A Thought Experiment – Solutions, Annotations & Results

Stats -A whopping 26 submissions were received for this puzzle. Of those who submitted, 11 got the full score of 30. Most people managed to answer atleast one of the two bonus questions asked as well..

Here’s the Solution grid

We had asked two questions at the time of submission. These were

1. According to the puzzle, What time is it? and
2. As per the grid. what is the result of the experiment?

Question 1 elicited a number of fun responses, most of which were centered around the clock. The answer (buried) in plain sight was the clue acrostic (stringing together the first letter of each clue) which read – “Time to release Schrodingers Cat”

The answer to Question two was the NINA along the Periphery (highlighted in yellow) which read – “The cat is alive” clockwise and “The cat is dead” anti-clockwise

Here are the Annotations.

Across:
8 Trekking Bulgarian left out bun for Tibetan sheep (6) buLGARIAn*
9 I, Vera, am composing a Latin prayer to Saibini (3,5) (I VERA AM)* A
10 Made uncouth sounds and shockingly beheld consuming last bit of croc (7) BEHELD* around C
11 European leader’s symbol? Tau! (6) BRAND T
12 Text “Sepia pictures returned” (6) TAN ART<
13 007’s female counterpart had a Thai ram slaughtered (4,4) (A THAI RAM)*
14 Reveal old model (6) EX POSE
16 Endlessly cheats some, say, producing raw material for plaster of Paris (6) GYPs ~SOME
20 Lock up soldiers kidnapping royal descendant (8) IMP(R)I SON
23 Emmer wheat, rice and maize, for example, initially germinate with showers (6) G RAINS
25 Accommodation for horses built by policemen after releasing prisoner (6) conSTABLE
26 Strike donkey accompanying a Unionist lieutenant (7) ASS A U LT
27 Employees with boring jobs? (8) CD
28 Suspension of breathing, disturbed nap with open eyes aching initially (6) APN* O E A

Down:

1 Crushed ribcage around beginning of boisterous game (8) RIB(B)CAGE*
2 Hatchling in eyrie? Or in Beagle Terrier? (6) T
3 Roads where Whig rolls in straw with spades (8) WHIG* in HAY S
4 Old carriages constructed from some teak and pieces of elm, mahogany and sal (7) T AND E M S
5 Dead-nettle part seen behind bird (6) HEN BIT
6 Irritating problems? He – Caesar – is jumpy (8) (HE CAESAR)*
7 Nice construction around end of road ruined initially – becomes incombustible material (6) (NICE* around D) R
15 Geometrical shape of Arab opal revised (8) (ARAB OPAL)*
17 East European guy returns with ring for captive servant (not European) (8) GUY< O SLAVe
18 Roaming singer: “Merlin captivated Saint when roaming” (8) MERLIN* around ST
19 Seamen swarm around ship all together (2,5) (SEAMEN* around S)
21 Come to be fully developed having a muter disposition (6) (A MUTER)*
22 Allowed liquid to pass through grain containing excellent protein sources (6) SE(E P)ED
24 Travelling Columbian gives up cob for old students (6) (COLUMBIAN-COB)*

Here is the scorecard (sorted by score and then in the order of submissions received)

Congrats to Ramki Krishnan, who was the first one to submit an all correct entry and to all others who maxed the score as well.

12 people rated the puzzle as “Excellent” and 13 rated it “Good”. 21 clues in the grid got picked atleast once in the top 3 favorites voted by the solvers. The clue for “Drillers” was picked by 9 out of 26 solvers, as one of the favorites. Tantra and Imprison each got 7 votes.

Thanks a lot to The Oracle (Kishore) for this really fun experiment and for opening the puzzling season for 2018 with a big bang.

Did you enjoy the puzzle? Do you have any feedback for us or for the setter. Do comment in the blog and let us know.