LowdownCryptic 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..