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Here’s the Solutions grid


There were three Mayday messages in the puzzle.

The first one is colored in Yellow and it runs all around the periphery of the puzzle. It reads “DOT DOT DOT DASH DASH DASH DOT DOT DOT”. It’s the Morse code for “SOS”

The second message is colored in red in the center of the grid. It reads “HELP”

The third Nina was not in the solution grid but hidden in the clues. The clue for 7D has “…- – -…” embedded in it.


 

Here are the Annotations:

Across: 9 DD, 10 ROTA< around VIA, 11 TUNA*, 12 ODD IT IE S, 13 CD, 14 D I Gs, 15 INSPECTor, 18 DOSA*, 22 (ARCHER TT)*, 24 EMI RATE, 25 POST* GA P, 26 LEOp(T)ARDS, 28 OS LO, 31 E S CAPED, 35 HAS* H, 36 DU RATION, 37 (HEDTROOP)*, 38 TIN E, 39 (A N MALE)* around U, 40 COD A.

Down: 1 DD,CD, 2 OR BITS, 3 THAI* around IT, 4 DIE SIS, 5 TOES* around IO, 6 TRUE ST, 7 MD, 8 CD,DD, 16 TRANCES*, 17 COM PERE, 19 ROUTE*, 20 R ASPS, 21 emIRATE, 23 TOT AL, 27 DIAMOND S, 29 STUD IO, 30 O(RAT)ED, 31 E(JAIL*)H, 32 (NUTCASES-TA)*, 33 INAPT* A, 34 DI(ET)ED, 35 SM OO CH.


Here’s the link to the “Hall of Fame

Thanks to “The Oracle” for this enjoyable puzzle and to all of you who participated.

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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