Stats – 28 entries were received in all for this puzzle. When duplicates were discounted, there were 25 unique entries. 12 of those who attempted the puzzle got a full score of 37. The following is the list of people who had full scores, in alphabetical order..
1. Aashwina Mouli
2. Brian Dungate
3. Col. Deepak Gopinath
4. Ganesh Nayak
5. Marcus Carli
6. Mona Sogal
7. Neelima Rai
8. Supriya Mithal
9. Venkatraghavan S.
10. Vignesh Kiran
11. Vinayak Ekbote
12. Viresh Ratnakar
Congrats to all of you.
Here’s the Solution grid
Questions asked at the end of the puzzle included Annotations for Clues 11A, 3D and 12D.
Here are the Annotations
Across:
1. Excitement following Charlie’s drinking party (8) C AROUSAL
5. Spin a taffeta wrapped toy (6) s(PI NATA)ffeta
8. Buckets of thousand no-name snacks (7) K(-N)IBBLES
9. Quiet speed freak acquired name to become a show-off (7) P RA(N)CER
10. Pale boy’s in touch with partner (6) FEE(B)L E
11. Twisted gypsy is eviscerated by communist over a joint (7) G(-rat)Y R(A T)ED
15. Gain from heroism (1,1,1) he(ROI)sm
16. Eats new 8 without potassium (7) N(-K)IBBLES
17. Veggies delivered by the French with eggplant, kale and spinach starters (5) LE E(ggplant) K(ale) S(pinach)
18. Gee, Edward’s heartless! (5) COR ED
19. Gene’s exposed at seedy joints, leaves for salad (7) (-g)EN(-E) DIVES
20. Coach State Republican (3) CA R
21. Flay hoax, but ignore primary con relating to esoteric Hindu traditions (7) TAN TRI(-C)k
25. Man’s captured gal’s heart aboard ship. Beast! (3,3) S{HE(A)S}S
27. Upset, son gets embroiled in putrid mess (7) S in PUTRID*
28. Lover, in the morning, finds gold ring with odd seal (7) AM OR O S(e)A(l)
29. Fancy Emirs invite ten to social events (6) X in EMIRS*
30. I wear crumpled sweater, so to speak (2,2,4) I in SWEATER*
Down:
1. Dry plaster (4) DD CAKE
2. Noble chased thief and unscrupulous businessman (6,5) ROBBER BARON
3. Be nude, all in order to be unidentified in California (9) BENUDEALL*
4. Retorts, perhaps as before (7,4) AS- ANSWERS S BACK
5. Actor’s skill displayed in content free play (5) P(ART)Y
6. Jinnah, after losing heart, surprisingly became a fighter (5) (JINNAH-H)*
7. Idea derived from article by your’s truly (5) THE ME
11. Cookie made of spirit enervates, being infused with a bit of Negroni (11) GINGER S(N)APS
12. 240 crazy crew to surround little men (11) TW(ELVES)CORE CREWTO* around ELVES
13. Stop believer hugging head of seminary! (6) DE(S)IST
14. A new one divides dam (6) A N I CUT
17. Ad Dell served (6,3) LADLED OUT (RA)
22. Boxer’s bias – partly an excuse (5) ALI BI(-AS)
23. Number of cloth reels (5) T
24. Rogues drink one to become warriors (5) IMP(I)S
26. Image is destroyed after one abandons competition (4) IMAGE-I*