Stats: The puzzle page was loaded 480 times. 56 visitors had a go at it. Though 43 solvers completed the grid, only 40 solvers completed both the puzzle and bonus form and 3 solvers did not submit the bonus form. The remaining 13 solved it partly or fully but did not submit. 35 solvers got the full score.
Back to Square One<<< Click Here for the Puzzle Post
Here is the solution grid:
Annotations
| Ref. | Clues | Solutions | Annotations |
| 1A | Resolute person in a short meeting (7) | ADAMANT | Def: Resolute; A DA(MAN)T(-e) |
| 5A | Protected end-user perhaps (7) | ENSURED | Def: protected; Anagram end user |
| 9A | Preserve the very essence of identity in deflection (9) | CURVATURE | Def: deflection, container CUR(V (-n)ATUR (-e)*)E |
| 10A | Not starting to choose quote (5) | REFER | Def: quote; deletion; (-p)REFER |
| 11A | Money in a small amount (4) | DRAM | DD |
| 12A | Corporations of transports covering function – starting to shut-down (10) | BUSINESSES | Def: corporations; BU (SINE S(hut-down) )SES |
| 14A | Celebration of fortune announced (4) | FETE | Def: Celebration; fortune=fate, homophone |
| 15A | Dad has set out hurriedly to embark on a voyage (3,2,3) | PUT TO SEA | P(SET OUT*)A anagram def: to embark on a voyage |
| 18A | New venture attracting German author (8) | TURGENEV | Def: Author; anagram+Container G in VENTURE* |
| 20A | South Africa’s hot band (4) | SASH | Def: band, SA S H |
| 24A | Opposites of hot takes? (10) | INVERSIONS | Def: Opposites; Hot=IN, Takes= versions (In the sense of interpretation) |
| 25A | Almost turn down incentive (4) | SPUR | SPUR(-n) Def: impulse |
| 27A | Fiance spits frequently, it’s appalling (5) | INEPT | Alt letter picking; def: Appalling |
| 28A | City accepting currency note in hospital department (9) | NEUROLOGY | Def: Hospital department, N (EURO LOG) Y |
| 29A | New in class, teacher ultimately becomes more impressive (7) | GRANDER | Def: more impressive; GRA(N)DE (-teache)R |
| 30A | Lace going around borders of cloak – that is a part of attire (7) | NECKTIE | Def: a part of attire NE(CK)T IE |
| 1D | Built a cedar gallery (6) | ARCADE | Anagram; def: gallery |
| 2D | Echoing music enthralling Belgium’s south-eastern military establishment (3,4) | AIR BASE | Def: military establishment; Echoing music: ARIA<< Belgium:B, South Eastern=SE |
| 3D | Sindbad’s heading out of Basra, returning for a breed of horse (4) | ARAB | Def: a breed of horse; deletion+reversal, BA(-S)RA<< |
| 4D | Astrological sign of Greek characters besieging old city (6) | TAURUS | Def: Astrological sign; Charade, Greek Character: TAU; TA(UR)US |
| 5D | Old professor from Europe on tour, remits a bit of USD (8) | EMERITUS | Def: old professor, Partial Anagram E REMITS U(-SD)* Anagrind: on tour |
| 6D | Playful teen wearing odd crests in audition (6,4) | SCREEN TEST | Def: audition; Anagram crests* around teen* |
| 7D | Rejects trash talks eventually (7) | REFUSES | trash=refuse, (-talk)s=REFUSE S. def: rejects |
| 8D | Throwing darts around ship in English film (4,4) | DARK STAR | Def: English film; DARTS* around ARK |
| 13D | Second informant in action is treated with disrespect (10) | DESECRATED | Def: treated with disrespect; DE(SEC)(RAT)ED |
| 16D | Spotting son practicing right outside (8) | STAINING | Def: Spotting; S T(-r)AINING (outside as a deletion indicator) |
| 17D | Apprentice in British Rail receiving faulty engine (8) | BEGINNER | Def: Apprentice; Anagram+Container, B(ENGINE*)R |
| 19D | Coastal region in Rhode Island – heading for vacation time outside India (7) | RIVIERA | Def: coastal region; RI V(-acation) (I) ERA (heading for – letter picking indicator) |
| 21D | Drink wine for friendship, say (7) | SUPPORT | SUP PORT |
| 22D | Following leader of union in exchange for European in confine (2,4) | IN TURN | Def: Following INTERN to IN TURN |
| 23D | Pattern largely made without a line (6) | ARGYLE | Anagram: LARGELY*-L def: pattern |
| 26D | Leave out the third and fifth of the astrological signs, they are related to animals (4) | ZOIC | ZODIAC – D and -A. Def: related to animals, Deletion |
Here’s the list of Top Scorers (For the full list, please check the Leaderboard in the Hall of Fame)
Each of the following scored 162 points
Al Sanders
Anantakrishnan N.
Arvind Kannabiran
Arvind Ramaswamy
Ashit Hegde
Bhalchandra Pasupathy
Deepak Gopinath (Col.)
Hawk
Himanshu Rajurkar
Ian VanderSchee
Jyothish Balakrishnan
Koteswar Rao
Lakshmi Prakash
Lakshmi Vaidyanathan
Madhup Tewari
Madhusudan H
Max Jackson
Melissa McSeismal
Mona Sogal
Nagendra Prasad R.
Narayan Mandyam
Narayana Swamy D
Nilesh Parmar
Prakash Arumugam
Ramesh Swaminathan
Ramki Krishnan
Rathnakumar V
Ratna Rao
Samit Kallianpur
Sandhya Paruchuri
Sohil Bhagat
Sparsh Sinha
Tejas Siddharth
Venkatesan P.
Venkatraghavan S
Congrats to the toppers and to all the solvers who participated.
Grid Rating: The puzzle got an excellent rating of 8.23. It got 7 perfect 10s (18% of those who rated). The lowest rating was 6.
Favorite Clues: The Top clues were
- Opposites of hot takes? (10) – 12 votes
- Second informant in action is treated with disrespect (10) – 10 votes
- Leave out the third and fifth of the astrological signs, they are related to animals (4) – 7 votes
Thanks to Metacryptix for the fun puzzle. Looking forward to more from you.
Here’s what our solvers said..
| Name | Comments / Feedback on the puzzle |
|---|---|
| Jyothish Balakrishnan | Very devious but enjoyable. |
| Kabir Firaque | Great surfaces, a few tricky clues in a largely simple grid. Loved the wordplay with INVERSIONS. |
| Lakshmi Vaidyanathan | Lovely smooth puzzle. |
| Mukundala Balasubramanyam | Lovely grid |
| Rathnakumar V | Nice & Simple |
| Al Sanders | Nice clean grid |
| Nagendra Prasad R. | Walk in the park. |
| Narayan Mandyam | nice |
| Veera Raghavan | Nice and fairly easy. Good clues |
| Arvind Kannabiran | fun puzzle. thanks |
| Bhalchandra Pasupathy | Nice puzzle with interesting clues and deflections |
| Ian VanderSchee | Very nice relaxing puzzle. |
| Madhup Tewari | Nice clues. Very enjoyable. |
| Mona Sogal | Fun, easy grid.. |
| Nilesh Parmar | Nice and easy |
| Priya Shyam | Neat clues, had great fun solving |
| Ramesh Swaminathan | Nice with some challenging clues. Very smooth clue surfaces. |
| Samit Kallianpur | Nice grid! 7d may have root issues .. |
| Sandhya Paruchuri | Easy one! |
| Sparsh Sinha | Good one |
| Venkatraghavan S | Nice and straightforward |
| Anantakrishnan N. | Nice |
| Arvind Ramaswamy | Nice and Easy fun grid! |
| Max Jackson | Nice fair clues. |
| Ramki Krishnan | Nice and easy grid, appropriate for a Sunday afternoon! I thought a few of the defs were not exact, but could still get them since the wordplay was precise. |
| Koteswar Rao | Enjoyable puzzle |