1ACCWC - Results
1ACCWC#403 - NEW YORK
Total Clues: 34 Total Voters: 38
✓ Contest Closed - Final Results
| # | Name | Clue | Points | Voters | Anno | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ramki Krishnan | Notable banks operate around Yankee state (3,4) | 39 | 20 | N-E (notable banks) + WORK (operate) around Y (Yankee), def = state |
- Great surface. Lovely wp. |
| 2 | Satyen Nabar | Where one might see extremely nimble Yankee in action? (3,4) | 38 | 20 | N(-imbl)E + Y in WORK; semi-&lit |
- Great surface with subtle baseball reference (solvable but not immediately obvious) - Great surface and wp - What is a semi-&lit? "Where one might see" is doing nothing here; just take the great rest of it and make it an actual clue. |
| 3 | N Anantakrishnan | Liberal Kerry (not Republican) won this state | 28 | 15 | Liberal - anagrind. (Kerry won - R)* Definition - state |
- The wp works fine but the surface doesn''t mean anything as Kerry didn''t run for president. - Close to being a (vague) &lit, but "this" is superfluous. |
| 4 | Madhusudan H | Empire state building owner with key, on vacation (3,4) | 27 | 16 | Defn: Empire State; Anagrind: Building; Fodder : {OWNER}+key on vacation{KY} |
- I don''t know New York by the abbreviation KY. - "Building" is too loose of an anagram indicator for me. |
| 5 | Maya Sharma | Volatile yen works mostly in this city(3,4) | 24 | 12 | Defn is this city, anagram of yen works-s |
- ''volatile yen works'' doesn''t mean anything to me. - NL: not so elegant to delete s from a word, not a bad surface though. |
| 6 | Samit kallianpur | From work, Roy went over to the city (3, 4) | 23 | 15 | Rev telescopic. From = tel indicator. Over = reversal indicator. Def = the city |
- A lovely rev tel. ''to'' isn''t a connector unfortunately. - "To" as a connector is extraneous |
| 7 | Textrous | Yank wrote about firing at the Empire State (3,4) | 20 | 8 | Def: the Empire State (a nickname for NY), YANKWROTE* - AT ("about" is the anagrind & "firing" is the deletion indicator); reference to the 2012 shooting incident |
- Great surface and construction! - NL: not sure whether many Americans find this term offensive but if not, great clue |
| 8 | @LowdownCryptic | State of wonky re-creation? (3,4) | 16 | 12 | "State" (i.e. New York state); "wonky re" (fodder); "of [fodder] creation" serves as anagrind. (Note: not &lit, but entire clue describes itself and cryptic anagram clues in general.) |
- The wp works fine but the surface doesn''t mean anything. |
| 9 | William Snow (@ContoCrosswords) | Where will you find Queens and most cardinals? The home of the archbishop | 13 | 7 | Where will you find Queens = definition / and / most cardinals = NEW (ref. cardinal points of compass) / the home of the archbishop = YORK (ref. The Archbishop of York) |
- Clever attempt! - Clever use of cardinals. ''the home of AN archbishop'' would have been better as there are many of them. - I love "most cardinals" for NEW, but the rest isn''t working and Queens being capitalized makes the surface read oddly. |
| 10 | Mona Sogal | Mad city, many worked haphazardly? (3,4) | 12 | 8 | Mad+ new york = many worked / CA |
- Smooth, and good find! - Lovely idea. For the surface grammar, I would use a semi-colon rather than a comma. - This yields "Mad New York," not "New York," no? |
| 11 | --- | Network cuts time around unknown city(3,4) | 12 | 7 | Definition: City; Anno: {NE(-T)W(Y)ORK}; Cuts=Deletion indicator;Time=T; Unkown=Y |
- Very elegant! - The wp works fine but the surface doesn''t mean anything. - Probably better with a synonym of network |
| 12 | --- | Turn worn key to get big apple | 10 | 6 | ANAGRIND "Turn" ANAGRAM "worn key" Def: big apple |
- The wp works fine but the surface doesn''t mean anything. - Surface doesn''t seem to make sense. Also Big Apple needs to be capitalised - NL: Surface? |
| 13 | --- | Perhaps Yen works, $ is rejected? Quite the opposite here! (3,4) | 10 | 5 | Anagram of (Yen works) with S ($) deleted. Def is the whole clue |
- The thought behind this seems to be clever! - I don''t think ''yen works'' means anything. - $≠S (in the same way that ≠≠=) - Ambitious, stretchy, lovely. - NL: picky again but doesn''t seem aesthetically pleasing to take an s off the end of a word |
| 14 | --- | Yonkers: Interminable play about West Gotham (3,4) | 9 | 7 | Anagram fodder: YONKER ("Yonkers interminable"). Anagrind: "play". Containment indicator: "about". Contained letter: W ("West"). -> NE(W)YORK. Defn: Gotham. Surface refers to the play "Lost in Yonkers" by Neil Simon. |
- Is this &lit? I ask as I''m not familiar with the play. - NL: being picky but not so elegant to remove s at the end. Great anagram though. |
| 15 | --- | The big apple-tree belt according to Spooner (3,4) | 8 | 5 | Def: The big apple Spoonerism - Yew (Tree) Knock (Belt - as per Chambers) |
- ''knock'' and ''york'' have very different vowels in my part of the world. The surface doesn''t mean anything. - Appropriately non-rhotic! - I really want this to work, but isn''t this "New Yock"? Even "Yawk" doesn''t sound quite right. - NL: hp doesn''t work for me, y...or...k not y...ock, that can happen though. |
| 16 | --- | Big Apple crowd provides context for Broadway closing: theatrical debut is scrapped (3,4) | 8 | 5 | NE[-t]W(Y)ORK; "Big Apple" = New York; "crowd" = NETWORK, "provides context for" is a container indicator (i.e., surrounds) the Y from "Broadway closing" |
- Good connections made! - Great surface and wp - I like this idea, but “crowd”=NETWORK seems a bit tenuous |
| 17 | --- | State you're in after turning south into West Yonkers High | 8 | 3 | def=state; (YONKER[S>W)*. Yonkers is in NY state; sadly there isn't a West Yonkers High (School) but if there was, that's where it would be! |
- Surface doesn''t quite make sense, but nice idea! - Nice surface. Wouldn''t the def be ''state you''re in''? Otherwise ''you''re in'' is extraneous. - Clever! - NL: cool idea but I don''t think schools are ever on state borders nor would you instruct one to turn N, E, S or W to go into a school. |
| 18 | --- | Just crowned king inherited monarchy finally, gold and a big place to stay (3, 4) | 7 | 5 | Just crowned king = NEW K; taking monarchy finally, gold = Y OR. Def = a big place to stay |
- There are better defs you could have chosen to fit the context of the surface story: state, city, big city, inland state etc - Topical! (Or will be soon, once the coronation takes place) - NL: indirect wordplay to get NEW K from just crowned king, without even a ?. A shame because it''s a fantastic surface. |
| 19 | --- | Renew Yorkshires hidden city (7) | 7 | 4 | Hidden word reNEW YORKshires |
- Telescopics ideally straddle 3+ words. The surface doesn''t mean anything. - Not very hidden—the new in renew and the York in Yorkshire are the same words as their counterparts in New York - NL: basically a root issue I guess |
| 20 | --- | Modern terrier snubs shire for big smoke | 7 | 4 | NEW (modern) YORKshire (type of terrier) deletion indicator (snubs [-shire]) Def: big smoke |
- Fun story. Great wp. - “The Big Smoke”, to me, means either London or Toronto - What is "big smoke"? |
| 21 | --- | Money, in a second, disappears - work furiously in the city that never sleeps (3,4) | 6 | 5 | {M̶o̶ ney work}* In a second = mo' ; furiously = anagram indicator; definition = city that never sleeps |
- Lovely surface. ''Mo'' doesn''t equal ''in a second'' in my part of the world. ''Mo'' means only ''second / minute'' here. - This is (A [modified] + B)[anagrammed]; I like the "in a second disappears" idea, but the surface is rough. - mo = second (from moment) and not "in a second" IMO - NL: in a sec = in a mo'' not just ''mo''. A shame, it''s a lovely surface |
| 22 | --- | King, with extreme care, right now traveling across unknown city (3,4) | 6 | 5 | Anno: [K (car)E R NOW]* over Y. Traveling is anagrind . Def: City |
- Fair attempt! - Great surface and wp |
| 23 | --- | Big city in Yemen is in network after timeout? (3,4) | 5 | 4 | Big City = def. Yemen = Y, contained in NETWORK after timeout (i.e. removing T) - NEW[Y]ORK |
- Nice surface. - Is Y a standard abbreviation for Yemen? (YE is the tld, YAR is the vehicle registration code.) “Big city, capital of Yemen…” might work better - Surface does not seem to make sense IMO - NL: Surface? |
| 24 | --- | Rocky disheartened in the Big Apple | 5 | 4 | ro(-c)ky disheartened perhaps (reverse anagram indicator) in def: the Big Apple - NEW (anagrind) YORK* |
- Nice idea, but "perhaps" is missing and clue would need tweaking since this reverse anagram is a two-step process - It''s a shame t you didn''t include ? as a reverse anagram clue indicator in the clue. - Interesting device, but quite unfair to the solver, a step too many - indicator missing per typo, unfortunately - NL: indirect wordplay, quite solvable but technically indirect |
| 25 | --- | Races to skip Ayers Rock, changed follwoing different directions to a big city (3,4) | 5 | 2 | YORK (AYERS ROCK - RACES)* following NEW (N, E, W = different directions) |
- Always proofread prior to submission. - NL: Surface? |
| 26 | --- | Some ingénue you’re casting in a radio show describes the view looking east from Hoboken (3, 4) | 3 | 4 | Telescopic (‘some’) homophone (‘in a radio show describes’): ingéNUE YOU’RE Casting. New York is what you’d see looking east across the Hudson River from Hoboken, NJ |
- Haven''t seen a telescopic + homophone clue before, I''m not sure how fair this is. But I like the way your mind works! - The first homophonic telescopic I''ve seen; I''m not sure it''s an accepted clue type. - A telescopic homophone, new one for me, kudos for the effort. Feels unfair though, HPs are challenging as is - A hidden homophone; gloriously devious. - NL: telescopic homophone. Cool idea. Just a bit long. |
| 27 | --- | State of Kanye West run over in backlash after spewing antisemitism initially (3,4) | 3 | 2 | Def State, KANYE W R O* - A |
- Lovely surface story. I don''t accept ''in backlash'' as an anagram indicator. - Topical! But “in backlash” suggests reversal to me, rather than anagramming - NL: not convinced by backlash as an anagrind. Impressive surface though. |
| 28 | --- | This city's soul knew your loss anyway | 2 | 4 | Composite Anagram. (New York's soul)* = knew your loss. Anyway is anagrind |
- Something poetic about the surface! - The wp works fine but the surface doesn''t mean anything except for if it were in a poem. |
| 29 | --- | A large crowded city backing yankee or king and Queens is found here | 2 | 2 | Wen (large crowdes city) <=(revesal) Y Or K. Def:Queens (county) is found here. |
- The surface doesn''t mean anything. The surface grammar doesn''t work with ''is'' when combined with ''queens'' in the context of royal people. Better would be ''.... backing yankee or king and queens ARE found here'' but still the surface doesn''t mean anything. - Clever, though “wen” is a bit obscure - NL: Surface? Clever albeit challenging use of wen. |
| 30 | --- | Occasionally envy capital city (3,4) | 2 | 2 | Occasionally envy = ny, capital = NY, city (definition) |
- Wordplay is for NY, not New York - The wordplay points to NY (2) rather than NEW YORK (3, 4). And I don’t think “capital” contributes anything other than misdirection - I don''t think "capital" works as an indicator to make NY into New York. - NL: indirect. Wordplay leads to NY not New York. Great surface though. - Wordplay should give the full answer instead of its abbr. |
| 31 | --- | My network dismantled taking out MT for big apple.(3,4) | 2 | 1 | def: big apple. fodder : "my network-mt". Anagrind : "dismantled. |
- What is ''MT''? - Big Apple needs to be capitalised - NL: Surface? |
| 32 | --- | State the leaders of Newburgh, Elmira, Watertown, Yonkers, Oswego, Rochester, Kingston (3,4) | 1 | 1 | acrostic |
- I am not a fan of long acrostics that are achieved by making a list. - NL: nothing technically wrong with this just not very exciting |
| 33 | --- | 0 | 3 |
- Lost in New York? Brilliant! - Clearly the best clue here |
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| 34 | --- | City that was nobly evacuated (3,4) | 0 | 0 | N(-obl)Y |
- I don’t like the past tense for the cryptic grammar - Wordplay is for NY, not New York - The wordplay points to NY (2) rather than NEW YORK (3, 4) - NL: indirect wordplay. This is a clue for NY not New York. Nice surface idea except for nobly, needlessly? - Wordplay should give the full answer instead of its abbr. |