Contests started: RAMPART (7), LIKE (4), MOUNT EVEREST (5, 7), OPUS (4), OZONE (5), ASH (3), NIDORAN OR NIDORAN♂ OR NIDORAN♀ (7 OR 8), PERU (4), XBOX DEMON (4, 5)
Contests won: HEROIC COUPLET (6, 7), GRINDER (7), LAMPSHADE (9), SICK (4), SWITCH (6), UPSIDE DOWN (6, 4), BONZA (5), BASEL (5), ZUCCHINI (8), SEDNA (5), SPHINX (6), VEGETABLE (9), FUELS (5), BLUEBIRD (8), CONTEST (7), ZOOM (4), ZHUZH (5) (OR ZHOOSH (6)), PANICKING (9), EDNASWAP (8), ACCIACCATURA (12), VACCINE (7)
| Clue ID | Contest | Clue | Explanation (hover) | Submitted By | Likes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3084 | SEDNA (5) | Faraway planet's Danse Macabre (5) | DANSE* | Linus | 7 |
| 2801 | BASEL (5) | Problem of calculating 1+1/4+1/9+1/16+1/25+... in base 50 (5) | The famous Basel problem | Linus | 6 |
| 2507 | BONZA (5) | Spectacular, all but an A+ (5) | BON(-AN)ZA. Using the noun meaning of spectacular ("time for the Skateboard Showcase Spectacular") and the adjective meaning of A+. | Linus | 5 |
| 4257 | EMBER (5) | Old flame at the end of many months? (5) | Same wordplay as above, but more upfront about it | Linus | 5 |
| 4523 | ANY CLUE THAT'S A VALID ACNH PASSPORT TITLE (?) | Longtime Reckless One (3) | EON* = Longtime | Linus | 5 |
| 1777 | SWITCH (6) | Console hag after last rites (6) | WITCH after S | Linus | 4 |
| 2076 | WHEAT (5) | Pique one’s appetite with a grain (5) | WHE(A)T | Linus | 4 |
| 2236 | KINK (4) | E.g., futa Splatoon girl squirts this following climax of dick (4) | INK (‘Splatoon girl squirts this’) following K. Def is “E.g., futa.” |
Linus | 4 |
| 3270 | SPHINX (6) | Classic riddle of trig function describing acidity (6) | SIN(X) describing (as in outlining) PH | Linus | 4 |
| 4408 | CATS (4) | Puzzler Dan listened to musical (4) | "katz" | Linus | 4 |
| 5390 | PANICKING (9) | A secret solver tradition: before starting gift, Santa is in pain (9) | PA(NICK)IN + G_ | Linus | 4 |
| 5974 | VACCINE (7) | 1cc injected into vein, perhaps! (7) | (We talked about this clue in the Discord, so it's a collaborative effort.) &lit. Wordplay is VEIN around "a cc". I'm not sure how legit "perhaps" is as an anagram indicator, though. |
Linus | 4 |
| 1627 | HEROIC COUPLET (6, 7) | A woman loudly utters “Oh, I see — A revolution authorized for me.” (6, 7) | The definition part is “me,” referring to the clue. The rest is charades: HER OIC COUP LET. |
Linus | 3 |
| 1691 | ARTIFICER (9) | Redeveloped crafter that infuses two items initially! (9) | Wordplay: anagram CRAFTER and infuse two Is. Def: Artificer is a newly redeveloped D&D class who can craft magic items and whose “Infuse Item” ability initially allows infusing two items. |
Linus | 3 |
| 1927 | MIND (4) | Smallest distance to object (4) | Smallest distance = MIN D Definition is “object,” in the verb sense: “Do you mind if...?” |
Linus | 3 |
| 2233 | FETISH (6) | E.g., furry alien penetrates animal (6) | Furry = fetish. ET inside FISH | Linus | 3 |
| 2256 | DISCOVERY (9) | Secret dance, absolutely (9) | DISCO? VERY! | Linus | 3 |
| 2799 | ZUCCHINI (8) | Squash Facebook founder memetically with swine flu (8) | ZUCC+H1N1 | Linus | 3 |
| 3169 | STAN (4) | Little Dipper's guardian is one short of the devil? (4) | S(-A)TAN Def: "Little Dipper's guardian" = Grunkle Stan from Gravity Falls |
Linus | 3 |
| 3878 | VEGETABLE (9) | Super Saiyan starts to build large energy plant (9) | VEGETA+B,L,E | Linus | 3 |
| 4773 | ZHUZH (5) (OR ZHOOSH (6)) | 𝙸𝙽𝙲𝙸𝙽𝙴𝚁𝙾𝙰𝚁, in the first half, got written up and then fell over to the left, to add spice (5) | 𝙸𝙽𝙲𝙸𝙽, written upward and then rotated to the left, is ZHUZH. Def = "add spice." Thanks AuLeaf and Deusovi for the tense and font corrections | Linus | 3 |
| 6018 | 867-5309 (3-4) | Famous twin prime and lucky number goes upside-down on a calculator after food cancellation (3-4) | Def: Famous twin prime Lucky number = 7 GOES upside-down on a calculator = 5309 Food cancellation = 86 |
Linus | 3 |
| 6085 | ANY CLUE WHOSE SURFACE IS A PALINDROME (?) | Burst, SE, nests rub (5) | S(PAT)E | Linus | 3 |
| 1657 | LAMPSHADE (9) | Clamps had each held a canvas over a bulb (9) | cLAMPS HAD Each | Linus | 2 |
| 1674 | SICK (4) | Upset on the inside — ew! (4) | The inside of “upset” is S. “Ew” clues ICK. &lit. | Linus | 2 |
| 1724 | DERRING-DO (7-2) | True bravery. Turn weird. Embrace making mistakes. (7-2) | ERRING inside ODD reversed | Linus | 2 |
| 1812 | BROWNIE (7) | Keep stuffing a soft cheese and chocolate dessert (7) | OWN stuffing BRIE | Linus | 2 |
| 2044 | XKCD (4) | A comic's side, down-right on a keyboard (4) | Type the word SIDE. Now move your fingers one key down-right and type again. | Linus | 2 |
| 2253 | FETISH (6) | Maybe hyper endowments' heft is absurd (6) | HEFTIS*. Def: hyper, the best fetish | Linus | 2 |
| 2263 | LAST RESORT (4, 6) | Plan guaranteed to work, in Discworld lore, starts rebellion (4, 6) | LORESTARTS* Def is “Plan guaranteed to work, in Discworld.” |
Linus | 2 |
| 2271 | HENTAI (6) | Lewd doujin cock rising up at me (6) | HEN+TA<+I. Down clue only. | Linus | 2 |
| 2518 | TEMPEST (7) | Extreme temper leads to furor? (7) | Temp, more temper, most tempest. That’s how English works | Linus | 2 |
| 4020 | FUELS (5) | A car's power sources are questionably useful when it doesn't start (5) | (-u)SEFUL* | Linus | 2 |
| 4137 | ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL (BOY) | all 🔄, work "and", ←: no (4) | all = ∀ "no" = (*NAD)+A <- |
Linus | 2 |
| 4366 | NECKLACE (8) | In mercy kill, arched even loop around the throat (8) | even letters of "in mercy kill arched" | Linus | 2 |
| 4736 | UNCHES (6) | Uncle, he's like letters 1, 3, and 5 of this answer (6) | UNC+HES. Change def as appropriate | Linus | 2 |
| 4786 | COFFEE (6) | Speaking like someone with the flu: drink (6) | Speaking "coughy" | Linus | 2 |
| 4800 | OCTOBER (7) | Month's fresh post was red in the future (7) | taken wholesale from phenomist's Pointless quiz a while ago "fresh post" = OC, "was red in the future" = TO BE R |
Linus | 2 |
| 5665 | LWOJLA (6) | A small bag for carrying heavy items to a small village or other gathering place (6) | Ddef. (according to www.thisworddoesnotexist.com) |
Linus | 2 |
| 5853 | EDNASWAP (8) | Trade genes over the internet to a band I have not heard of (8) | Ddef. (To trade genes over the internet is to e-DNA-swap) | Linus | 2 |
| 5891 | ACCIACCATURA (12) | About about about about one about about almost about face a note (12) | About about = AC< about about one = C(I)A about = C about = CA almost about face = TUR(-n) a = A Def: the ever unambiguous word "note" |
Linus | 2 |
| 1648 | GRINDER (7) | Smile and turn red, pulverizing tool (7) | GRIN+[DER] | Linus | 1 |
| 1656 | POINTLESS (9) | Inconsequential etiquette advice for Phoenix Wright? (9) | 2xdef. Phoenix Wright points a lot; pointing is said to be impolite. | Linus | 1 |
| 1694 | XIMENES (7) | Eleven thousand and four compass directions leading to famous crossworder (7) | what do you mean “four compass directions” isn’t a fair way to clue ENES | Linus | 1 |
| 1773 | SIGNATURE (9) | Contract enforcer tearing us into pieces (9) | Anagram “tearing us” | Linus | 1 |
| 1828 | UPSIDE DOWN (6, 4) | It, itself, is umop apisdn? (6, 4) | Write "upside down" upside down. Remember that a typed "a" looks different from a handwritten one. | Linus | 1 |
| 2074 | CHUTZPAH (8) | Chip?! Replacing me with a type of chip?! Sigh... this is balls (8) | def: balls. CHIP, replacing I with UTZ (potato chip brand), +AH |
Linus | 1 |
| 2201 | FOUR (4) | Image clue: http://i.imgur.com/b2sLEEb.png | FOURIER (transform) - IER. Definition is enumeration. | Linus | 1 |
| 2587 | OCTOPI (6) / OCTOPUSES (9) / OCTOPODES (9) | 25.13274122871835... creatures with three hearts, who carry coconut shells for shelter, and who can squeeze through holes the size of a quarter (6) | 8π. The definition is pretty long | Linus | 1 |
| 3424 | HUMAN (5) | You guys, say! (5) | Homophone YOU MEN. Def is the adjective usage of human: "you guys are human." | Linus | 1 |
| 4030 | PENNY (5) | Pennsylvania and New York merge in exchange for thoughts (5) | PENN and NY merge; def references "penny for your thoughts" | Linus | 1 |
| 4037 | BLUEBIRD (8) | Rev. Spooner describes ghost of Mario seen through a Gaussian filter as an omen of happiness (8) | BOO, BLURRED (sorry Mad Jaqk I stole it) | Linus | 1 |
| 4100 | MARRY (5) | Prone to tarnishing Wed? (5) | Ddef: if you are prone to tarnishing, then you are mar-ry | Linus | 1 |
| 4106 | CONTEST (7) | Dispute what you get for answering 7 out of the 10 multiple choice questions correctly? (7) | C ON TEST | Linus | 1 |
| 4219 | FUNHOUSE (8) | Pay respects to anti-prostitute-employment building at the carnival (8) | F, UN-HO-USE | Linus | 1 |
| 4917 | BIDEN (5) | President-elect from my fursona's lair (5) | It's a... bi den | Linus | 1 |
| 5028 | CINNAMON (8) | The best spice convention is around where some soldiers were in the sixties (8) | C(IN NAM)ON is the same wordplay as above. I thought of it independently and executed it worse | Linus | 1 |
| 6039 | NEXT-LEVEL (4-5) | 10 in 10, in retrospect, matched the enumeration (note: this clue assumes you're currently playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii World 4-4) (4-5) | NE(X)T< + LEVEL(=matched) Def: the enumeration |
Linus | 1 |
| 6184 | INDIVISIBILITY (14) | India tea-time island in the same place: island settled year always being in One Piece (14) | We went to http://sphinx.mythic-beasts.com/~mark/random/indicators/ and took the worst ways to clue each part IND+IV+IS+IB+I+LIT+Y update: definition tense fixed |
Linus | 1 |
| 6404 | HUMUHUMUNUKUNUKUĀPUA'A (20'1) | Him, a human -- ok, a nuke -- replaces all vowels with U with a plutonium battery for an extremely Hawaiianly-named fish (20'1) | hUmUhUmUnUkUnUkU + a + Pu + AA | Linus | 1 |
| 6619 | INFEST (6) | Rev. Spooner hustled in the streets to spread plague (6) | 🥄 of "finessed" | Linus | 1 |
| 1778 | AMPUTATE (8) | Summer club, chopping off head, transformed, peeling off skin, to cut off people’s arms and legs (8) | cAMP mUTATEd. Coming to theaters this summer. | Linus | 0 |
| 1818 | UPSIDE DOWN (6, 4) | image clue: https://i.imgur.com/0zmcwpE.png | The image shows the enumeration (6, 4) printed upside down. | Linus | 0 |
| 1824 | UPSIDE DOWN (6, 4) | Inverted silver lining a young bird's feathers (6, 4) | A silver lining is an UPSIDE. A young bird's feathers are her DOWN. |
Linus | 0 |
| 1988 | LEVEL (5) | Even when you flip it around, it’s perfectly balanced (5) | 'cuz palindrome | Linus | 0 |
| 2015 | EGG (3) | Common farm sight that might shift around and say 'moo' (3) | Caesar shift of "MOO" | Linus | 0 |
| 2086 | BELL (4) | (Inventor of)? ringing thing (4) | Nonstandardly-formatted ddef. The ? indicates the parenthesized phrase is optional. | Linus | 0 |
| 2089 | COMMENT (7) | Hollow compliment? Interject (7) | COM(PLI)MENT. lol | Linus | 0 |
| 2153 | DEEP LEARNING (4, 8) | Type of education with many convoluted steps and a high dropout rate? (4, 8) | Cryptic definition only. A typical deep learning model (like the one I'm training now :P) might have a series of convolutional filters, and use 'dropout' to avoid overfitting. | Linus | 0 |
| 2826 | ELISION (7) | Excluding spaces, it yields motion from motel? (7) | motel, where EL IS ION, is motion. I apologize to MadJaqk for this clue | Linus | 0 |
| 3105 | CLUE SIGNIFICANTLY SHORTER THAN THE ANSWER (?) | A quick brown fox jumps to avoid his lazy dog, inexhaustibly supplying the full text of "Gadsby" (2, 5, 10, 3, 7, 3, ..., 8) | Letter bank for that one book that doesn’t use the letter e | Linus | 0 |
| 3741 | TENDON (6) | This crossword entry, without white tissue? (6) [clue 10 down only] | TENDO(-W)N. Idea from dylanafright | Linus | 0 |
| 4047 | ANY CLUE WHOSE ANSWER IS AN MLP:FIM CHARACTER (?) | Worshiper of Rainbow Dash as too cool up in the air (9) | Def = "Worshiper of Rainbow Dash" (ASTOOCOOL)*, anagrind = "up in the air" Answer: SCOOTALOO |
Linus | 0 |
| 4083 | DASHING (7) | Debonair–ing? (7) | – = DASH | Linus | 0 |
| 4195 | ZOOM (4) | Mature Trails: a place to watch animals streak (4) | M trails ZOO = "streak" | Linus | 0 |
| 4221 | MINT (4) | Plant indirectly sloppily eating without vouchers (4) | *CONSUMPTION - *COUPONS, duh. It'll only get worse from here |
Linus | 0 |
| 4225 | MINT (4) | 1000 maximum? (4) | Ddef, 1000 = M (int) and maximum = min't. Happy fools |
Linus | 0 |
| 4228 | TURNIP (6) | Vegetable producing π? (6) | Everyone loves rebus clues right? | Linus | 0 |
| 4237 | CHRYSOBERYL (11) | Gem character, yes, non-drunkenly swapping its last pair (11) | CHR+Y+SOBER(L<->Y) | Linus | 0 |
| 4248 | FAROE ISLANDS (5, 7) | Collection of lists of numbers inside the boundary of Minecraft's volcanic archipelago (5, 7) | FAR(OEIS)LANDS Oops this overlaps on the root "land" |
Linus | 0 |
| 4355 | INTERNET STALKING (8, 8) | Detain aliens, speaking for e.g., relentlessly pursuing Ken M? (8, 8) | shoutouts to the MUMS 2019 homies (intern+ets+talking; 100% stolen from the MUMS puzzle "throwback thursday") |
Linus | 0 |
| 4842 | BROWN (5) | West-northwest orb of chocolate (5) | (nw orb)< | Linus | 0 |
| 5185 | ETERNITY (8) | Everything in entirety! (8) | ENTIRETY* | Linus | 0 |
| 6467 | ANY INFINITE STRING (♾️) | Pi is e, strangely (♾️) | 3.141592653... = *2.718281828... | Linus | 0 |
| 6527 | ZARF (4) | One of many text adventures (alternate reality, in theory, lacking choice) (4) | Z(AR)F Def: Zarf is a person of many text adventures math fact of the day: ZF is a theory lacking choice |
Linus | 0 |