24×25 – Solutions, Annotations & Results

Stats -We had the best response ever received by us for  “24 x 25” with 46 unique submissions for the puzzle. Of those who submitted, 38 got the full grid score of 32 but only 23 people got the maximum possible score of 36. Here’s the Solution grid.

The following questions were asked at the end of the puzzle..

1. 1. What does the title refer to??
   2. What two NINAs are referred to in the sub-title?
   3. How are the two above, companions of 24×25 in Rome?

The correct answers to these were

(1) 24A = SIX; 25A = HUNDRED; 24×25=600, which is the number of games recently completed on 1Across
(2) COMICS and CURRENT (reading down the 4th and 14th columns)
(3) 600 in Roman numerals is DC, which is a well-known abbreviation for Direct CURRENT and Detective COMICS

Here are the Annotations.

Across:

1 Discourages spreading AIDS terror (7) – CA – DISCOURAGES* = AIDS+ SCOURGE, (Set by Sowmya, 5 Votes)
5 Tossing dice shattered Fourth Commandment (5) DICE*+T, (Set by Darren, 1 Vote)
9 Round seat (3) DD,(Set by Aruna, 3 Votes)
10 Drained emotionally,mentally, physically, from the start with erratic diet (7) -E M P + DIET*,(Set by Jayanth, 2 Votes)
11 An example of a clever homonym is perhaps to start with “turn” and end in “tern” (3) – P + U + N,(Set by Harry, 5 Votes)
12 Picked out Engineering without a confusion (5) – CHOSE-E<<A, (Set by Ratnakar, 5 Votes)
13 One mostly restoring, in Baroque style, insides of building (9) -I RESTORIN(-G)*,(Set by Ganesh, 0 Votes)
14 After retreating one mile, Martin finally had to finish (9) -ELIM+I+N+ATE, (Set by Usha, 3 Votes)
15 Dramatic play produced by a little cooperation (5) -T, (Set by Aruna, 1 Vote)
16 Note: Mr. Neeson returned message (1-4) – E LIAM<<,(Set by Debbie, 1 Vote)
18 Hired cold hearted criminal to kidnap king (9) – C HEARTED*<<R, (Set by Faten, 11 Votes)
21 Harmonize with beat poet, catching a change in rhythm (9) – SYNC+ POET*<<A, (Set by Martin, 10 Votes)
23 Agreements muttered ere nightly supper’s starters? (5) – Acrostic &Lit,(Set by Viresh, 4 Votes)
24 Number of teams sent back (3) – XIS<<, (Set by Jayanth, 4 Votes)
25 Dynasty died before communist century (7) – HUN D RED, (Set by Crypt Ella, 5 Votes)
26 Had some Target stores overturned (3) – REV T, (Set by Nishad, 0 Votes)
27 Tend to keep one’s balls together (5) – DD, (Set by Brian, 3 Votes)
28 He thought a great deal, took action and raced back (7) – DID+TORE<< (Set by Ashley, 10 Votes)

Down

1 They sing in a prison ensemble (7) – A PRISON*, (Set by Martin, 0 Votes)
2 Flood of passionate love, biting red lips upside down (9) – LOVE* << R + LIPS<<, (Set by Faten, 2 Votes)
3 Imitation porcelain broke on dropping (7) – PORCELAIN-ON*, (Set by Crypt Ella, 13 Votes)
4 Short story / novel set around Lincoln’s commencement message (7)-EPI(-C)+SET*<<L, (Set by Sowmya, 4 Votes)
5 Big berry bearing tree (5) – DD, (Set by Nishad, 1 Vote)
6 Better wander after unruly child (7) – IMP ROVE, (Set by Debbie, 1 Vote)
7 Indians use this to make lablabi and couscous, perhaps (8,6) – INDIANSUSETHIS*, (Set by Viresh, 13 Votes)
8 Perennial arrangement between Yankees, Cubs, and LAD (5-4,5)-Yankeescubslad*, (Set by Darren, 7 Votes)
15 Bishop left Round Table, worried to see a non-native (9) – (ROUNDTABLE-B)*, (Set by Brian, 2 Votes)
17 Someone who’s occupying old queen with ‘Return of the King’ (7) – ANNE +REX<<, (Set by Ashley, 3 Votes)
18 China in turmoil has newspaperman handcuffed (7) -18 CHINA*+ED, (Set by Usha, 3 Votes)
19 Confirmed lunatic raved about inside (7) -RAVED*<<RE, (Set by Harry, 1 Vote)
20 Perform again on stage, broadcast to a screen agent (7) – CA – REENACT ON STAGE = (TO A SCREEN AGENT)*, (Set by Ratnakar, 1 Vote)
22 Putting heart to the fore in everyday work, making it a shade natural? (5) – Move O (middle letter) to front in CHORE (everyday work), (Set by Ganesh, 7 Votes)

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

We have a new topper:) Congrats Anirudh for submitting the first all correct entry. Also, congrats to all of you who managed to “max” the score.

The top 3 clues in the grid, based on the number of votes were 1. Replica by Crypt Ella and Tunisian Dishes by Viresh, which got 13 votes each, 2. Chartered by Faten, which got 11 votes and 3. Diderot by Ashley and Syncopate by Martin, which got 10 votes each.

There were a number of fantastic clues and it was fun to put the grid together. A big THANK YOU to Viresh who visualized the concept with the NINAs and gave us the gridfill.

So, readers.. Did you enjoy the puzzle? Do comment and let us know your feedback.