This week’s clue contest received 26 entries, with many attempts at telescopic wordplay.
There were some interesting clues involving intermittent letter selection indicators, and a couple of setters going with a scenario involving a topless hunk.
In the end, Ramki’s simple but elegant containment-charade construction won convincingly. Congrats Ramki!
Top 10
| # | Name | Clue | Points | Voters | Anno | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ramki Krishnan | Alien in Britain keeping name and number private (7) | 37 | 16 | Def = alien, UK (Britain) around N (name) + N (number) + OWN (private) | – Very smooth construction – take points. (Pundit JEE) |
| 2 | Shobha Nayak | Mysterious hunk in town, all topless | 28 | 11 | Def= Mysterious, first letters of following words removed | |
| 3 | Ganesh Raman | Obscure, funny kind of wand regularly used | 26 | 11 | Def OBSCURE, Alternate letter picking Ind REGULARLY USED | – Why is it obscure if it is regularly used? Nevertheless, take points, because such clues are probably the toughest to make, because of all the hard work. Hard work is also genius. (Pundit JEE) – Great attempt at a letter-picking wordplay (Ramki Krishnan) |
| 4 | Nitish Asthana | Essentially anonymous? | 23 | 10 | &lit clue… Essentially anonYmous is Y. | – Innovative! (Ramki Krishnan) – Very clever! (@LowdownCryptic) |
| 5 | Satyen Nabar | Mysterious topless stud, playing around with women on vacation (7) | 22 | 11 | (-h)UNK + ON rev + W(ome)N; topless= 1st letter del, stud= hunk, playing= on, around= rev, on vacation= ends sel, def= mysterious | – Take a point for telling a naughty tale. (Pundit JEE) |
| 6 | Abhay Phadnis | Covert international group protecting new king for the time being (7) | 20 | 11 | Definition: covert; charade of UN (international group) “protecting” [N+K+NOW] | |
| 7 | Manish Jhaveri | More than 50% of Punk now nearly forgotten (7) | 16 | 8 | Telescopic clue. UNKNOWN is 7 letters within pUNK NOW Nearly hence more than 50%. A comment on the death of rebel music. | – Role of forgotten? (Kalyan Bandyopadhyay) |
| 8 | @qpheevr | Drunk, having spurned doctor, now leader of Narcotics Anonymous (7) | 15 | 8 | UNK (=DRUNK minus DR) + NOW + N (leader of Narcotics); def. “anonymous” | – Njce lift and separate – take points. (Pundit JEE) |
| 9 | Kalyan Bandyopadhyay | Perhaps role of Y-fronts in underwear – notionally keeping nudity personal (7) | 10 | 5 | Fronts (first letters) in Underwear Notionally Keeping Nudity = UNKN; + OWN (personal). Definition: perhaps role of Y (an unknown); "Y-fronts" is a lift and separate (Y | fronts). | – Nice surface. But having one word in the clue to be split as part def and part wordplay is iffy IMO. (Ramki Krishnan) |
| 10 | VENKATESAN P | Debunk now Neptune's hidden secret (7) | 9 | 5 | (debUNK NOW Neptune's ) (T). Hidden – Indicator. Definition : Secret. |
Congrats to the toppers and all those who participated.
Over to Ramki Krishnan for the next contest.
Here’s the link to the full results
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