Stats – The puzzle page had 453 views. We had 24 solvers completing and submitting the grid. Of those who submitted only 7 managed to get the maximum possible score of 305.
Click Here to see the puzzle
Read the following instructions/guide carefully
To complete this crossword you will have to fill in and submit TWO GRIDS, not one (i) The Definitions Grid and (ii) The Wordplays Grid
This is how you will solve the two grids
- All clues are standard cryptic clues
- Every clue has a Wordplay and Definition
- All the definitions will help you fill in one grid
- All the wordplays will help you fill in the second grid
- The Wordplay and definition for each clue differ only by one letter. This means every answer in the two grids will differ only by one letter
Bonus Question: What word meaning “PROCESS OF DYING THAT IS ESSENTIAL FOR LIVING” can be got from the circled letters (14)
Here is the solution grid:
Answer to the Bonus Question:
BIODEGRADATION
Annotations:
Across: 9 Wordplay.STILL+ED. Def: Choked = STIFLED, 10 Wordplay. BIKERS around C(onvention) = Bickers. Def: Sponsors= BACKERS, 11 Wordplay. EX PRESS. Def: Ruler = EMPRESS, 12 Wordplay. DE(TENT)E.Def: Female prisoner in India DETENUE, 13 Wordplay. ROT<<<. = TOR Def: Fashion = TON (Ref Chambers), 14 Wordplay. SAG+AS. Def: Elders = SAGES, 16 Wordplay SIDLE(creep) with beginning to end (cycling) gives IDLES. Def: Say British = ISLES, 17 Wordplay. DR+E+DEAD*. Def: Stared into space = DREAMED, 19 Wordplay. {WINGSO(-n)E }= WIGEONS Def: Birds= PIGEONS, 22 Wordplay. A,M,MAN. Def: Soul = ATMAN, 24 Wordplay . (ISPUT) = sit up Def: Frame = SET UP, 26 Wordplay Work in the farm = till hp. Def: Chess legend = TAL (Mikhail Tal the chess legend), 27 Wordplay. BATTER (pound) around L = battler. Def: Snake = RATTLER, 28 Wordplay. TREKSAY = streaky. Def: Aboundig in little rivulets = STREAMY, 29 Wordplay. RISK* + RED =skirred Def: Provoked = STIRRED, 30 Wordplay. (ETH-ics)*+REIN = Therein Def: At which point = WHEREIN.
Down: : 1 Wordplay. TRESS<<+coiffeusE inside AD =( A SSERT E D). Def: Allowed = ASSENTED, 2 Wordplay. D,I,S + PER SE = Disperse. Def: hand out = DISPENSE, 3 Wordplay. P(LIE)R S.Def: Leaflets = FLIERS, 4 Wordplay DO (end) in US = Udos Def: Commotions = ADOS, 5 Wordplay: (BOAS (anagrind Buffalo) + anD+antelopE)* anagrind Buffalo (v) = Abodes. Def: bears = ABIDES, 6 Wordplay. (CAT(Tom)+H) in SING (Carol) = Scathing. Def: Cutting through = SCYTHING, 7 Wordplay. KENNEDY – DY +L. Def: Stone = KERNEL, 8 Wordplay. TREES* + S(mall) = ESTERS. Def” Flowers = ASTERS, 15 Wordplay. DOG<<< = God. Def: Stray = GAD, 18 Wordplay. L in DANGERS. Definition: Vicious killers, 19 Wordplay. W+E,T. Def: Dear = PET, 20 Wordplay. DUOTRADE*=Outdared Def: Very old = OUTDATED, 21 Wordplay. ALL + Y(ell) inside SING = Sallying. Def: Marking= SULLYING, 22 Wordplay A T(B)EST. Def: Still = AT REST, 23 Wordplay MA+TRICKS hp = MATRIX Def: school examination (MATRIC), 24 Wordplay. SA+RODS Def: Young Haddock = SCRODS, 25 Wordplay. P+URGES. Def: Compresses = PURSES, 28 Worplay SOS (message) around T(sunami) = Sots. Def: Spreads = SOWS
Results:
The following people maxed the score.
Anicha Reuban, Keith Williams, Lakshmi Prakash, Mona Sogal, Narayanan R., Ramki Krishnan and Venkatesan P.
Here are the scores of the other players
304 – Sandhya Paruchuri
303 – Dave Williams, Himanshu Rajurkar, Madhup Tewari
301 – Arvind Kannabiran, Max Jackson, Vasant Srinivasan, Venkatraghavan S.
300 – Ashit Hegde, Bhalchandra Pasupathy, Kumaresh K R
299 – Prakash Arumugam
298 – Sree Sree
297 – Anantakrishnan N.
291 – Ian Vanderschee
287 – Tejas Siddharth
132 – Madhusudhan Hanumantha Rao (Submitted only 1 grid)
Congrats to all the solvers who maxed the score and to every one who participated. Very well tried.
Grid Rating: The puzzle got a great score of 8.8. It got 8 perfect 10s – i.e 33% of those who submitted thought it was perfect. The minimum score was 5.
Top 3 Clues: The most favorite clues were those for “MATRIC / MATRIX” with 7 votes. 4 sets of clues bagged 5 votes each – “DETENTE / DETENUE”, “SCATHING/SCYTHING”, “ASSERTED/ASSENTED” and “EMPRESS/EXPRESS”. Votes were dispersed across 24 clues.
Thanks to Avtaar for a mind boggling puzzle. Veru innovative idea which has been neatly executed. The grid fill must have been extremely hard to achieve – Hope you do share your notes on how you constructed the grid with us when you have some time. Nicely done indeed.
Comments on the Puzzle
1. Very Challenging puzzle , Kept getting disoriented by the concept of different words for wordplay and definition
2. was fun to do
3. Really innovative idea and well executed. Clues were nicely constructed even with this constraint. Had a lot of fun solving this grid.
4. Very good puzzle, neat idea. A lot of effort would have gone into the grid design and gridfill. Lots of good clues too with some tricky wordplay. A couple of clues unfortunately can be made to work such that the whole clue (both definition and wordplay) is valid. 9a STILLED can also mean choked, doesn’t need to be changed to STIFLED. In 19a, even with the change we get WIGEONS which works for both wordplay and def. Minor issues in the overall scheme of things, a really interesting puzzle all said
5. challenging – due to a couple of very obscure words! – but it all worked (I hope!)
6. Wonderful puzzle! Great effort to set the clues for two sets of answers.
7. One of the most difficult puzzles solved ever. Great challenge. Kudos!
8. Very tricky puzzle with some very uncommon words – nice!
9. Very challenging,
10. good fun!
11. Like the idea and overall grid(s) – less keen on the final execution and some of the clues I’m afraid. Where this sort of puzzle works best is where there is something thematic about the changed letters (or what they can anagram to), whereas here, the bonus question doesn’t seem especially relevant to the rest of the puzzle.
12. Found it pretty difficult to start with but a very innovative and entertaining grid
13. IMHO, this concept is too complicated for me. Would have preferred a tougher grid with a simpler concept.
14. Very very entertaining and intelligent puzzle. Was difficult to start with but turned to be pretty solvable. What a(x) work(d) from Avataar!
15. An interesting variation. Occasionally difficult to pick the definition answer – would it have been too easy a puzzle (or too difficult to compile) if all the changes were checked?
16. interesting challenge…
17. Brilliant puzzle, very cleverly crafted and a fun to solve
18. “Buy one get one free” puzzle 🙂 Challenging and satisfying. Even though the wordplay and def are two different words, they were merged very well in the clues.
19. Lovely puzzle. Had to make a table to ensure that I wasnt mixing the Definition and Wordplay solutions. 🙂
20. Innovative
21. Fantastic crosswords!
“22. Overall an engaging couple of hours. ‘DREADED/ DREAMED’ and ‘KENNEL/ KERNEL’ were masterfully done. Also learnt a few new words like UDOS, SKIRRED, SCRODS, WIGEONS and SIDLE. I was also not familiar with the given meaning of KERNEL, and did not know that ATMAN was an English word. Highly enlightening 🙂
However, a few points. 30a being:
At which point = WHEREIN = def, old Indian babu = ICS (Indian Civil Servant), abandoned = deletion indicator, ETHics = deletion + anagram fodder, became corrupt = anagrind, taking control = REIN,
I am not particularly fond of old Indian babu = ICS and feel that it is a bit too vague.
And I am not sure of:
12a) Camp = DEFENSE camp, river = DEE, female = F, and I am not sure where ENC is. Or is it female = FE and prisoner in India = NC complaint?
If so, I feel the definition is vague, and if the Anno is correct, I do not like female = FE or the entire idea of ‘prisoner in India’ being NC. Otherwise I am stumped 😛
6d) Cutting = def = SCOFFING, through = stuffing, Carol = C, Tom Hanks’ top = T?, grabbing = replacement indicator
If so, what is the function of Hanks? If not, I’m stumped again :P”
23. Superb Puzzle!
24. Creative concept. Superb clues.