Stats -We had a good response to “Bookworms” and there were 25 submissions for this puzzle. Of those who submitted 18 got the full grid score of 30 and 8 people got the maximum possible score of 36. Here’s the Solution grid
The following questions were asked at the end of the puzzle..
-
- Identify the theme and 3 theme words
- Who created 14d?
- Can you name the book based on the coded message in the description? “(2,13)+(5,1)+(3,9)+(8,3)+(1,1)+(2,6)+(1,13)+(12,9)+(10,1)+(14,6)”
The correct answers to these were
(1) Theme is “Books”. Any 3 of the highlighted grid lights
(2) Eugene Ionesco
(3) ANIMAL FARM (Using the numbers in brackets as the coordinates)
Here are the Annotations.
Across:
9 Blood Count? (7) – CD / COUNT AS IN DRACULA
10 As per the calculated share, (on hind sight) what a ROR protects partly (3,4) – Rev T
11 E-book by Burnham? (7) – Reversal, E = Egg head
12 No Spanish approval necessary for “Cases of Lieutenant Kane Series Book 2” (7) – REQUISITE – SI
13 Does this political treatise get controversial? Decipher with notes (3,6) – CA – DECIPHER NOTES-DOES*= THE PRINCE
15 Coldly, pick file…. eye only the gists (5) – pICk fILe eYe
16 I draw blood and start to punch- I am very short tempered (7) – [P I AM VER(-Y)]*
19 Starts to stir cracked egg with egg beater (7) – S C O URGE
20 Mobiles having no coverage at all during road trip? This can help communicate (5) – (-mob) I (les) in ROAD*
21 Arrogant boy’s extremely irritating- he helped no one (9) – B+ IG+ HE + A(-i) DED
25 Extreme cold is bad, a bit of sun is nice (7)-[S(unny) IS NICE]*
26 Essence of iced tea ruined, after adding a pinch of table salt (7) – [CE TEA + A T]*
28 We, after entering a South Italian city, head out for capital (7) – [WE >> A S] + (-R)OME
29 Pope- Italy’s foremost man staying inside the heart of Vatican City (7) – M>>(PO(M)PE + I(taly) + (VAT)I(CAN)
Down:
1 Approaching season before Christmas (6) – DD
2 Butcher lost pen, essentially in messy melange (6) – MELANGE-E*
3 This science fiction’s climax, in retrospect overwhelmed you, I heard (4) – U>>(END<<)
4 Rejected law to study Thoreau’s book (6) – LAW<<+DEN
5 Pa raises displaced members of Rose’s family (8) -PARAISES*
6 Bradman’s parrot circled one complex, ultimately ingenious nobleman (3,7) – DON QUOTE<<IX
7 Dear! Am I frail? disoriented (8) – AMIFRAIL*
8 Austen’s song heard in Currer Bell creation (4,4) – JANE+AIR HP
14 Initially Rand, Hemingway, Ionesco travelled around capital of Romania to produce a play (10) – R H IONESCO*<<R
16 Straight header from Yaya disallowed in Real v City clash (8) – REAL V CITY*-Y
17 They contribute to delivering around 5 wides carelessly, after one maiden over (8) – WIDES* AROUND V afer IM<<
18 Some beds extraordinarily decorated (8) – SOMEBEDS*
22 Alcoholic drink and good music- the two main components of parties (6) – G RAP PA (-rties)
23 Turn unreceptive and feel dizzy, after spewing out alcohol finally (6) – [ANDFEEL]*-L
24 I need to return back to office and work (6) – (I NEED)<< (offic)E
27 Toppers in math meticulously go through each book (4) – MM>>EA
Here is the scorecard (sorted by total score and then in the order of submissions received)
Congrats to Ramki, who submitted the first all correct entry and to all others who managed to “max” the score.
15 people rated the puzzle as “Excellent” and the remaining 10 rated it “Good”. Thanks “punDits” for a brilliant grid, with a nicely woven theme that led to a very satisfactory solve.
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.