Stats -We had a spectacular response for “4D” with 47 unique submissions for the puzzle, thus setting a new record for the highest number of submissions!. Of those who submitted, 40 got the full grid score of 26 while a whopping number – 34 people got the maximum possible score of 28. Here’s the Solution grid.
The puzzle had included special SOLVING INSTRUCTIONS
- Each Across clue in this grid can be solved only after an additional instruction is applied to the wordplay component.
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The instruction that needs to be applied to the clues can be found as the solution to 4D
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Each half of the instruction in 4D applies to roughly half of the across clues
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All down clues are normal cryptic clues and don’t use the additional instructions
The solution to 4D, was “Take IT or Leave IT”. Hence, solvers were required to either include the letters “IT” or exclude them from the wordplay to arrive at the solutions for the Across clues.
Further, the following questions had been asked at the end of the puzzle..
- Which Album by The Rolling Stones features 4D?
- Hope is patience with the lamp —-. What three letter word found in three answers in this puzzle can complete that quote
The answers to these were..
- Aftermath
- LIT (which was in PoLITest, LITmus and spLIT pea)
Here are the Annotations.
Across:
8 Oddly, I care about resistance measures (8) – I CARE + IT* (Take IT)
9 Sleep on it, choosing cover / blanket with a hole in it (6) – T (-IT, Leave IT)
10 Clearly shining in new form of artistry (6) – ARTISTRY-IT* (Leave IT)
11 English cats and dogs, say, are given hard names (8) – E P(IT)(H)ETS ; (Take IT)
12 Most courteous after the French invaded (8) – PO(LE)ST< 13 Show and drop anti aircraft weapon (6) – POMP + OMIT – IT (Leave IT)
14 Fear and panic grip one country’s border security force (11,4) – TERR(IT)OR (I) ALARM + Y (Take IT)
18 Total recall after student gets basic test (6) – L +(IT) SUM< (Take IT)
20 They may be found in remote parts, meters away! (8) – Meters+IT* (Take IT)
23 European Yogi’s vault raided (8) – (YOGISVAULT-IT)* (Leave IT)
24 Goes around the world when either partner’s on business after vacation (6) – OR + B(IT)S (Take IT)
25 Thus, I enter clumsily dropping small hot dish (6) – (THUSIENTER-S-H-IT)* (Leave IT)
26 Bored by Brit, essentially lives with sniper, one from Dublin (8) IS+ H(-it)MAN (Leave IT)
Down
1 Reached outside bottom of bear’s cave (6) – GOT TO <>STUD + I +RE<<
3 Typical pattern observed in lethargy / leniency (6) – T
4 I treat alike and vote anyhow, if there’s not much to choose, say (4,2,2,5,2) – I TREAT ALIKE VOTE*
5 Vegetable cut by ape (5,3) – RA – Split (anagrind) PEA*
6 Soldier gets two men for a song (6) – ANT + HE M
7 Where you can talk, virtually all day long! (4,4) – CD
15 Primarily, Government underwriting, in old loans is very negligible (8) – G U >> EX IOUS
16 Spooner’s yearning for fighting (8) – Spoonerism of Lusting
17 A universal high speed limits Bahrain airport’s motorway (8) – A U TON<<BAH
19 Proposed and settled leaving fellow to get married (6) – FOOTED – F + M
21 Chiefly insulting / ridiculing or nasty, intentionally caustic (6) – Acrostic &Lit
22 Say, ceremony spreads altruism though some regularly drop out (6) – ALTRUISM*- (S M)
Here is the scorecard (sorted by total score and then in the order of submissions received)
Congrats Ramki for coming out on top of this leader board by being the first to submit an all-correct entry. Also, congrats to all of you who managed to “max” the score.
23 out of the 26 clues got picked at least once among the three favorite clues in the grid. The Top 3 clues, based on the number of votes were 1.”Litmus” which got 17 votes 2. “Territorial Army” which got 14 votes and 3. “Take it or Leave it”, which got 12 votes.
39 people rated the grid as “Excellent” and the remaining 8 rated it “Good” .
So, readers.. Did you enjoy the puzzle? Do comment and let us know..