1ACross

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Results Solutions

Room at the Top – Solutions, Annotations & Results

BySowmya

Jul 23, 2020 #1ACGrids, #1ACross, #Ashley Smith, #Cryptics, #Hasslethymi, #Puzzles, #Theme

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Stats – We had 62 submissions – a whopping response to our latest grid.  Of those who submitted 46 managed to complete the grid with zero errors and 37 went on to get the maximum possible score of 324.

You can play the puzzle in full screen mode here

Here’s the completed grid.

Here are the Annotations:

Across: 6 RE + HEARSE, 8 R[o]U[e] + FUEL*, 9 REP + EAT, 10 ROSE + ATE, 11 R + I’VE + R[igorou]S, 13 Insert RITE< into R.E., 15 Insert OR into REST, 17 Subtract A from GREATER*, 19 R[ace] + OARED, 21 RA + RELY, 24 TANKERS*, 25 RAY SHALL (hp), 26 Insert [ca]B into ROOTS, 27 (TORE NAIL)*.

Down: 1 LEPER<, 2 MERE* + DIE + S[ight], 3 REAR + M[ountainou]S, 4 Insert PA into REST, 5 Replace I with U in ‘RIDE’, 7 R[ight] + ET + IE, 8 DD: Request = RESERVE = reticence, 12 TAR<, 14 [b]RUT[ality], 15 RHO[-des], 16 RES RE S(acrilegiou)S 17 AIR<, 18 Spoonerism of KILO RATE, 20 Insert AND into ROM, 21 ROTTER*, 22 R[ussia] + URAL, 23 RAID (hp) + ON, 24 MOOR<.

The following questions had to be answered by the solvers..

What do all clues and answers have in common? A: They all start with the letter “R”

Reverse 9 but change the ending (6) A: REPEAL

Reason? 24 has a new floor (4) A: ROOT

Regime of 5 taking 50, not 500 (4) A: RULE

Here’s the Score card (sorted by total and then alphabetically).

Congrats to  the 37 solvers who maxed the score and to every one who participated. Very well tried.

Grid Rating: The puzzle got a good score of 8.04. It got 11 perfect 10s – i.e 17% of  those who submitted thought it was perfect. The minimum score was 3.

Top 3 Clues:  The most favorite clues were for “RELOCATE” with 19 votes, “ROSEATE” and “ROBOTS” with 14 votes each.

Hope you all enjoyed this entertaining puzzle. Thanks for  your support and wonderful comments. Sharing these comments with our readers..

Comments from solvers:

  1. Innovative puzzle. Theme was clear, and that made it an easy fill – just right for a Sunday morning!
  2. Nice and easy
  3. Excellent grid
  4. After the third solution, the obviousness of the theme made the rest of the grid a bit too easy.
  5. Good effort to have all clues and entries starting with same letter. A bit too easy, however a nice diversion
  6. Really reflecting radiance
  7. Great Idea!!!!
  8. Enjoyed all the R-are clues
  9. Great idea!
  10. Nice grid..enjoyed solving it!!
  11. CAKE WALK
  12. Nice straightforward puzzle. Easy because of the sign-posting
  13. that was fun 🙂 REally…
  14. EASY
  15. Nice lazy afternoon solve for a Sunday
  16. Fairly simple crossword but a pleasant way to spend a sunday afternoon
  17. Nice theme, and well executed, but less challenging than usual for a 1across puzzle.
  18. How am I supposed to create a PDF? Then again, easy to complete on screen.
  19. Smooth and easy flowimg
  20. Well crafted grid.
  21. Really Refreshing!
  22. Enjoyed myself! The ‘r’ factor is very impressive.
  23. simple and elegant
  24. Wow ! It is tough to set all clues & solutions with same letter. Hats off to you Ashley 🙂
  25. Very innovative idea
  26. Nice & Easy
  27. Breezy, enjoyable with good surfaces
  28. very creative
  29. 15 down – could not figure how “”des”” is “”some french””,  21 across – not sure how reckon = rely, 27 across – roll in hay = relationS i think, 24 down – not sure recreation space = room”
  30. good
  31. The crossing letters make it easier for the silver, but hats off to the setter for setting excellent clues.
  32. Good clues, but a tad easy.
  33. Nice and interesting
  34. Nice and smooth .
  35. Very easy nice grid
  36. good one
  37. Fun and Enjoyable grid , not easy to make such a grid ,kudos Ashley
  38. Fun.thanku
  39. Excellent
  40. Cleverly done puzzle. Loved it. I am sorry the site went off a couple of the times on my iphone so had to start all over again and hence the time is looking much better than it should be
  41. Skillfully created very entertaining to solve
  42. Great puzzle – can imagine that it would have been quite some challenge to set
  43. Thoroughly enjoyed it!
  44. Really Remarkable!
  45. Nice and easy
  46. VERY GOOD.
  47. The R construct was a little too restrictive IMO
  48. Interesting concept of starting everything with the letter R, smooth clues
  49. Super! How does one even manage that!
  50. Well set!
  51. Similar standard to Guardian Quiptic
  52. A real entertainer
  53. Simple and elegant
  54. Great grid. Not sure about the new form submission process though. Super-annoying to enter name and email address even before starting. (#process-wonk-complaints #first-world-problems)
  55. Smooth and pleasant solve!
  56. The Java script for the puzzle is defective. Had to enter the answers many times. Also it does not work in iPad Safari.
  57. Remarkable gRid-fill!
  58. It was fun. Nice idea!
  59. Fun puzzle, good concept and well-formed clues but too easy
  60. Thank you for a good puzzle!!😊
  61. Enjoyed it! Thanks!
  62. Had fun solving it!
  63. Clever grid construction and a clever gimmick having each clue start with R

By Sowmya

Sowmya is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and independent financial consultant based in the Middle East (Bahrain). She is a puzzle editor at Amuselabs. She has set over 1,300 crosswords for various publications including over 1000 mini crosswords, cryptic crosswords (under the pseudonym Hypatia for The Hindu) and themed crosswords for Cat.a.lyst (part of The Hindu Businessline). Sowmya runs the Facebook group 1Across where seasoned cruciverbalists interact while setting and solving clues. She has published three compilations of crosswords viz Cryptic Crossroads Volumes 1, 2 and 3. She Tweets cryptic clues daily @somsram

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