Thanks to Kalyan Bandyopadhyay for hosting the contest.
This week’s 1ACCWC #554 on BRAIN ROT saw solid turnout with 28 entries and lively community.
Ramki Krishnan crushed it with 41 points (16 voters) for his acrostic gem:
“Mental decline from baseless rumours and idiotic nonsense read on Twitter, primarily? (5,3)”
Spot-on topical surface ranting about doomscrolling —voters loved the relevance and
ssavtaar took a strong second (30 pts) with the clean Spoonerism “Spooner’s fall caused cognitive decline” (RAIN BROUGHT → BRAIN ROT). Short, neat, and popular despite other three other Spoonerism based clues splitting votes.
Anne de Pimodan came in third (23 pts) with the cheeky “Minx exposed pants following underwear malfunction” (BRA + IN ROT from exposed minx). Risqué surface won fans, even though some commenters nitpicked the def.
Other standouts:
– Satyen Nabar’s acrostic/anag hybrid on browsing nonsense (22 pts) felt timely.
– Abhay Phadnis’s container “Spoilt kid consumes kinky ‘noir’” (21 pts) was tight and fun.
Comments from participants focused on indicator placement issues (e.g., hidden words), awkward grammar, forced surfaces, and similarity in wordplay .
Voters rewarded modern, relatable themes (reels, Twitter, scrolling) over pure mechanics..
Fun, meme-friendly contest overall—Ramki’s winner nailed the zeitgeist! What did you think of the top ones? 😄
Top 10
| # | Name | Clue | Points | Voters | Anno | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ramki Krishnan | Mental decline from baseless rumours and idiotic nonsense read on Twitter, primarily? (5,3) | 41 | 16 | Def = mental decline, acrostic of “baseless..twitter” | |
| 2 | ssavtaar | Spooner’s fall caused cognitive decline (5,3) | 30 | 11 | Spoonerism of RAIN(fall) BROUGHT (caused as is brought misery) . Definition: Cognitive decline | – I think this is the neatest of the Spoonerism clues – Two almost identical clues! |
| 3 | Anne de Pimodan | Minx exposed pants following underwear malfunction (5,3) | 23 | 8 | [M]IN[X] + ROT (pants = nonsense) following BRA = malfunction | – Not sure malfunction is 100% for the definition but liked the surface |
| 4 | Satyen Nabar | Awful result of incessantly browsing nonsensical rubbish and trivia primarily? (5,3) | 22 | 9 | &lit anag of acrostic; anag of 1st letters from Result Of… And Trivia (R O I B N R A T)*, awful= anag ind, primarily= acrostic ind, whole clue is def. | |
| 5 | Abhay Phadnis | Spoilt kid consumes kinky ‘noir’, leading to mental deterioration (5,3) | 21 | 8 | BRAT (“spoilt kid”) “consumes” NOIR* = BRA[IN RO]T; anagrind: “kinky”; definition: “mental deterioration” | |
| 6 | Veera Raghavan | Pilot, finally airborne, surprisingly forgetting drug for mental fatigue (5,3) | 19 | 8 | (T AIRBORNE-e)*. Forgetting : deletion indicator. Definition: Mental fatigue | |
| 7 | Adman_i | Stray content and endless boring reels lead to intellectual deterioration (5.3) | 18 | 6 | Intellectual deterioration (Defn)- s(TRA)y + (BORINg)*, Content – inside letters, Reels – anagrind, &lit | – Very nice clue, 1 pt was almost deducted for leads instead of leading, but generosity prevailed over cynicism – “Stray’s content” or “content of stray” would be better from the POV of cryptic grammar. But then your surface would need to be reworked also. – Leading instead of Leading would have been better, nevertheless full points |
| 8 | Manish Jhaveri | Rev Spooner’s fall led to decline in cognitive function (5, 3) | 15 | 6 | Rain (fall) Brought (led to) is the Spoonerism of Brain Rot. Definition: decline in cognitive function | – Best of the Spoonerisms – A bit wordy compared to the other clue having the same wordplay – Best of the Spooner lot of clues – Two almost identical clues! |
| 9 | @qpheevr | Psychological harm caused by resetting a torn rib (5, 3) | 14 | 8 | (A TORN RIB)*; def. ‘psychological harm’ | – 1 point granted for conjuring a Biblical image unwittingly – Points only for evocative Biblical imagery |
| 10 | Textrous | One wearing lingerie torn badly – a side-effect of social media? (5,3) | 14 | 6 | One=I, lingerie=BRA, torn badly=NROT, wearing=containment indicator, def=a side-effect of social media? |
Congrats to the toppers and all those who participated.Over to Ramki Krishnan for the next contest.If you have any comments or feedback on the contest or the new 1ACCWC app. or any suggestions, please leave a comment and I shall try and incorporate it.
Here’s the link to the full results. Also Check out the Leaderboard for 2026.
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