Stats – The puzzle page had 678 views. We had 55 solvers completing and submitting the grid. Of those who submitted 31 managed to complete the grid with zero errors and 14 went on to get the maximum possible score of 166.
Click on the Icons in the left for various options – Clicking “Solution” will display the completed grid
Click here for the PDF Version
Bonus Question
- What 4 words (either by themselves or part of other solution words) can be joined to the word “French” to make a French connection.
Click Here for the Solution /Annotations:
Across:
1 (most tequila)*, 7 task – a, 9 st(raw+be+rr+y+t)arts, 10 a.m. end, 11 DD, 13 (-w)ench + (in a)*, 15 HP serve ale, 16 Hidden, 18 D/CD, 20 Tempe rate, 21 au(d)ra, 22 (a comedian tours)+b, 24 Hidden, 25 (taper amount).
Down: 1 mass + age, 2 LARGE+SCALE+MODEL, 3 UN(WE)D, 4 TRE+EMAN<, 5 A+BRA+DES, 6 DD, 7 DD, 8 Hidden, 12 CO+R+GI, 14 Hidden, 16 MAT(IS+S)E, 17 G LANCER, 18 THE+(MORE)*, 19 PLATE+AU, 21 A+CORN, 23 Hidden.
Answer to the Bonus Question:
Toast, Tart, Molding, Chain, Tarts, Massage, Man, Men, Scale, Berry, Sage
Here’s the Score card (sorted by total and then alphabetically)
Congrats to the 14 solvers who maxed the score and to every one who participated. Very well tried.
Grid Rating: The puzzle got a good score of 7.96. It got 9 perfect 10s – i.e 16% of those who submitted thought it was perfect. The minimum score was 5.
Top 3 Clues: The most favorite clues were for “AMEND” with 16 votes, “SURVEIL” with 15 votes and “PORTMANTEAU” with 11 votes.
Hope you all enjoyed this fun puzzle. Thank you Mathrix. Thanks to all our solvers for your support and encouraging comments.
Comments on the Puzzle
1. Interesting puzzle. Putting oneself into the shoes of the setter to figure out the cryptic definitions was the most challenging part. The bonus question seems a bit ambiguous
2. Good clues. Can be more cryptic
3. Fair grid – Well annotated clues
4. Fantastic debut. Top class.
5. Neat clues
6. Tough one !
7. The lengthy transposals are clever but not particularly challenging. They led me to expect 2D was another. That made it a particular treat. Surveil is excellent. I don’t think I understand 6D yet. Thank you for a Sunday morning well spent.
8. Nice grid..enjoyed!
9. interesting!
10. A tad easy, but nice.
11. nice clues. 11A def is not perfect
12. Great puzzle, not too easy, not too hard – just right! Extremely good puzzle for a debutant. Looking forward to more from this setter!
13. Good fun.
14. Great debut
15. Great work. Many thanks!
16. good mix of easy and tough. crisp cluing for a first time.
17. Great puzzle. A relief after yesterday’s IXL grid
18. NICE PUZZLE
19. None
20. Simple and elegant
21. Liked it very much
22. Great theme. The level of difficulty is not daunting and is rather friendly to the enthusiast amateur.
23. Good one – keep them coming!
24. Not too tough, nor too easy. Enjoyed solving it.
25. Nice easy puzzle for a lazy Sunday
26. good
27. Lovely clues, good range of easy to really tough!
28. GOOD DEBUT
29. A nice puzzle.
30. It was quite an enjoyable grid. couldn’t announce UNWED though
31. Good , enjoyable. Long ones are done nicely.
32. .
33. Took my time to get this. A nice tough nut.
34. Enjoyable and interesting.
35. enjoyable
36. good debut
37. VERY ENJOYABLE. Not only three but many more were great clues
38. Fairly easy and some intriguing clues
39. Enjoyed
40. Surfaces that paint an interesting picture work well for me: eg.: 15a; counter-eg.: 16a.
41. –
42. pretty easy puzzle, good fun!
43. Nice puzzle with engaging clues.
44. Excellent
45. Tricky endgame held me up
46. Good debut in 1AC. Looking forward to more
47. Nice debut grid
48. I’m not at all sure of the French connections, and can think of other possibilties. The PDF version has some of the instructions for this missing.
49. Good grid… could find FRENCH MADE also…French molding, bonus QS probably was a little vague
50. nice grid
51. Pleasant solve!
52. Fun puzzle, thanks!
53. Wow! What a debut!
54. Nice clues, they were fun to solve. 10A was really clever. Took me a while to find the words with a French connection. Still not sure if I got them right.
“55. Very good for a debut puzzle. Well formed clues (except “”in”” doing double duty in 3d?) and good variety.
The bonus answers (if I got them right) have a rather weak French connection, save one.”