Many thanks to Kevin for moderating the previous round.

For this round, please submit up to three clues for the word:

NUGATORY (8)

You will be up against this clue by Pan:

Letter by grand American conservative is worthless (8)

The deadline is midnight, your time, Wednesday, May 5.

Regards,

Luciano

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Inventive young rat seen as trifling (8)

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Industrious young rat considered trifling (8)

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Fruitless nut- or yellow cakes Gina's frosting (8)
So against a crocodilian, a club is useless (8)
They ultimately list weapon "Returned in non-operative condition" (8)

Kevin Wald wald@math.uchicago.edu | About one were-crocodilian (6) http://www.math.uchicago.edu/~wald |

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On Wednesday, April 28, 2021 at 12:36:13 PM UTC-2:30, Luciano Ward wrote:

Many thanks to Kevin for moderating the previous round.

For this round, please submit up to three clues for the word:

NUGATORY (8)

You will be up against this clue by Pan:

Letter by grand American conservative is worthless (8)

The deadline is midnight, your time, Wednesday, May 5.

Regards,

Luciano

Croc certified as child-friendly in the Big Apple? Pull the other one! (8)

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Small reptile on the border of uptown, in New York (8)

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Fruitless nutty confection spilled over line (8)

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Many thanks to all entrants. My interpretations are below. Please comment, if necessary.

Luciano

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David:

Industrious young rat considered trifling (8)
YOUNGRAT anag; def = considered trifling

Croc certified as child-friendly in the Big Apple? Pull the other one! (8) child-friendly = U, so [U GATOR] in NY; def = pull the other one (not sure how)???

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Duke:

Small reptile on the border of uptown, in New York (8)
border of uptown = U, so [U GATOR] in NY; def = small

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Kevin:

Fruitless nut- or yellow cakes Gina's frosting (8)
[NUT OR Y] around GA (Gina's frosting); def = fruitless

So against a crocodilian, a club is useless (8)
so = nu (Yiddish), so NU + GATOR + Y (YM(W)CA); def = useless

They ultimately list weapon "Returned in non-operative condition" (8)
Y + ROTA + GUN rev; def = in non-operative condition

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Rob:

Fruitless nutty confection spilled over line (8)
NOUGAT anag + RY; def = fruitless

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On Friday, May 7, 2021 at 3:59:57 PM UTC-2:30, Luciano Ward wrote:

Many thanks to all entrants. My interpretations are below. Please comment, if necessary.

Luciano

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David:
Industrious young rat considered trifling (8)
YOUNGRAT anag; def = considered trifling
Croc certified as child-friendly in the Big Apple? Pull the other one! (8) child-friendly = U, so [U GATOR] in NY; def = pull the other one (not sure how)???

Collins gives a second meaning 'not valid' = 'pull the other one!'

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Results tomorrow. Sorry for the delay.

Thanks,

Luciano

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Repeated thanks to all entrants (and repeated apologies for the delay). My opinions are below, and the result at the end.

Luciano

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Pan (the pro):

Letter by grand American conservative is worthless (8)
NU + G + A TORY; def = worthless
-- Indicating NU (the Greek letter) simply with 'letter' seems a bit lazy and not very helpful to the solver. The rest is okay, but nothing special.

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David:

Industrious young rat considered trifling (8)
YOUNGRAT anag; def = considered trifling
-- I can go with 'industrious' as an anagram indicator. 'considered trifling' seems a wee bit bloated as a definition, but it works. The anagram fodder is very good. The surface reading is the clue's weakest part. P=

Croc certified as child-friendly in the Big Apple? Pull the other one! (8) child-friendly = U, so [U GATOR] in NY; def = pull the other one (not sure how) -- I'm okay with 'U GATOR' as indicated in the clue. The definition doesn't do it for me, however: although 'nugatory' might mean 'not valid', 'pull the other one' as a definition is a stretch; it is certainly a vaguely connected sentiment, but is not a
definition (imagine a sentence with 'nugatory' in it, and replace that word with 'pull the other one' while retaining the meaning and grammatical correctness of the sentence; I can't). P-

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Duke:

Small reptile on the border of uptown, in New York (8)
border of uptown = U, so [U GATOR] in NY; def = small
-- I would have left out 'the', so as to imply 'a' (one) border of 'uptown', rather than 'the' (only) border ('the western border' would have been fine). The definition is okay, but lacks oomph. The surface reading is a bit awkward. P-

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Kevin:

Fruitless nut- or yellow cakes Gina's frosting (8)
[NUT OR Y] around GA (Gina's frosting); def = fruitless
-- The wordplay is fine (I especially like how GA is got). The surface reading is not wonderful; is a yellow cake a thing (other than a cake that's yellow), and why are we talking about a nutcake versus a yellow cake, and who is this mysterious Gina? I'm
being a bit facetious here, but the surface reading does look greatly forced. P-

So against a crocodilian, a club is useless (8)
so = nu (Yiddish), so NU + GATOR + Y (YM(W)CA); def = useless
-- 'so' = 'nu' was vaguely familiar to me (it might have been used in another clue in the group some time back). The wordplay is good. I would have liked a colon (or even a comma) after 'so', but that's me being picky. P=

They ultimately list weapon "Returned in non-operative condition" (8)
Y + ROTA + GUN rev; def = in non-operative condition
-- All good in terms of wordplay. The definition seems rather strained, but obviously fits in with the surface reading. P-

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Rob:

Fruitless nutty confection spilled over line (8)
NOUGAT anag + RY; def = fruitless
-- This is an indirect anagram (where you provide a definition of the (here, partial) anagram fodder, rather than having those letters visible in the clue). I'm not a fan of that. P-

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The winner is Kevin with his club-resistant crocodilian. Second is David with his harshly regarded diligent rodent.

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