Tuesday 30 December 2014

My Top Ten Clues 2014

Top Ten Crossword Clues 2014 My pick of ten outstanding clues from 2014. Which clues were your favourites this year?

Guardian 26373 (Nutmeg): Like Mum and Dad, I complain vigorously about doctor (11) P__________

FT 14737 (Alberich): A tall tree tumbles, trapping one? That will do (10) A_________

Times 25800: Bodywork with bumper off finally exposed (8) W______T

Guardian 26295 (Pasquale): Embarrassed about sexes sitting next to each other, ensconced on sofa? (5) C____

Sun Times 4605 (Dean Mayer): Put too much money into space travel, do I? I must be mad (15) O______________

Clue by Mohsin @ 1ACross: (twelfth of seventy-eight) + (fourth of five) + (eighth of eighteen) (3) 

Azed CWC 2170 (T.C.Borland): Utter it leaving terminal in Tokyo Narita? (8) S_______

Times 25906: Flying Gulf Air, one goes into Economy? (6)

FT 14778 (Redshank): Somehow deflecting praise, suppressing ego (4-11)

Guardian 26182 (Paul): Intercepting express, criminal is armed, one holding up a train (10) B_________

Best wishes to you for 2015 – have a fantastic new year!

[Answers next week.]

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18 comments

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

Hi Shuchi,
There is one clue which is & will be my favourite clue is Mohsin's clue in 1Across :)

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

Guardian 26373 (Nutmeg): Like Mum and Dad, I complain vigorously about doctor (11) P__________
PALINDROMIC (anagram of I COMPLAIN around DR

FT 14737 (Alberich): A tall tree tumbles, trapping one? That will do (10) A_________ ALLITERATE ( anagram of TALLTREE with I )

Kishore said...

Without much ado, I think the number of clues asked, the short answer to one of them, the math behind it, the movie (and the actress) it reminds me of and the maximum score on a normally used scale, all point to the most favourite clue from my recent vizinho

Shuchi said...

@Kishore: For a moment I thought you meant the 2005 film Dus.

Kishore said...

My ref was to the Jovian moon ...

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

Guardian 26295 (Pasquale): Embarrassed about sexes sitting next to each other, ensconced on sofa? (5) C____
COMFY ( CO MF Y )
Clue by Mohsin @ 1ACross: (twelfth of seventy-eight) + (fourth of five) + (eighth of eighteen) (3) ( As Kishore said the answer is the number of clues in this post ;) )

FT 14778 (Redshank): Somehow deflecting praise, suppressing ego (4-11) SELF-DEPRECIATING ( anagram of deflecting praise -i )

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

Sun Times 4605 (Dean Mayer): Put too much money into space travel, do I? I must be mad (15) O______________
OVERCAPITALISED ( Anagram of space travel do I I )
Times 25906: Flying Gulf Air, one goes into Economy? (6) FRUGAL ( anagram of gulf air -i )
Azed CWC 2170 (T.C.Borland): Utter it leaving terminal in Tokyo Narita? (8) S_______
SAYONARA
Guardian 26182 (Paul): Intercepting express, criminal is armed, one holding up a train (10)B_________
BRIDESMAID ? (Just a guess :( anagram of is armed inside BID ? )

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

Hi Shuchi ,
Happy new year :)

Bhavan said...

Along with Mohsin's sensational clue, I really love the Times 25800 clue - brilliant misdirection.

Raghunath said...

Top ten certainly these are. At least one deserves 10/10.

Raghunath said...

Guardian 26373: PALIN(DR)OMIC*

FT 14737: ALL(I)TERATE*

Times 25800: Bodywork with bumper off finally exposed (8) W______T

Guardian 26295: CO(M+F)Y

Sun Times: OVERCAPITALISED*

Mohsin: T+E+N = 6.5 + 1.25 + 2.25 (Ten out of ten, for this!)

Azed CWC 2170: SAY(utter) + tokyoO + NAR(it)A &lit

Times 25906: FRUGAL* - I

FT 14778: SELF-DEPRECATING* - I & lit

Guardian 26182: B(RIDESMA*)ID

Krishna M said...

Happy New Year to you too. I could solve 5, very good clues.

FT 14737 (Alberich): A tall tree tumbles, trapping one? That will do (10) ALL{I}TERATE*

Guardian 26295 (Pasquale): Embarrassed about sexes sitting next to each other, ensconced on sofa? (5) CO{M F}Y

Clue by Mohsin @ 1ACross: (twelfth of seventy-eight) + (fourth of five) + (eighth of eighteen) (3) T E N

Times 25906: Flying Gulf Air, one goes into Economy? (6) FRUGAL* - I

FT 14778 (Redshank): Somehow deflecting praise, suppressing ego (4-11) SELF-DEPRECATING* - I

Shuchi said...

Nicely solved everyone. TEN looks like the unanimous favourite of this year.

Consolidating the answers:

Guardian 26373 (Nutmeg): Like Mum and Dad, I complain vigorously about doctor (11) PALINDROMIC
DR in (I COMPLAIN)*; D-by-E

FT 14737 (Alberich): A tall tree tumbles, trapping one? That will do (10) ALLITERATE
(A TALL TREE)* around I; D-by-E semi-&lit

Times 25800: Bodywork with bumper off finally exposed (8) WHODUNIT
Cryptic definition

Guardian 26295 (Pasquale): Embarrassed about sexes sitting next to each other, ensconced on sofa? (5) COMFY
COY (embarrassed) around M F

Sun Times 4605 (Dean Mayer): Put too much money into space travel, do I? I must be mad (15) OVERCAPITALISED
(SPACE TRAVEL DO I I)*

Clue by Mohsin @ 1ACross: (twelfth of seventy-eight) + (fourth of five) + (eighth of eighteen) (3) TEN
[seventy-eigh]T + [fiv]E + [eightee]N = 6.5 + 1.25 + 2.25, &lit

Azed CWC 2170 (T.C.Borland): Utter it leaving terminal in Tokyo Narita? (8) SAYONARA
SAY + [toky]O + NAR[it]A &lit

Times 25906: Flying Gulf Air, one goes into Economy? (6) FRUGAL
(GULF AIR)* - I

FT 14778 (Redshank): Somehow deflecting praise, suppressing ego (4-11) SELF-DEPRECATING
(DEFLECTING PRAISE)* - I &lit

Guardian 26182 (Paul): Intercepting express, criminal is armed, one holding up a train (10) BRIDESMAID
BID (express) around (IS ARMED)*

Raghunath said...

The WHODUNIT answer. Do bodywork and bumper relate to a 'corpse' and 'murderer' resp. in a murder mystery?

Shuchi said...

@Raghunath: bodywork = 'work (novel, play, etc.) that features a body'

Shuchi said...

...and 'bumper off' = 'one who bumps off i.e. kills'

Unknown said...

all brilliant! i got 7/10, after much pencil-chewing and hair-pulling. my favorite, for elegance and compactness, was COSY... was stumped my BRIDESMAID (kicking myself now, of course),WHODUNIT (truly cryptic) and PALINDROMIC (which i still can't quite parse...).
well done, Suchi.

David Jayaprakash John said...

Ten :)