Stats -We had a decent response to “A Matter of Habit” and there were 31 submissions for this puzzle. Of those who submitted 17 got the full grid score of 66. The maximum possible score for the contest was 82 points (66+16 bonus points) but no one managed to score that. Here’s the Solution grid.
The following questions were asked at the end of the puzzle..
-
- What’s the title of the song mentioned in the description? (7,2,4,5)
- This puzzle has over 20 themed entries. Name as many as you can (excluding the 14 used for question 2)
The correct answers to these were
(1) FOREVER IN BLUE JEANS. 5 points were awarded for the correct answer.
(2) HOOD, PANTS, MASK, SLIP, TOPI, APPAREL, NYLONS, SKIRT, one of SCARF / FEZ. In addition to these, a number of solvers also spotted ASCOT and CLIP, which were also correct, although it was not part of our original list. One point was awarded for each of these correct answers.
Here are the Annotations.
| Clue | Annotation | Setter |
|---|---|---|
| Across | ||
| 1 College books include pacy novel for an emulator (7) | C O (PACY*) T | Ajeesh VM |
| 7 One with a King, Hand is vigilant (5) | A(One) W(With) A K or R(King) E (Hand) or (AWAKE/AWARE) | Sudarshan Jaganathan |
| 10 Could be a passage for audition? (6) | CD | Hari Mannarsamy |
| 13 One working near local counter is given charge (7) | I ON DESI<< | Ajeesh VM |
| 15 Hideouts of some dishonest smuggler (5) | T | Aniruddh Janardhan R |
| 16 Members of “Indus Creed” rock group (5) | T | Ramki Krishnan |
| 17 Perhaps, Romney’s hand (4) | DD | Ajeesh VM |
| 18 What tiki-taka requires players to do is out of style, mostly (4) | PASS(-e) | Aniruddh Janardhan R |
| 19 Reportedly drive away a loafer, say (4) | HP SHOO SHOE | Aniruddh Janardhan R |
| 20 Babushka leaving area when Barney goes West (5) | Reversal of FRACAS (barney) less A (area) | Bhalchandra Pasupathy |
| 23 Ideal society gives way to student band (4) | BEST – S + L | Debasmita Basu |
| 24 Agency essentially going after Facebook (1,1,1) | FB + I | Aniruddh Janardhan R |
| 25 Time to leave tent to find a weapon (4) | Tepee – T | Ajeesh VM |
| 26 Take picture holding cap (4) | T | Dhirendra Tripathi |
| 27 Fine leader is bumped off by honcho, initially for gangster (4) | G OOD – G + H | Sowmya Ramkumar |
| 28 Seizes territory displaying gusto (4) | T | Debasmita Basu |
| 30 At opening and closing, perhaps, store worker slacks (5) | P (ANT) S | Sowmya Ramkumar |
| 32 Where the chiefs of ancient Greece often assembled to have deliberations, essentially (5) | A G O A << delibeRations, &Lit | Debasmita Basu |
| 34 Praise boy having heart of mum (4) | LAD <<(m)U(m) | Debasmita Basu |
| 36 Say, very backward characters (4) | EG SO<< | Dhirendra Tripathi |
| 38 Style essential to decoration (4) | (or)NAME(nt), | Sudarshan Jaganathan |
| 39 Traditionally, Japanese box hanging by the waist, public queue for an audience (4) | Homphone of INN(local) and ROW(to fight) | Bhalchandra Pasupathy |
| 42 A discharge from octopuses (3) | T | Hari Mannarsamy |
| 43 Thread inside bow is pink (4) | T | Lakshmi Vaidyanathan |
| 45 Whiskey counter? That’s where one would be really high! (5) | RYE<<+IE | Manish Misra |
| 46 Many request for cover (4) | M ASK | Manish Misra |
| 47 Initially cut the edge and trim (4) | C(-ut)+LIP | Lakshmi Vaidyanathan |
| 49 Mineral found in bromic acid (4) | T | Lakshmi Vaidyanathan |
| 50 Changing sides boosts conflicts (5) | LIFTS-L+R | Sudarshan Jaganathan |
| 51 Singles don’t end picking up one veggie that greatly reduces your chances of getting kissed (5) | ON twice (singles without end) outside I (one) | Manish Jhaveri |
| 53 Right to penetrate kid’s flesh in heraldic charge (7) | R(right) inside CHEVON(goat meat) | Bhalchandra Pasupathy |
| 54 Flower company in difficulty, turned around (6) | GE(company) inside reversal of SNAG(difficulty) | Manish Misra |
| 55 Something usually felt having suffered a loss, letting go of grief eventually (5) | BEREFT minus F(last in grieF) | Pranav Bhople |
| 56 Principle of check and mate? (4,3) | CD. | Manish Misra |
| Down | ||
| 2 No error! has a poetic contraction! (3) | T | Hari Mannarsamy |
| 3 Criticise John wearing Brown’s trousers (10) | PAN(criticise) plus LOO(John) inside TANS(Brown’s) | Ramki Krishnan |
| 4 Company’s top advantage is the dividing line (4) | C(company’s top) + USP(advantage) | Neelima Rai |
| 5 First thing is to take action against the paper (6) | T(first thing) IS SUE(take action against) | Neelima Rai |
| 6 Drag goats about heartlessly (4) | GOaTS* | Satyavrat Bondre |
| 7 A topping upcoming resin plant (5) | A + reversal of rESIN | Neelima Rai |
| 8 Racecourse in Nova Scotia (5) | T | Pranav Bhople |
| 9 Royal attendants beheaded the King, leaving doubts (7) | eQUErRIES | Pranav Bhople |
| 10 Old lady affectionately worked out my sum (5) | MY SUM* | Manish Jhaveri |
| 11 Deduct how regularly, three and two minus one totalled is four (6) | ((THREE AND TWO) – (HW ONE))* | Dhirendra Tripathi |
| 12 Drove recklessly in a hurry? (8) | CD (Drove refers to cattle) | Pranav Bhople |
| 14 Bandy later about revolutionary bowler perhaps (5) | RED(reversal of revolutionary) followed by B and Y | Sowmya Ramkumar |
| 16 Phelps left, heading for pool, dressed in drag (5) | PHELPS-P(ool)* | Manish Jhaveri |
| 21 On timber for sabot (4) | C(on) LOG(timber) | Srinivas Venkatesh |
| 22 City’s exuberant zest for life is felt or, sadly, ignored (3) | ((ZEST FOR LIFE – IS FELT OR))* | Sudarshan Jaganathan |
| 23 Regularly brew tea for a type of test (4) | BrEw TeA, alternate letter picking, | Ramki Krishnan |
| 24 They tell you how to use digits in scores? (10) | CD; notations on use of fingers in music score sheets, | Satyavrat Bondre |
| 26 Rejected two pounds included by board member making superficial projections (8) | reversal of L RUN(two ‘pounds’) inside KING(board member, chess) | Bhalchandra Pasupathy |
| 29 What lisp could be for lips perhaps? (4) | Double anagram clue with an extended def. What lisp could be = slip AND lips perhaps = slip | Manish Jhaveri |
| 31 One on heads of typically old politicians (4) | Initial letters of Typically Old Politicians plus I(one); &lit | Sowmya Ramkumar |
| 32 Real app designed for clothing (7) | REAL APP* | Neelima Rai |
| 33 Any movie involving Steven Spielberg initially is flawed (5) | Acrostic | Satyavrat Bondre |
| 35 Ode about animal (3) | ODE* | Satyavrat Bondre |
| 36 My note about “Duo” perhaps (6) | MY NOTE* | Ramki Krishnan |
| 37 From bottom to top, trim around fashionable dress (5) | CUT(trim) around IN(fashionable), all reversed | Lakshmi Vaidyanathan |
| 40 Players packed only synthetic stockings (6) | ONLY* inside NS(players) | Sowmya Ramkumar |
| 41 Informal outfit with resources dispensing money for justice (5) | MEANS(resources) with J(justice) for M(money) | Bhalchandra Pasupathy |
| 43 Jog, for example, no trips – calls for a drink (5) | (Jog as an example)WATERFALLS – FALLS(trips) | Srinivas Venkatesh |
| 44 Avoid perhaps risk taking initially (5) | RISK T(aking) * | Hari Mannarsamy |
| 47 Firm to back crazy old man (4) | CO(firm) plus reversal of TO | Srinivas Venkatesh |
| 48 Irrational number by a loud singer (4) | PI(irrational number) A F(loud) | Dhirendra Tripathi |
| 52 Bigfeet’s charge (3) | T. | Srinivas Venkatesh |
Here is the scorecard (sorted by total score and then in the order of submissions received)
So, we have a new topper on the leader board. Congrats to Shashwat Sinai Salgaocar who was the first to submit, among the three people who had the maximum score of 81. Also congrats to Lakshmi Prakash and Ramani who got the top score. The maximum bonus points (16) was picked up by Col. Deepak Gopinath, who was the only person to do so. Congrats Colonel.
24 people rated the puzzle as “Excellent” and 6 rated it “Good”. 1 person did not assign a rating. Thanks to “Bhalchandra Pasupathy” for the concept and all the efforts he put in to bring this puzzle together. Also a BIG THANK YOU to the entire team of setters who had done an amazing job to put together an enjoyable puzzle of very high quality.
34 clues in the grid were picked at least once as a favorite. The top 5 clues in the grid were Pranav (Nemo’s) Beret (13 votes), Manish Misra’s clue for Safe Sex (9 votes), Ramki’s Pantaloons (7 votes), Bhalchandra Pasupathy’s Jeans (6 votes) and again Manish Misra’s clue for Ganges (5 votes).
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.