Clue contest No 35
Sat 1 Nov 2025, set byPhantom
Introduction
As the days get shorter and the weather turns cold, what better way to pass the time than sleep. Clues please for HIBERNATE.
Submit your best cryptic clue for
HIBERNATE
Results
# | Setter | Clue | Pts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Three in a bed initially struggling to sleep (9) THREE IN A B(ed) anagram = Definition | 9 | 5 | 2 | 22 | 39 | ||
| 2 | What bear in the wild may do? (9) BEARINTHE* &lit. | 7 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 25 | ||
| 3 | Stupidly bin heater in Winter (9) BINHEATER* def=Winter (verb) | 4 | 5 | 1 | 17 | 23 | ||
| 4 | Sleep with Henri? A bet gone wrong (9) Def: sleep, HENRIABET* (sorry Rob) | 3 | 3 | 4 | 22 | 19 | ||
| 5 | Most bears in the wild do this (9) BEAR[s]INTHE* | 2 | 4 | 2 | 18 | 16 | ||
| 6 | Lay low for a while after spilling the Ribena (9) def: Lay low for a while / * (after spilling) [THE RIBENA] | 1 | 2 | 4 | 16 | 11 | ||
| 7 | Overwinter in Delhi; Bern at Easter (9) Overwinter = straight clue. Hidden ('in') | 1 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 10 | ||
| 8 | Hot queen pokes bronze bisexual after turning back on Wayne Sleep (9) H, ER poking TAN+BI<, ~E = sleep | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 9 | ||
| 9 | Freely breathe in winter (9) BREATHEIN* def. ‘winter’ as verb | 1 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 9 | ||
| 10 | The rest of winter holds its breath; Eve reads novels, Adam tries embroidering their tops (9) Acrostic after 'winter'. | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 7 | ||
| 11 | Before sleep, essentially train the brain to be inactive (9) Def: to be inactive. Anagram of THE BRAIN before E (slEep) essentially | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 6 | ||
| 12 | Regenerate as in the bear (9) &lit. INTHEBEAR* (regenerate as) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | ||
| 13 | I'm pleased to see you take to the woodshed around the start of November and sleep (9) HI (I'm pleased to see you) BERATE (take to the woodshed) around N | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 4 | ||
| 14 | Starts to huddle in burrows, energy reserves now ample to enable sleeping through winter (9) Acrostic ("starts to") of all the words prior to "sleeping through winter", which is the definition. | 0 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 4 | ||
| 15 | Disturb the bear in winter (9) anag (disturb) "the bear in". To winter definition. | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 3 | ||
| 16 | Threaten big moves after time government's left shut down (9) Def: Shut down. Anagram (moves) of THREATEN BI{g} without (left) T and G (government) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | ||
| 17 | Log off! He earns a bit without second rework (9) anagram of "he earns a bit" mins s | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | ||
| 18 | Sleep shivering beneath dirt, naked (9) Sleep def shivering anagram of (beneath+dirt naked>[d]ir[t]) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 3 | ||
| 19 | Actively bin heat at end of the Winter (9) (BINHEAT [th]e [winte]r)* &lit - For hibernation, animals actively get rid of much of their body heat in order to conserve energy | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | ||
| 20 | Shut down the body and free the brain to sleep, essentially (9) [THE BRAIN] anag. ("free") + (sl)E(ep); partial &lit. (as per Don Manley) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | ||
| 21 | Raised toast in speech: "Having had dinner, to sleep for a very long time!" (9) HI BERN (homophone of "high burn", "raised toast") + ATE (had dinner) - hopefully "having" works as a juxtaposition indicator | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | ||
| 22 | Breathe in freely and be still for a while (9) Anag of breathe in | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 2 | ||
| 23 | Sleep habit ne'er broken (9) def. = HABITNEER anagrammed | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 2 | ||
| 24 | Lacking gin and tonic, a bright teen developed 'hide and sleep' (9) Remove 'G' & 'T' from A BRIGHT TEEN and rearrange ('develop') for an animal's winter behaviour | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | ||
| 25 | Scottish side missing Ian? A half team should hole up! (9) HIBERN(-IAN) + A + TE(-AM) = Hole Up | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | ||
| 26 | Deep sleep muddled the brain near end of winter (9) Def = THEBRAIN* + E (near(ly the) end of wintEr) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | ||
| 27 | Irishman dined without Ian, and so to deep sleep (9) Irishman is “hibernian”, dined is “ate”, “ian” is subtracted | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | ||
| 28 | Collapse in the bare winter (9) Anagram (collapse) of INTHEBEAR*. Def: Winter(v). Entire clue also works as a definition | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | ||
| 29 | Order that could temporarily end all PC activities? (9) CD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | ||
| 30 | Icy bleak November starts, and heater goes wrong - hide away until Spring! (9) (I B N + HEATER)* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | ||
| 31 | Just over half of Scottish team had to retire for the rest of season? (9) HIBERN(ian FC) + ATE def = to retire for the rest of season? | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | ||
| 32 | Sleep with Scottish football team, making Scotsman worried (9) def: sleep; HIBERNIAN [Scottish football team] making IAN [Scotsman] ATE [worried] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | ||
| 33 | In here, bat disturbed deep sleep (9) (INHEREBAT)* Somewhat autobiographical, having had a bat roost in our loft, somewhat annoying when they find their way into the bedroom at night. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 34 | One pronounced light implicated in aversion to sleep (9) I + homophone of BURN in HATE; def = "to sleep" | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||
| 35 | Savings drained, lost in crazy ass bet with Henri. Play dead? (9) "play dead?" / lose the SS (drained SavingS) in *HIBERNATESS (crazy ASSBET+HENRI) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||
| 36 | Tuck in after tucking in (9) CD, some animals will eat large amounts of food to store energy through hibernation | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||
| 37 | After drinking nth beer, A.I. shut down (9) Anagram indicator (After drinking) NTHBEERAI = Definition (shut down) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||
| 38 | Sleep intermittently in chair before put down to snuggle middle of blanket (9) cHaIr BERATE + blaNket | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||
| 39 | Criminal three I nab, something a PC could do (9) (THREE I NAB)* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||
| 40 | Protrusion losing first of its covering in the same place before trouble limits sleep (9) HERN(i)A (covering) IB (before) T(roubl)E = HIBERNATE (sleep) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||
| 41 | Lie dormant after volcanic state, city consumed (9) Def: lie dormant. Volcanic state = Hawaii, after which Bern, then ate | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||
| 42 | Endless release in hot ecstasy consumed night's first sleep (9) Definition: sleep; "endless release": IBERAT (liberate with first and last dropped); hot: H, ecstasy: E; night's first: N | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 43 | He eats about half of rice and a lot of beans with a bit of thyme in winter (9) HE containing (eats) anagram (about) of RI + BEAN + T | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |