1ACross

For cruciverbalists...A Good Place to Start..

Puzzles

Starting Off

BySowmya

Feb 21, 2018 #1ACGrids, #1ACross, #Crosswords, #Cryptics, #Hypatia, #Puzzles, #Sowmya

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1ACross and Hypatia are happy to present “Starting Off”, an exclusive grid for our members and readers.

The online interactive version can be completed and submitted by anyone who wishes to participate, on or before EOD 3rd March 2018.. All those who submit entries have a chance to enter our leaderboard for 2018. Here’s the current leaderboard

Annotations for the puzzle will be discussed at 1ACross on Sunday, March 4, 2018.

Happy solving.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO SAVE, TO BE ABLE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS ASKED AT THE END OF THE PUZZLE

SOLVING INSTRUCTIONS

Each solution must be entered in the grid after omitting it’s first letter. The Enums referred in brackets is for the number of letters that are to be entered in the grid after taking the starting letter off, i.e. one less than the actual Enum for the solution.

These starting letters that are dropped need to be jumbled to give you the answer to questions asked at the end of the puzzle
 

Here’s the link to the interactive puzzle

Here’s a link to the PDF

A big thank you to Martin DeMello for test solving the grid and providing a number of useful suggestions to help improve the puzzle.

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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4 thoughts on “Starting Off”

  1. What an engaging puzzle this was! Required good application of mind for (almost) every clue. Solving yielded amusement and pleasure in equal measure. ‘Better shun the bait than struggle in the snare’ certainly doesn’t apply here. Great job Sowmya

    1. Thanks for your kind words Bhala. Glad to know that you enjoyed it throughly. Hope to feature an Xchequer challenge in our blog some time..

  2. A superbly woven web of deceit ! This is one classic example of the need for lateral thinking !
    This one takes cryptic puzzles ride several notches up !
    No wonder, such puzzles help in the synapses of the brain and a sure fire method of keeping Alzheimer’s away ! I always maintain that to solve a puzzle like this is harder than to compile ! The compiler can set the cat amongst the pigeons and sit back and enjoy seeing the solvers roil. Keep em’ coming !

    Thanks Sowmyaji ! I reckon strongly that one cpould do away with those knotty (naughty!? ) questions before submission.

    1. Thanks Raju sir. Good to know that you enjoyed our challenge. I haven’t received your submission yet – guess you are still working on the knotty questions 🙂

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