Stats: The puzzle page was loaded 514 times. 59 visitors had a go at it. 36 solvers completed both the puzzle and bonus form. The remaining 23 solved it partly.13* solvers got the full score.
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Here is the solution grid:
BONUS QUESTIONS:
Q1-4# There are 6 themed entries hinted by the title of the grid. Name any 4 (1/4)
ANS: Any 4 of FARMER, DOCTOR, TEACHER, SURGEON, CLERGYMAN & NANNIES
Q5# What additional themed entry can be derived by jumbling the letters circled in the grid
ANS: FIREMAN
Annotations
| Across/ Ref. | Clue | Answer | Annotation |
| 1 | Citadel in ruins, by the end of battle in Nice (8) | Delicate | [Citadel* e]. Def = Nice |
| 5 | One grows stronger when one overcomes ego (6) | Farmer | [Firmer with A overcoming i].Def = One grows |
| 10 | Panic at sea….Russians smuggling weed to the US! (7) | Cat’s-ear | Telescopic. Def = weed, to the US |
| 11 | Doctor’s taking a pinch of salt on egg stuffing (7) | Surgeon | S (urge) on. Def = Doctor. |
| 12 | Outstanding leader avoids fighting (5) | Owing | [(-R)owing]. Def = Outstanding. |
| 13 | Perhaps too damned uncertain at first, she finally elopes with misfit (3,3,3) | Odd man out | [(Too damned u)*-e]. Def = Misfit. |
| 14 | Release multimedia clip after review (4) | Emit | Hidden in Reverse. Def = Release. |
| 15 | They handle minor issues with new and decayed canines about to be extracted (7) | Nannies | [N (-c)anines*]. Def = They handle minor issues |
| 19 | It could be seen as a wrongdoing (7) | Offense | [Reverse Anagram. Seen = Off ense*]. Def= a wrongdoing. |
| 20 | Very old Egyptian couch picked up (4) | Seti | [Settee hp] Couch = settee. Def = very old Egyptian (He was a pharaoh) |
| 23 | It’s hard to sip hot chai? Maybe not hard (9) | Pistachio | [(To sip h chai)*-h]. Def = it’s hard. |
| 25 | A little lazy to wear tie and mask (5) | Blind | [B(l)ind]. Def = mask. |
| 26 | Guru is a conman, according to Spooner (7) | Teacher | Spoonerism of cheater. Def= guru |
| 27 | Medic, having dropped wife off, is humming (7) | Droning | [Dr + O(-w)ning]. Def = humming. |
| 28 | Romeo’s located on the west of this range? (6) | Sierra | [CD..in NATO alphabet, Romeo or R comes before (to the west of) S or Sierra – mountain range] |
| 29 | For latter half of troopers, this task oddly remains (8) | Persists | [(-troo)PERS (-th)IS + T(-a)S(-k)]. Def= remains |
| Down /Ref. | Clue | Answer | Annotation |
| 1 | A professional swimmer goes up north to river (6) | Doctor | [Cod< To R]. Def = A professional |
| 2 | Almost delayed, getting through this place (6) | Latvia | [Lat(-e) via]. Def= this place |
| 3 | The Reverend says “Join an online group, father” (9) | Clergyman | Spoonerism of Merge e-clan. . Def = father |
| 4 | Become very friendly with the monarch? (4,2,3,5) | Turn on the charm | [Reverse Anagram of ‘the monarch’]. Def= Become very friendly with. |
| 6 | Big vessel seen in Alexandria or Tangier (5) | Aorta | Telescopic. Def = Big vessel. |
| 7 | That reminds me….only women turned up to visit my intimate condo basically (8) | Mnemonic | [No men<< in M I C].Def= That reminds me. |
| 8 | Check out nature – pristine at its core! (3,1,4) | Run a test | [Nature* ST]. Def = Check. |
| 9 | Thought of frequently getting drunk led us on (4,3,6) | Used one’s noodle (or noddle) | Letter bank of ‘led us on’. Def = thought. |
| 16 | Small computers to be arranged in corner, with a little supervision (9) | Notebooks | [N(oteb)*ooks]. Def = Small computers. |
| 17 | Shows up, carrying dope and sweet treats (8) | Compotes | [Com(pot)es]. Def = Sweet treats. |
| 18 | Gates not visible to the public? (8) | Offstage | Reverse Anagram of ‘Gates’. [Gates = (Off) Stage*] Def = Not visible to the public |
| 21 | Star is sober during audition (6) | Sirius | [Serious hp]. Def = Star. |
| 22 | Sandra agrees to regularly feature old sayings (6) | Adages | [Alt letters in ‘Sandra agrees’]. IDef = Old sayings. |
| 24 | Don’t like the interiors of Arabia? Why not bro? (5) | Abhor | [Central letters from Ar(ab)ia w(h)y n(o)t b(r)o]. IDef = Don’t like. |
Here’s the list of Top Scorers (For the full list, please check the Leaderboard in the Hall of Fame)
*NOTE: It has been brought to our attention that 9D has an alternate solution “USED ONES NODDLE” which is equally acceptable. The scores and leaderboard have now been edited after awarding points to all submissions with this answer.
Out of 59 solvers, 1213 got the full score. Each of the following scored 165 points (Grid Score – 160, Bonus – 5).
Ashit Hegde
Bhalchandra Pasupathy
Harish Kamath
Lakshmi Prakash
Lakshmi Vaidyanathan
Madhup Tewari
Melissa McSeismal
Mona Sogal
Ramesh Swaminathan
Rathnakumar V
Ratna Rao
Tejas Siddharth
Venkatraghavan S
Congrats to the toppers and to all the solvers who participated.
Grid Rating: The puzzle got an excellent rating of 8.58. It got 8 perfect 10s (22% of those who rated). The lowest rating was 6.
Favorite Clues: The Top clues were
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- One grows stronger when one overcomes ego (6) – 12 votes
- Medic, having dropped wife off, is humming (7) – 8 votes
- Become very friendly with the monarch? (4,2,3,5) – 8 votes
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Fabulous debut Gridzilla. All those hours spent perfecting each clue really paid off and we look forward to seeing more grids from you.
Here’s what our solvers said..
| Participant(s) Name | Comments / Feedback on the puzzle |
|---|---|
| Harish Kamath | Nice grid! Had more than 3 favourite clues. Congrats on your debut, Gridzilla! |
| Jyothish Balakrishnan | Excellent on debut. Awaiting more high class creations. |
| Mukundala Balasubramanyam | Tricky and enjoyable debut grid! Congrats to the setter. |
| Rathnakumar V | Dream Debut, not an easy puzzle , overall very nice |
| Srinivas Venkatesh | Tonic for the brain |
| Al Sanders | Nice fill and clues |
| Anantakrishnan N. | Excellent grid with lovely surfaces |
| Lakshmi Prakash | Very nice grid. First rate debut |
| Lakshmi Vaidyanathan | Nice grid |
| Ramesh Swaminathan | Loved it especially such variety of clues. Clean good surfaces. |
| Sparsh Sinha | Wonderful clues some of them. Highly cryptic. |
| Tejas Siddharth | Nice puzzle. Tricky reverse clues and multi syllable spoonerisms. Quick and fun solve |
| Veera Raghavan | Very nice grid. Many RAs seen. |
| Ashit Hegde | Quite a devious grid, felt a sense of achievement on completing it |
| Bhalchandra Pasupathy | Good puzzle, some intricate wordplay, and not easily picked up definitions. Could go a bit easy on reverse anagrams, not more than one in a puzzle I would say. A couple I could not annotate to my satisfaction even though intent became obvious |
| Madhup Tewari | Lovely puzzle! Very enjoyable! |
| Madhusudan H | Excellent clues. Congrats on the debut. |
| Mona Sogal | Smooth grid, some surfaces were really good. Good debut Samit! Keep them coming…. |
| Nagendra Prasad R. | NICE DEBUT. A FEW CLUES CONFUSING TO ME. |
| Narayana Swamy D | Nice clues but rather simple |
| Narayanan R | Nice grid |
| Prakash Arumugam | Very nice surface in most clues. Not sure if the use of anagram indicators like off (in offstage) and out (check out….) was correct. On the whole an enjoyable puzzle. |
| Ramki Krishnan | Nice and easy. Theme was also pretty straightforward. Loved the surface reading for FARMER, DRONING etc. In the RA, not sure if Off can come before the fodder? |
| Supriya Mithal | Wonderful debut Gridzilla , excellent clues and surfaces ,a few took time . Very enjoyable .Looking forward to many more. |
| Venkatraghavan S | Nice work for a debut. Keep ‘em coming |
| Viraj Divecha | Loved the grid. Beautifully crafted clues with excellent surfaces. Waiting for more. |
| Koteswar Rao | EASY FOR THE MOST PART |
| Max Jackson | Generally OK. 23ac “It’s hard” a poor definition.9dn anag of “led us on” plus more of the same letters? |
Chambers dictionary has NODDLE: the head or brain. Given the imprecision of the wordplay, this seems every bit as good an answer as NOODLE.
Agreed. Another solver has also raised this. We have checked with the setter and decided to award scores for all entries with this answer as well. The leader board and post will be updated to reflect the same shortly.