1ACCWC - Results

1ACCWC#405 - NAIL-BITING

Total Clues: 25 Total Voters: 29

✓ Contest Closed - Final Results

# Name Clue Points Voters Anno Comments
1 Satyen Nabar Wild night in Bali without husband is exciting (4-6) 55 24 (NIGHT IN BALI)* - H; wild= anag ind, husband= H, defn= exciting - A fun surface and simple wordplay!
2 Textrous Dramatic end to Indian tail in big ground (4-6) 29 14 Def:Dramatic, end to Indian=N, (TAIL IN BIG)*, "ground" is the anagrind - Lovely cricket surface.
- No idea what this surface means, sorry.
3 Madhusudan H Without training, batting in IPL can be nerve wracking (4-6) 23 12 Without training {PT}, {BATTING IN IPL} (fodder) , can be (Anagrind) nerve wracking (definition) - Very well constructed!
- Lovely cricket surface.
4 Veera Raghavan Latin being not easy at first, I became tense (4,6) 21 11 (LATINBEING-E+I)* Became is anagrind Def:Tense ---
5 Sowmya Ramkumar Jittery Sunak essentially weak, has little time (4-6) 17 10 N AIL(BIT)ING Def: Jittery, N (sunak, essentially) AILING (weak) - little time - BIT (eg - see you in a bit). - Nice surface. The link between ''little time'' and ''bit'' is a bit tenuous.
- Good one
6 @LowdownCryptic Batman actor dubbing in Spooner's speaking style is unnerving (4-6) 14 8 "Batman actor" = (Christian) BALE; "dubbing" = KNIGHTING; "in Spooner's speaking style" = Spoonerism indicator; "unnerving" = def (NAIL-BITING) - Interesting use of spoonerism this!
- My favorite of the Spoonerisms this week.
7 N Anantakrishnan Catching outside edge of bat! It is nerve-wracking! 14 8 Catching = nailing. Outside= containment indicator. Edge of bat = B. Nail ( B IT) ing. Def - nerve-wracking - I don''t like the exclamation marks
8 Saurabh Upadhyay For the Reverend perhaps, Christian ceremony is exciting (4,6) 13 7 Spoonerism of BALE KNIGHTING. Perhaps Christian = Bale (the actor Christian Bale), Ceremony = Knighting. Def = Exciting - The best of the spoonerisms here.
- Very nice.
9 Dave Williams Nothing about a small part in government is exciting 12 7 nothing about a = N(A)IL; small part = BIT; in government = IN G. exciting = def. - The simplicity and friendliness I respect - smooth surface!
10 Avtaar Brewing gin & it in lab is nerve-racking (4-6) 12 7 GINITINLAB*. Def: Nerve-racking - Grammatically off?
- What is ''it''? The surface doesn''t make very good sense; perhaps ''Brewing it with gin in lab....'' would make for a better surface.
- Not a huge fan of & appearing to avoid "and" in an anagram--it sticks out too much, and not worth it here for the "it in."
11 --- First of all; no audience is laughing, but is the implementation not good? This is worrying! 10 6 Acrostic! Definition: this is worrying - A bit strained, but humorous! Nice.
12 --- Exciting activity that’s unhygienic (4-6) 10 6 Double definition ---
13 --- Strike! Major league crowds can be tense (4-5) 10 6 NAIL+BI(TIN)G; Tense = def., NAIL (strike) + BIG (major league) "crowds" (gathers around) TIN (can) - The way you straddle surface and wordplay seems clever..
- What does the surface mean?
14 --- Hairy Scotsman lying around, having sex wearing kinky bling (4-6) 9 5 def (hairy) NAI (Scotsman [Ian] + rev. ind. [lying around] {IAN<}) + juxt. ind. (having) + IT (sex) + cont. ind. (wearing) + anag. ind. (kinky) + LBING* [short form = NAI LB(IT)ING] - I don''t like Scotsman = IAN - it''s a crossword cliche with no basis in reality - a shame, because the rest is great
- ,
- I think there''s way too much going on here; how is one lying around AND having sex? "Kinky bling" is funny, though.
15 --- New power-drill tool cutting not very well on pins and needles(4-6) 8 5 Definition: On pins and needles; Anno: (N)(AIL(BIT)ING); New=N; Power-drill tool=Bit; Not very well=Ailing; Cutting=Insertion indicator. - Good attempt!
- Great surface. ''On'' isn''t a connector.
- Power-drill tool=Bit doesn’t really work. “very” redundant.
16 --- Digital activity exposing cached trace 6 4 NAIL(BIT)ING; Nailing (as in exposing) containing (cached) Bit (trace); Definition: Digital activity (cryptic description of Nail biting) - Very devious - I wonder if it''s too difficult to solve...but interesting attempt!
- Tough, but clever.
17 --- New learning disability aids rely on suppressing anxiety (4-6) 6 3 (LEARNINGDISABILITY-AIDSRELY)* Def: anxiety (nail biting as a noun eg "it causes nail-biting"), Anagrind: New, Deletion Indicator: on suppressing - I like the way your mind works parallelly with surface and wordplay!
- Great surface. You could have made this into a lovely CA. ''On suppressing'' as a deletion indicator is best used prior to the fodder being deleted.
- Interesting surface, but "on suppressing" feels strained as a deletion (and that''s a BIG chunk to have to take out before anagramming).
18 --- Edgy Dark Knight actor dubbing in Spooner's speech (4-6) 5 4 Spoonerism of BALE ("Dark Knight actor") KNIGHTING ("dubbing"): -> NAIL-BITING. Defn = "Edgy." - dubbing = knighting 👍
19 --- Cooking giant blini is a bad habit (4-6) 5 3 (GIANT BLINI)*; cooking = anagrind; ‘a bad habit’ = def. ---
20 --- This kind of finishes cause a bad habit, perhaps (4,6) 4 3 DD - Is this a typo? Should it be ''This kind of finish''?
- Need singular noun and verb ("finish causes") to agree with "This."
21 --- Extremely exciting spell of batting leaves opponent eventually in endless rile (4,6) 3 3 Def - extremely exciting, spell - anagrind, batting-(t = opponent eventually)= bating+in+il(endless rile) = nail-biting - Good attempt! Just not too sure about the indicators, especially spell - I could be wrong, though
- If ''spell'' is the anagram indicator then ''of'' is part of the fodder. ''leaves opponent eventually'' doesn''t work for removing the ''t''; it would need to be ''opponent eventually leaves''. ''rile'' is not a noun so this doesn''t work in the surface.
22 --- Grotesquely giant blini are disturbingly creepy (4-6) 2 2 Definition: “disturbingly creepy”. Wordplay: anagram “giant blini”. ---
23 --- Lion-baiting organized without love make one jittery(4-5) 1 1 def:jittery, fodder is "lion baiting-o", anagrind : organized - For the surface grammar, you need ''makes / making'' rather than ''make''. The surface context is a bit far-fetched.
- *makes
24 --- The Reverend's collateral ennobling is symptom of anxiety (4-6) 1 1 spoonerism: bail knighting > nail-biting, def = symptom of anxiety - Surface? What is ''collateral ennobling''?
25 --- Last ball nipped by leg stump to be sent back undoes Nawaz’s bowling for lack of turn? 0 0 = letter selection indicator (last [balL]) insertion indicator (nipped by) + leg stump (TIBIA) reversal indicator (to be sent back) insertion indicator (undoes) + Nawaz’s bowling (spinNING) letter removal indicator (for lack of) turn -(spin) N[AI[L]BIT]ING refers to India v Pakistan at T20 World cup 23 October 2022 nail biting finish, not sure it entirely works - I think it''s too specific a cricket reference to be fair to all solvers. But very well thought out - good efforts! Although SPINNING-ING seems a bit iffy.
- 😵‍💫
- Très rococo!