Stats – We had a decent response to this grid with 390 views and 37 submissions, although it had been posted on a “not for competition” basis. Of those who submitted, 15 managed to complete the grid and also get the maximum possible score of 155. Here’s the completed grid.
You can access the Grid Here – Clicking the “Solution” icon on the left of the grid will show you the solutions. You can also use the other options for help in solving.
Bonus Question What’s the NINA?
Click on the Triangle to see the solutions and annotations:
Across:
8 RUL(-e) B(-y)<-, 9 HEARING AID, 10 OBS(CUR(-e)IT)Y*, 11 T(-a)BLO(-id)S*, 13 A T TEMPT, 14 REM< MAID, 17 D/CD, 19 DD, 21 CON(D)EMN*, 23 F LUSH, 25 FIRE STUNT*, 27 CON F(ER)ENCE, 28 E (ON) S.
Down: 1 AL(L) BETS* OFF, 2 T(R)ICKERY*, 3 THE RAP EU TIC, 4 Hidden, 5 DIM<, 6 P GROOM, 7 T(-a)INT, 12 CD, 15 TAMILNUNIL(-L)*, 16 CD, 18 ODD(I)TIES, 20 G(AS IF)Y, 22 J(-)ININ(-g)*, 24 (-g)LOOM(-y), 26 FAR*.
Answer to the Bonus Question:
1: MY FIRST ATTEMPT (from the top and bottom rows)
The Solvers who got all correct answers were Bhalchandra Pasupathy, Madhusudan Hanumantha Rao, Anonymous
Himanshu Rajurkar, Juhi Saklani, Venkatraghavan Sahasranaman, Dr S Venkatesh, Venkatesan P., Mona Sogal, R NAGENDRA PRASAD, Santha Ramachandran, Krittibas Dasgupta, RAMANI, Max Jackson and Anicha Reuban
Our Hearty congratulations to all of you and commiserations to those who tried but just missed.
Grid Rating: The puzzle got a good score of 7.9. It got 3 perfect 10s. The minimum score was 3!.
Top 3 Clues: The most popular clues were “Hearing Aid” with 9 votes, “Oddities” with 8 and “Jinni” with 5 votes.
Comments from solvers:
1. Good effort, and as the title says S&S. Some liberties taken with clueing and grid entries. 5a could have been entered either way, and only the NINA made me switch!
2. Great grid for a first timer
3. Nice grid!
4. Good fun
5. Good attempt
“6. Medium difficulty. Some clues have no clue”
7. Enjoyable puzzle. Thanks
8. I enjoyed it. Am always in awe of people who can set grids. Great first attempt!
9. Very nice clues!
10. Clues are either straightforward or too long with the wordplay complicated.
11. Very good for a first attempt. Some answers iffy, like IF A GAIN, but that’s down to gridfill issues
12. Valiant attempt, but a good cluster of rookie errors. In particular, avoid three letter entries with only the middle letter checked and try to ensure all entries are in widely recognised dictionaries. Otherwise enjoy the journey!
13. Enjoyable grid .Nice surfaces with no extra words .All the best and looking forward to more from you , a very good first attempt.
14. Good one!
15. Overall good
16. most clues need a relevant surface context; they are clearly a set of part parsings put together to form a sentence. A nice first attempt, but it might be better to get the clues vetted by a competent editor. Since this grid has been published in a popular forum , there will be a tendency for other wannabe setters to use these clues, constructs etc as precedents
17. Very nice ist attempt
18. Excellent maiden attempt
19. No comments
20. Just my kind of difficulty level. Enjoyed it! Had a couple wrong, the NINA made me correct it.
21. Enjoyed the Simple and Straightforward grid
22. Simple clues. Can have more obscure clues
23. Good attempt. Keep them coming!
24. Good debut
25. NICE DEBUE
26. Enjoyable
27. A nice first attempt. While some of the surfaces are a bit questionable, there is a lot to enjoy as well.
28. MIXED BAG OF HARD AND EASY CLUES
29. pass——
30. A good first attempt. 6D “”quite man”” would be better, as P doesn’t mean silent.”
31. Very good for a first attempt at setting. Difficulty level can be increased”
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33. excellent puzzle
34. nice entertaining grid
35. Nice debut! Enjoyable grid overall.
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Hope you all enjoyed this entertaining debut puzzle from Masher specially made for 1Across. Thanks for taking time to solve and also give some valuable feedback. Did you like the puzzle? Please leave your comments in the blog.