Of the 27 clues for INDETERMINATE, 22 clues (including the entire top ten!) contained anagrams. Interestingly, though there were a few understandable repeats, the anagrams showed quite a variety, demonstrated beautifully by the top 5 clues having unique sets of anagram fodder.
• Karol S asks us to enjoy “crumble” “AT DINNERTIME” with “E(cstasy)”
• Nitish Asthana tells us “I’M ENTERTAINED”, “drunk”
• Pundit JEE gives us a “vague form” of “INTERNET MEDIA”
• Satyen Nabar describes how a certain unnamed “R(epublican) EMITTED INANE” “rubbish” (whoever could he be talking about?)
• and, returning to top spot again after winning with ANGELIC a week earlier, Aashirwad gives us a news update about “belligerent” “leaders of I(srael) M(aking) DETENTE with IRAN” doubtful.
Congratulations to Aashirwad and all the toppers, and a big thank you to all the contestants for a great set of clues!
Top 10
| # | Name | Clue | Points | Voters | Anno | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aashirwad | Belligerent leaders of Israel making detente with Iran doubtful (13) | 38 | 13 | Anagram of IM+DETENTE+IRAN, with belligerent as the anagram indicator. Doubtful is the definition (ref: Chambers Dictionary). “Detente” means ceasing of hostilities. | – Excellent! – Liked this but I’m not 100% sure about “belligerent” as anagrind! |
| 2 | Satyen Nabar | Unpredictable Republican emitted inane rubbish (13) | 32 | 11 | (R EMITTED INANE)*; Republican= R, rubbish= adjectival anag ind. def= unpredictable | – While the surface reading is fine, the cryptic reading has a problem. “Rubbish” being a verb anagram indicator should come before the fodder, which would of course make your surface suffer. |
| 3 | Pundit JEE | Vague form of internet media? (13) | 24 | 10 | Anagram of internet media = indeterminate | |
| 4 | Nitish Asthana | I’m entertained, drunk and unsettled. | 23 | 7 | Anagram suggested by drunk; def- unsettled | – Nice clue. Simple and sound. |
| 5 | Karol S | Crumble at dinnertime: ecstasy beyond measure | 22 | 9 | (AT DINNERTIME + E)* [anag.: crumble]. Indeterminate = “unable to be predicted, calculated or deduced” (Collins) …and if you’ve never had crumble, you haven’t lived! | – Great use of crumble – which indeed delicious! 🙂 |
| 6 | VENKATESAN P | Misbehaving teen trained? I’m not sure. | 20 | 9 | Definition: Not sure. Anno: (TEEN+TRAINED+IM)*. Anagrind: Misbehaving | |
| 7 | Nilesh Parmar | Uncertain dinnertime. Eat out | 15 | 7 | Definition – uncertain, (dinnertime+eat)*, out as anagram indicator | |
| 8 | @LowdownCryptic | “Undefined” error after Internet ad? I’m upset (13) | 14 | 5 | E (error) after (INTERNET AD I’M)*; anagrind: upset; def: undefined | – I don’t think error = E is a standard abbreviation. – As a backend developer this is the story of my life |
| 9 | Nathan Townshend | ‘Dinner’ and ‘teatime’ are different? It’s unclear! | 13 | 7 | TEATIME + DINNER* are different = grind | |
| 10 | Textrous | Unknown drug taken after bananas at dinner-time (13) | 13 | 5 | Def: Unknown; drug: E, anagrind: bananas => ATDINNERTIME*+E |
Congrats to the toppers and all those who participated.
Over to Aashirwad 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..