This week’s 1ACCWC received 31 clues, with good participation from regulars and irregulars alike.
The majority of clues went with a wordplay of HONOUR = ON inserted in HOUR, with several setters opting for surfaces referencing the TV show “60 minutes”. On the flip side, a few of setters tried to use unique cryptic devices or wordplay ideas with varying degrees of success.
Voted comments focused on setting technique: can a homophone indicator be used to indicate rhyming words? Can extraneous words be used to improve a clue’s surface reading? Is “gnawer” a spoonerism for “Honour”? Can “nailed by” be used as a containment indicator? (It can, it’s referenced in Clue Clinic).
With 47 points from 18 voters, the winning setter this week is Abhay Phadnis! That’s about as decisive as the voting in this contest gets. His clue was topical and technically sound: Leaders of Hungary oppose NATO on Ukraine; Russians applaud (6)
Congratulations Abhay. Over to you as the host of next week’s contest.
Top 10
| # | Name | Clue | Points | Voters | Anno | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abhay Phadnis | Leaders of Hungary oppose NATO on Ukraine; Russians applaud (6) | 47 | 18 | Acrostic (“leaders of”); definition: “applaud” (for HONOUR as a verb); surface is topical | – Simple and beautiful |
| 2 | Manish Jhaveri | Time to get working for recognition | 29 | 11 | HOUR (time) to get ON (working). Definition: recognition | |
| 3 | @LowdownCryptic | Time has no respect (6) | 29 | 10 | HOUR (time) contains (has) NO; Def: respect | |
| 4 | Satyen Nabar | Almost jump and run excitedly to receive Oscar award (6) | 27 | 11 | HO(-p) + RUN* around O; almost= delete last letter, jump= hop, excitedly= anag ind, to receive= cont ind, Oscar= O, def= award | |
| 5 | ALP | Trump’s about to get nailed by 60 Minutes (6) | 24 | 7 | H(ON)OUR. Honour = any one of four best trumps in whist; on = about; nail = to secure (all Chambers). Trump last appeared on the show in November 2025 and famously stormed off in 2020 claiming “biased, hateful and rude” questioning. Bless him. | – ‘Nail’ can mean ‘secure’, and ‘secure’ can mean ‘contain’, but that doesn’t mean ‘nail’ can mean ‘contain’ |
| 6 | Karol S | Showing in 60 minutes: The Crown | 18 | 8 | ON (showing) in HOUR (60 minutes). Crown as in trophy/prize = honour | – Of the various clues to use “60 minutes”, I think this one works best |
| 7 | Amrita Majumdar | Essentially loud horn blown to celebrate (6) | 18 | 8 | OU HORN* | |
| 8 | Anne de Pimodan | After seducing Bond in the buff, Honey finally lost virginity (6) | 14 | 5 | After seducing/containing [b]ON[d], HOUR[i] => H(ON)OUR (virginity). Houri = alluring woman (Collins, etc). Ref: Honey Ryder in Dr No. | – “After” is superfluous to both the surface reading and the wordplay. And “Honey” for HOURI seems tenuous |
| 9 | @qpheevr | In Lesotho, nourishment is put on a pedestal (6) | 12 | 7 | Telescopic (lesotHO NOURishment); ‘put on a pedestal’ = HONOUR (verb) | |
| 10 | Arnav V Raju | Pay tribute to dear leaders of old utopian regimes (6) | 11 | 4 | Definition: Pay tribute to Wordplay: Dear -> hon (as in honey). + first letters of following with leaders as acrostic indicator |
Congrats to the toppers and all those who participated. Over to Abhay Phadnis 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.
We love to hear from you..Let us know what you think..