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With all the votes in the final score is

KT17 has 3
Sw has 2
rossim has 2
tyke has 2
geevo has 2
and
ginge has 2

Well done KT 17 for “Busy CIA unit in frequent contact “

Here is your prize. A bit of stargazing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication_with_extraterrestrial_intelligence

and something to hear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq5vZ1I0HAU

Well done kt17. Thanks Jws for hosting this week.

Thank you very much - what a nice way to start the weekend.

JWS thank you very much for the prize - I'm writing this from under the stairs with a tin foil hat on.

I thought it was quite a tough word to clue - not many first grade synonyms/definitions - other setters understandably used some licence in some delicious clues - which, as my name is up for joining the PU I did not vote for.

Thank you Ginge, Aristophanes and Tyke for your votes, and others for mentions.

Next week we will be back down to earth, I promise.

Have a great weekend all!

Well done kt17, cheers jws and very many thanks to paul & BBM2 for your votes.
I didn't want to influence others prior to voting but unless I'm mistaken or missing something, does geevo's cat in communion @ 5 not miss an "i" ? If so, I'm not criticising (it's very easily done) I'm just looking for clarification.

Nice one, KT! Cheers, JWS. (I don't deserve a second place mention, by the way, as my votes received were for 2 different clues.... and, yes, you've flushed me out. Our people have been observing your planet for millenia, contemplating contact. For pity's sake, DON'T take me to your leader - ANY of them!).

Many thanks to Rossim and Nemo for the votes, and to Ginge, Paul and Fiery for the mentions.

SW

Well done Kt17 and thanks JWS for hosting.

Ginge you're correct about the missing I in post 5.

Thank you for your votes SW and Spike and for the mentions BBM2 and Ginge (what a difference a hyphen might have made!).

Ginge, if I may say I thought the absence of a hyphen in Rossim's clue was very clever.

'Chit-chat' would not have been a cryptic clue, it would have belonged in the Metro Quick.

'Chit Chat' was IMHO a clever riff on the lack of a hyphen and brilliantly cryptic.

I would have voted for it but I was worried about Chit as a definition of COMMUNICATION (even with a question mark.)

Yes a chit communicates information, but that does not make a chit a communication..

My Neapolitan Mastiff communicates when she scratches the door but she could not be defined as a 'communication'.

Apologies, my previous remark should have been to Skyewalker not Ginge - sorry all.

Actually, I did not accidentally miss out an i in my clue. I put 'Felix '
instead of ,say, "moggy' to indicate 1unique cat. Sorry if the idea did not work.

Anyway, here's Felix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaMTIqhSjNc

Hi, kt17. I'll see your Neapolitan Mastiff and raise you by a Golden Retriever!

I only mentioned the hyphen because Ginge @24 had cast doubts about its absence. I saw a chit as being similar to a letter, being a form of communication.