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Nitty Gritty<<< Click Here for the Puzzle Post
Here is the solution grid:
The header entry is NUTS AND BOLTS, defined by the puzzle title Nitty-Gritty.
BONUS QUESTIONS:
- 1st of the 2 Themed Categories (A) ANS: – NUTS
- Thematic entries linked to Category A ANS: – 15a ODDBALL (Eccentric), 13d CAPUT (Head), 21d FIEND (Buff) and 23d CASHEW (Edible nut)
- 2nd of the 2 Themed Categories (B) ANS: – BOLTS
- Thematic entries linked to Category B ANS: – 14a LATCH (Lock), 16a ARROW (Dart), 33a ELOPE (Run off) and 24d GOBBLE (Eat quickly)
Annotations
| Across | Clue | Answer | Annotation |
| 1 | Unclued, refer preamble (4,3,5) | NUTS AND BOLTS | def: nitty-gritty(puzzle title) |
| 10 | Sharp copper probing dope smuggler’s lead (2,5) | IN FOCUS | CU(copper) inside INFO(dope) S; def: sharp |
| 11 | Knockout opener finishing very well (4) | KAYO | OKAY(very well) with O at end; def: knockout |
| 12 | Tea leaves primarily required for local fellow (4) | CHAL | CHA(tea) L; def: local fellow, dialect |
| 14 | Fastening strip of wood around counter’s edge (5) | LATCH | LATH(strip of wood) around C; def: fastening |
| 15 | Bold lad bats out there (7) | ODDBALL | BOLD LAD*; def: out there |
| 16 | Reflex reaction at first hint of attack: fight or flight? (5) | ARROW | rev of R&A plus ROW(fight); def: flight |
| 18 | High and dry stretch used by group at reefs (2,1,4) | UP A TREE | HIPS; def: high and dry |
| 21 | More difficult if users get confused (7) | FUSSIER | IF USERS*; def: more difficult |
| 22 | Backtracking to flag medical fault (7) | DEMERIT | rev. of TIRE(to flag) and MED(medical); def: fault |
| 25 | Soil occupied by Portugal in Spain’s dominions (7) | EMPIRES | P(Portugal) in MIRE(soil) inside ES(Spain); def: dominions |
| 27 | Some set foot in place found isolated at times (5) | PAEON | alternate letters in PlAcE fOuNd; def: some set foot(metrical foot) |
| 29 | Torpedo can fathom his manoeuvres (3,4) | TIN FISH | TIN(can) F(fathom) HIS*; def: torpedo |
| 33 | One with 108 suitors should not have shut up or run away (5) | ELOPE | PENELOPE(one with 108 suitors) less PEN(shut up); def: run away |
| 34 | Puck perhaps coming to love a knight of the road (4) | HOBO | HOB(Puck perhaps) O(love); def: a knight of the road (euph.) |
| 35 | Cause of eruption making new mountain summit (4) | ACME | ACNE(cause of eruption) with M(mountain) for N(new); def: summit |
| 36 | Joint cap, everyone given a turn on head? (7) | PATELLA | rev. of ALL(everyone) after PATE(head); def: joint cap |
| 37 | Eliot’s poem unifying idea about depression ending in oblivion (3,6,3) | THE HOLLOW MEN | THEME(unifying idea) outside HOLLOW(depression) plus N; def: Eliot’s poem |
| Down | Clue | Answer | Annotation |
| 1 | Jail snitch (4) | NICK | DD |
| 2 | Churn out pants with tops coming out in one piece (6) | UNHURT | cHURN oUT*; def: in one piece |
| 3 | Convinced about oil, ultimately drilling well and nearly ruined (4,2) | SOLD ON | L inside SO(well) DONe(ruined); def: convinced about |
| 4 | Made a hole in one’s defence after step sacrificing pawn (4) | ACED | pACE(step less p=pawn) before D(defence); def: made a hole in one |
| 5 | Insensitive male in essence (4) | NUMB | M(male) inside NUB(essence); def: insensitive |
| 6 | Make shifting base stable, stuffing in slag? (7) | BALLAST | STABLe sLAg*; &lit |
| 7 | Rocky remains up and others just getting picked up (8) | LATERITE | rev of ET AL(and others) RITE(hp right=just); def: rocky remains |
| 8 | Some pretty cheerful Greek goddess (5) | TYCHE | HIPS |
| 9 | Repeatedly halved, sons hold a quarter of the capital in England (4) | SOHO | halves of SO(ns) and HO(ld); def: a quarter (of London) |
| 13 | Loaf around park (5) | CAPUT | CA(around) PUT(park); def: loaf=head |
| 16 | Cycling plan for staff officer (4) | AIDE | IDE/A(plan) cycled; def: staff officer |
| 17 | Mesomorph runs leaving son to walk it (4,4) | ROMP HOME | ME(s)OMORPH*; def: to walk it |
| 19 | English right at home coming to Drennan’s Ireland (4) | ERIN | E(English) R(right) IN(at home); def: Drennan’s Ireland(poetic term) |
| 20 | Mule driver from India trapped by a silly error (7) | ARRIERO | I(India) inside A+ ERROR*; def: mule driver |
| 21 | Enthusiast providing tips on outcome (5) | FIEND | rev. of IF(providing) END(outcome); def: enthusiast |
| 23 | Champ eating when this may be eaten (6) | CASHEW | CHEW(champ) outside AS(when); def: this … eaten |
| 24 | Turkeys do this to wolf (6) | GOBBLE | DD |
| 26 | Gardening material left in heaps (5) | MULCH | L(left) inside MUCH(heaps); def: gardening material |
| 28 | Exploit energy in excess (4) | FEAT | E(energy) inside FAT(excess); def: exploit |
| 30 | Note old fellow going round young filly (4) | FOAL | rev. of LA(note) O(old) F(fellow); def: young filly |
| 31 | Obsessed with current, not swimming (4) | INTO | I(current) NOT*; def: obsessed with |
| 32 | Hand stifling exclamation, leaves one having beef (4) | MOAN | MAN(hand) outside O(exclamation); def: one having beef |
Here’s the list of Top 10 Scorers (For the full list, please check the Leaderboard in the Hall of Fame)
| Participant(s) Name | Total Score | GridScore | Bonus | TimeBonus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tejas Siddharth | 164 | 144 | 10 | 10 |
| samit kallianpur | 163 | 144 | 10 | 9 |
| Venkatraghavan S | 162 | 144 | 10 | 8 |
| Arvind Kannabiran | 161 | 144 | 10 | 7 |
| Max Jackson | 160 | 144 | 10 | 6 |
| Ganesh Nayak | 159 | 144 | 10 | 5 |
| Satyen Nabar | 158 | 144 | 10 | 4 |
| Nicholas Loader | 157 | 144 | 10 | 3 |
| NARAYANAN R | 153 | 144 | 9 | 0 |
| Himanshu Rajurkar | 153 | 144 | 9 | 0 |
Congrats to the toppers and to all the solvers who participated. In addition to the above, Debasmita Basu and Lakshmi Vaidyanathan also got full points on the Bonus though they missed out some points on the grid. The Bonus was tough to crack and so congrats to them for getting full scores in that.
Grid Rating: The puzzle got a terrific score of 8.54. It got 9 perfect 10s (23% of those who rated). The lowest score was 4.
Favorite Clues: The Top clues were
- One with 108 suitors should not have shut up or run away (5) – 10 votes
- Sharp copper probing dope smuggler’s lead (2,5) – 7 votes
- Eliot’s poem unifying idea about depression ending in oblivion (3,6,3) – 7 votes
Another terrific puzzle from Bingo which was easier than the previous offering but just as interesting. I am personally happy to see the increase in the number of submissions for a Bingo puzzle. Bingo always raises the bar in terms of what we can do next in the blog and its obvious that our solvers are up to the challenge as well.
Here’s what our solvers said.
| Comments / Feedback on the puzzle | |
|---|---|
| Lakshmi Vaidyanathan | Enjoyed solving the grid ! |
| Veera Raghavan | Challenging but not as much as Bingo’s grids with missing/extra letters! Some of my solutions are iffy. Also unable to identify sets of words of one category. |
| RATNAKUMAR V | Simply amazing puzzle |
| Jyothish Balakrishnan | Top class as always! |
| Ganesh Nayak | As usual, very enjoyable, if easier for a Bingo puzzle. Couldn’t parse a few clues. Nice workout! |
| Venkatesan P. | Liked the theme. Found the wordplay for a few clues very tricky. |
| Mona Sogal | FUN CHALLENGE |
| Kolluru Koteswara rao | BINGO!!! GREAT PUZZLE. |
| Prakash Arumugam | Excellent and tricky clues with a nice theme. |
| N Anantakrishnan | Excellent puzzle! |
| Ian VanderSchee | Excellent idea and well executed! Took me a while to figure out the unclued entry, but then it was smooth sailing. |
| Venkatraghavan S | Easier than usual Bingo puzzle. 🙂 No advise to give |
| Debasmita Basu | On the easier side. Several clever clues, difficult to choose only 3. |
| Sandhya Paruchuri | A bit tough! |
| R Nagendra Prasad | Tough nut to crack |
| Arvind Kannabiran | Aces as always |
| Ramki Krishnan | Found it easier than Bingo’s usual puzzles. Too many good clues – difficult to pick 3! Not sure about one of the themed answers. |
| Satyen Nabar | Nice puzzle and theme. Rather easy given the fact that it comes from Bhala. Still, entertaining as always. Thanks! |
| N Rengaswamy | Difficult one to solve. Thought of giving up in the middle as I felt I am wasting my time. |
| Nilesh Parmar | good one |
| Binay Kumar Patra | Combination of hard and soft clues. Somewhat quizzical |
| Samit Kallianpur | Nice and entertaining grid! |
| Tejas Siddharth | Easier than the other barred grids. Some clues were however tough to parse. I fear a world where turkeys can gobble wolves, would like to point that out XD |
| Sree Sree | Lucky that the theme fell on early but had to still workout a couple of theme words. Nice puzzle. |
| Avtaar | A well constructed puzzle as is expected from a veteran. Lots of nicely constructed clues and even unfamiliar words could be put together from the wordplay. 31D. came out as a 3 letter word, not 4 due to the bar. In 37A, clueing HOLLOW as hollow was disappointing |
| Nicholas Loader | In order of the list: Dope smuggler’s lead’ doesn’t quite work in surface. Smuggling would. But Ximene cricket. I get it. Great wordplay. Kayo – great clue. CHAL – great clue. ‘counter’ doesn’t quite work in surface. ‘ceiling’ – Google ‘furring’, Great wordplay. ‘out there’ doesn’t quite work in surface. Ingenious def tho and great wordplay. 7 words for two letters is excessive no matter how good the surface. Up a tree – Surface is close, the concealment is masterful though. Did not spot it quickly. FUSSIER – great clue. DEMERIT – Great clue. Great turducken. Being picky but dominions didn’t quite work in surface. PAEON – excellent clue. Is Torpedo being used as someone’s name?didn’t work for me sorry. Lovely wp though. ELOPE – great idea just too long, HOBO – great clue. ACME – so close but summit sounds unusual in surface. PATELLA. Please don’t sacrifice a surface for a fantastic definition. The Hollow Men – almost excellent but the obvious connection between the two meanings of depression is jarring. NICK is amazing – in more ways than one 😉 UNHURT – Surface needs work, would prefer tops disappear before mingling of characters happens – so to speak – in wordplay, SOLD ON. Great wordplay, surface is close to working. ACED. Ah. Ingenious def. Great wordplay. Almost awesome surface but would never describe it as a ‘step’. NUMB – terrific clue. BALLAST – standing ovation! LATERITE – Surface not quite there, Great wp and def. TYCHE. I mean, fine and good to have some easy ones but not so satisfying. Just because you use some elsewhere it’s still an obvious tel indicator, SOHO – pretty gruesome image of sons getting halved lol means surface is not quite there, obscure but very clever definition and nice so. CAPUT – tremendous clue. AIDE. Excellent wp but being picky felt two word def is excessive, Mesomorph only works in a much more technical context, nice anagram and def though. ERIN – great clue. ARRIERO – very close but vague. Trapped? In what way? Lovely wp though. FIEND – very good clue. CASHEW. Great wp, surface needs work. GOBBLE – very good clue. I don’t feel that heaps and much are synonymous. A shame because it’s an excellent surface and wp. FEAT. Great wp, surface not there. ‘going around’ doesn’t sound quite right, around would work I think. Great wp. INTO. Great wp, surface not there. MOAN – though a verbal phrase an excellent def, surface not quite there ‘leaves’ is the issue unfortunately ‘leads to [moan] would work. Level of difficulty of words was good. Bonus was challenging but not impossible. Not sure I like NICK for bolt. Never mind. Just realised what it is. So bonus all works. If I get them right lol. Just surfaces really and try do anagramming before other wp in the same clue. I think you’ve improved a lot though!S Some excellent clues. Still in shock at BALLAST. An &lit DD! |
| Max Jackson | Nice puzzle. It took a while for 1ac to emerge and even longer for some of the less obvious themed entries. |
| Ashit Hegde | Much simpler than his usual grids, a bit disappointing therefore. |
| Melissa McSeismal | Giving bonus points based on order of submission is biased towards people in certain time zones. |
Other Comments (names withheld)
| Comments / Feedback on the puzzle |
|---|
| Brilliant theme |
| Nice puzzle. |
| Challenging |
| Fun grid not as difficult as Bingos grids tend to be |
| NICE one |
| Fun theme and puzzle |
| Good! |
| I’m still not sure I’ve fully worked out what’s going on here! |
| I usually get repulsed by grids like these with no proper structure and all clutter. Highly unreadable. Hurts my eyes. Still I persisted and finished the grid. Now the theme(s).. Hmmm.. that’s a cruel joke 🙁 its like the setter doesn’t want the average solver to even “get a slight hint” and attempt it. That’s why its cruel. Have seen tougher themes and grids but at least those setters clearly intended for solvers to crack, though after a tough fight and challenge. Here its different. Solver BIG 0 : Setter INFINITY. And why are we forced to pick 3 fav clues? why mandatory? what if there were none? Max 3 I can understand, but going fwd please add an option none of the above and just set a max cap of 3. so people can choose none, 1, 2 or 3 (its a general suggestion and not applicable for this grid. Few clues were lovely indeed) Thanks, and no thanks. |