Stats: The puzzle page was loaded 890 times. 76 visitors had a go at it. 49 solvers completed the grid though only 46 solvers completed both the grid and the bonus forms. The remaining 27 solved partly. 33 solvers got the full score.
Celebration & Cerebration<<< Click Here for the Puzzle Post
Here is the solution grid:
BONUS QUESTIONS:
Q1: Find the quotation spelt out by the extra letters (10 words)
ANS: INDIVIDUALLY WE ARE ONE DROP TOGETHER WE ARE AN OCEAN (see table below)
Q2: Identify the thematic NINA in the grid (1 word)
ANS: DECADE (highlighted in the grid)
Annotations
| Clue Ref | Clue | Solution | Extra Letter | Annotation | Setter |
| 10 A | How to make a top-tier wizard? (5,6) | harry potter | I | RA HARRY (TOP TIER)*>> HARRY POTT(I)ER |
Sowmya Ramkumar |
| 11 A | Zealous cadet dined animatedly (9) | dedicated | N | CADETDINED* >> DEDICATED(N) |
Viraj Divecha |
| 13 A | Nudist entered excited… Got bored (12) | uninterested | D | NUDISTENTERED* >>
UNINTERESTED D |
Samit Kallianpur |
| 14 A | Run away after soldier catches one wild animal (8) | antelope | I | ANT I ELOPE >>
ANT(I)ELOPE |
Saurabh Upadhyay |
| 15 A | Permission to go right, holding still a little longer, after waiting, finally (5,5) | green light | V | (waitin)G+R(EVEN+L(onger))IGHT >> GRE(V)EN LIGHT | Ian VanderSchee |
| 16 A | Type of music drawn from diverse sources, relinquishing original country but incorporating metal (10) | electronic | I | E(-C)LECT(IRON)IC >>
ELECT(I)RONIC |
Atul Jairaj |
| 17 A | Quality of tape and CD’s dubious (6) | aspect | D | TAPECDS* >>
ASPECT(D) |
Ganesh Nayak |
| 19 A | Awkward situation in raucous taphouse when Prince gets thrown out with model (3,4) | hot seat | U | TAPHOUSE*- P T >>
HOTSEAT(U) |
Amrita Majumdar |
| 20 A | Uncle from America so confused with Asia’s hollow savoury snack (6) | samosa | A | SAM SO A..A* >>
SAMOSA(A) |
Sparsh Sinha |
| 21 A | Cartel’s final offer? (8) | assassin | L | L + CD>>
OFFER (L) |
Anantakrishnan Narayanan |
| 22 A | Sold stocks in advance around beginning of term, left with sad expression, unable to see the big picture (5-7) | short-sighted | L | SHOR(T L SIGH)TED >> SHORT(L)SIGHTED | Loks Subrahmanyam |
| 26 A | Special sort of land husbandry where ground ultimately gets cleared (5,3,4) | slash and burn | Y | S LAND HUSBAN(-D)RY*
>> SLASH AND BURN (Y) |
Nicholas Loader |
| 30 A | Want iPod? We have a counter (8) | antipode | W | HIPS >>
ANTIPOD(W)E |
Ashit Hegde |
| 32 A | Not beginning to retain subscriber (6) | member | E | (-R)EMEMBER>>
(E )MEMBER |
Debasmita Basu |
| 35 A | Old statesman starts to analyse theories on creation of autarky endlessly (7) | ataturk | A | A(nalyse) + T(heories) + AUTARK(-y)*>>(A)ATATURK | Satyen Nabar |
| 36 A | Most exquisite royal couple take a breather (6) | rarest | R | R R A REST>>
(R)RAREST |
Gayathri Viswanath |
| 37 A | Worm circling in say, occasionally free-flowing rain (10) | stormwater | E | ST((-w>)ORM(W<))ATE (-f)R(-e)E>> STORM WATER( E) | Adman_i |
| 38 A | Noted Oriental essence in altarpiece missing one end (10) | registered | O | R(E GIST)EREDO(-s) >>
REGISTERED(O) |
Venkatraghavan Sahasranaman |
| 40 A | Sister changed diaper by herself (8) | unpaired | N | NUN DIAPER* >>
(N)UNPAIRED |
Shashwat Sinai Salgaocar |
| 41 A | Fresh river from the east had finished barren (12) | impoverished | E | IMP(OVER)ISH EED<< >> IMPOVERISHE(E )D | Manish Misra |
| 42 A | Funny scent did follow hot affairs (9) | incidents | D | IN SCENT DID* >>
INCIDENTS (D) |
Nadika Nadja |
| 43 A | Managers on track ran blog differently breaking boundaries? (6, 5) | signal boxes | R | SI((-r)ANBLOG*)XES >>
SI(R )GNAL BOXES |
Tulika Das |
| 1 D | One complaining about new miss, strangely showing eccentricities (10) | mannerisms | O | MOA(N)NER MISS*>>
M(O)ANNERISMS |
Sohil Bhagat |
| 2 D | Emblazoned script oddly represented in awards for losing semi-finalists (6,6) | bronze medals | P | EMBLAZONED S(-c)R(-i)(P)(-t)*>>
BRONZE MEDALS(P) |
Abhay Phadnis |
| 3 D | Unwrap petals radiating beauty (6) | appeal | T | HIPS>>
APPE(T)AL |
Manish Jhaveri |
| 4 D | Tempered the “Tender Song Medley” (12) | strengthened | O | THETENDERSONG*>>
STRENGTHENED(O) |
Mona Sogal |
| 5 D | Reinstates old tyrant, heartless gesture is appalling (10) | restitutes | G | T..T GESTURE IS* >> RESTITUTES(G) | Bhalchandra Pasupathy |
| 6 D | Republican elder say, reflects over settlement for preparedness to tackle emergencies (3,5) | red alert | E | R E(DEAL)ERT<< >>
RED(E )ALERT |
SSv Avtaar |
| 7 D | Orders Chinese starter? It tasted awful (8) | dictates | T | C IT TASTED* >>
DICT(T)ATES |
Ganesh Raman |
| 8 D | Dance area hosted by Punjab hall roommates (8) | ballroom | H | HIPS >>
B(H)ALLROOM |
Maya Sharma |
| 9 D | Went back with children, carrying essential item for massage(4,6) | deep tissue | E | PEED<< (TE) ISSUE >>
DEEP T(E )ISSUE |
Supriya Mithal |
| 12 D | Follow heart, or die heart-broken sadly (6,2) | adhere to | R | HEART OR D(-i)E*>>
ADHERE TO ( R) |
Ramki Krishnan |
| 18 D | We last worked for scientist (5) | tesla | W | WELAST* >>
TESLA(W) |
Lakshmi Vaidyanathan |
| 23 D | Castaway actor’s online donation for celebration (12) | thanksgiving | E | T Hanks E GIVING >>
THANKS(E )GIVING |
Aashwina Mouli |
| 24 D | Football team from Nigerian territory (5) | inter | A | HIPS – IANTER >>
I(A)NTER |
Asuquo Sudokia |
| 25 D | Disheartened Hardy, shortly enters prison, buckling under high pressure (12) | hypertension | R | H(ard)Y ENTERS-S PRISON* >> HYPERTENSION( R) | Lakshmi Vaidyanathan |
| 27 D | Deputy in lounge meeting extremely unbearable resident (10) | lieutenant | E | LIE + U(nbearabl)E + TENANT >>
LIEU(E )TENANT |
Satyen Nabar |
| 28 D | Confident of international agency’s support garnered abroad (9) | unafraid | A | UN(AF(-a)R)AID >>
UNAFRAID (A) |
Sowmya Ramkumar |
| 29 D | Cell phone, until charged, keeps reminding basically (10) | neutrophil | N | PHONEUNTIL* around R>>
NEUTROPHIL (N) |
Ramki Krishnan |
| 31 D | Food item on counter team endlessly prepare in a mess (10) | disheveled | O | DISH ELEVE(-n)<< DO >>
DISHEVELED(O) |
Bhalchandra Pasupathy |
| 33 D | Wild mating crustaceans, rose clutching incisors on top (8) | barbaric | C | C(I)RAB CRAB<< >>
BAR(C)BARIC |
SSv Avtaar |
| 34 D | Staff covers struggle and editor gets honoured ( 8) | rewarded | E | RE(WAR)(-e)D ED>>
REWARDED (E ) |
Mona Sogal |
| 35 D | A diet NATO designed – it has curative properties (8) | antidote | A | A DIET NATO*>>
(A)ANTIDOTE |
Ganesh Raman |
| 39 D | For the most part, Great Lakes have a promenade (6) | stroll | N | Stron(-g) L L >>
STRO(N)LL |
Samit Kallianpur |
Here’s the list of Top Scorers (For the full list, please check the Leaderboard in the Hall of Fame)
Out of 49 solvers, 33 got the full score. Each of the following scored 300 points (Grid Score – 294, Bonus – 6).
Al Sanders
Anantakrishnan N.
Bhalchandra Pasupathy
Deepak Gopinath (Col.)
Harish Kamath
Himanshu Rajurkar
Ian VanderSchee
Koteswar Rao
Lakshmi Prakash
Madhup Tewari
Madhusudan H
Melissa McSeismal
Mona Sogal
Nagendra Prasad R.
Narayana Swamy D
Narayanan R
Nilesh Parmar
Prakash Arumugam
Ramesh Swaminathan
Ramki Krishnan
Ratna Rao
Samit Kallianpur
Sandhya Paruchuri
Satyen Nabar
Sohil Bhagat
Sparsh Sinha
Supriya Mithal
Tejas Siddharth
Tulika Das
Veera Raghavan
Venkatesan P.
Venkatraghavan S
Congrats to the toppers and to all the solvers who participated.
Grid Rating: The puzzle got a fabulous rating of 9.13. It got 19 perfect 10s (41% of those who rated). The lowest rating was 7.
Favorite Clues: The Top clues were
-
- How to make a top-tier wizard? (5,6) – 17 votes
– By Sowmya Ramkumar (Me)
-
- Special sort of land husbandry where ground ultimately gets cleared (5,3,4) – 13 votes
– By Nicholas Loader
-
- Sister changed diaper by herself (8) – 12 votes
– By Shashwat Sinai Salgaocar
-
- Cell phone, until charged, keeps reminding basically (10) – 11 votes
– By Ramki Krishnan
-
- Wild mating crustaceans, rose clutching incisors on top (8) – 8 votes
– By SSv Avtaar
WINNERS: I had announced that three special prizes (book or cash vouchers of INR 1000 each), will be awarded for the following:
1. First all correct entry
2. Lucky prize – for one person selected by lots from the all correct entries
3. Prize for the setter whose clue gets the most votes (if multiple setters poll the same votes, one will be chosen by lots)
Since my clue has won the prize for the setter, I have decided to give a lucky prize to one of the setters chosen randomly instead.
Here are the winners of the three prizes
First all correct entry – Ramki Krishnan (whose entry came in around 2 and a half hours after the puzzle was published)
Lucky Prize – Solver – Samit Kallianpur
Lucky Prize – Setter – Aashwina Mouli
Here is a special message from Lakshmi Vaidyanathan, my co-conspirator and co-founder of 1 Across.
When Sowmya asked me to create a jumbo grid for our blog anniversary, I decided to DEDICATE it to her with THANKSGIVING . Many of you may not know that when we were members of another FB group, she used to post clues using a pseudonym – Happy Rotter. (But I recognised her clues) . The nickname stuck and even now I sometimes call her Happy 😊. Happy Rotter is a derived version of “Harry Potter”, which I included in the grid as a HT to these precious memories. Thanks a lot Sowmya for running this blog 🙂
Thank you Lakshmi. I am touched by all your support and love and particularly proud of the number of 1ACrossers who started as casual solvers and have become professional setters over the years. May our tribe grow.
Here are the comments from our solvers on the puzzle
| Name | Comments / Feedback on the puzzle |
|---|---|
| Al Sanders | Lots of fun, great team effort! |
| Arun Hiregange | This is the first time I have come across a crossword like this with extra letters popping out of the clue. It was a lovely challenge. |
| Arvind Ramaswamy | Wow! Thoroughly enjoyed solving this one. Hats off to all the Setters, Grid Designer and Editor. Wonderful collaborative effort! Just WOW! Thank you so much. |
| Ian VanderSchee | Beautiful grid and brilliant mix of clues. I loved this so much! |
| Jose A | Quite challenging, still not sure of quite a few. But enjoyable as always. |
| Jyothish Balakrishnan | Top calibre mosaic of different styles. Congrats to each contributer. |
| Lakshmi Prakash | Fantastic combined effort for the tenth anniversary.Kudos to all the setters |
| Mona Sogal | Happy 10th Anniversary..Thank you Sowmya and Lakshmi for this delightful grid.. enjoyed every single clue.. Missing Ganesh Nayak a lot :(long live this community..group hug 🙂 |
| Narayana Swamy D | Very nice clues but quite tough ones…. |
| Rathnakumar V | Interesting Grid |
| Sandhya Paruchuri | Superb clues! Found it hard to pick just 3. |
| Shashwat Salgaocar | A tad too many anagrams, but that was to be expected when there are so many setters and especially with the nature of the gimmick. Smart use of “drawn from diverse sources” for eclectic. “tune you initially released abroad” – could have used a stronger anagram indicator. “Want iPod? We have a counter” – Great idea. Wish it could have been contained on both sides. “Republican elder say, reflects over settlement for preparedness to tackle emergencies (3,5)” – Loved the idea. Elder, say had me stumped for a while. Wish the def could’ve been tighter. Felt like there was a POS issue for me (I might be wrong). One of my favorite clues though”Cell phone” – Beautiful!. “Staff covers struggle and editor gets honoured (8)” – Loved the surface. Sad truth about the nature of war coverage. Felt the surface would’ve been 10/10 for me if there was a more war-like word (eg. conflict) used in place of struggle. “Special sort of land husbandry where ground ultimately gets cleared (5,3,4)” – Genius! My money’s on you for the win. “Sold stocks in advance around beginning of term, left with sad expression, unable to see the big picture (5-7)” – Great clue! The surface spoke to me, having been impatient in the market before 🙂 |
| Sparsh Sinha | Intense workout for the brain cells |
| Veera Raghavan | Fantastic grid. Many ‘aha’ moments when solutions drop in place. Great job setting the extra letters in the correct order to get the quote |
| Venkatesan P. | Excellent clues and wonderful concept befitting the grandeur of the 10th Anniversary. |
| Anantakrishnan N. | Excellent puzzle with the extra letter variation and great effort to coordinate with so many setters to great a nice grid. |
| Avtaar | Extremely enjoyable with good cryptic construction. All clues were solvable – not too challenging despite the extra letter. Minor quibble which is to be expected in community grids – a higher dose of anagrams than usual. |
| Debasmita Basu | Wonderful effort by team 1 across |
| Deepak Gopinath (Col.) | Great cluing and grid formation |
| Gayathri Subramanian | The puzzle was very interesting. Was quite the workout |
| Madhup Tewari | Beautiful puzzle! Put together some of the most beautiful minds. Thanks a lot. |
| Madhusudan H | A fitting puzzle for the 10th year anniversary, great grid and great enthusiasm from the entire team. |
| Nagendra Prasad R. | EXCELLENT, SUPERB, TEASING. SAT ON ONE CLUE FOR HOURS TO ANNOTATE. |
| Nilesh Parmar | X |
| Prakash Arumugam | A very challenging but enjoyable crossword. |
| Ramesh Swaminathan | Great compilation. Some excellent clues of good variety. By and large a smooth solve but ran into some challenges like 16A, 21A, 22A, 38A, 5D, 6D. Had to write down with annotations and find the extra letters! Clever bonus. A fitting NINA too. |
| Samit Kallianpur | Very good grid…good theme and team effort! Congratulations! |
| Sohil Bhagat | Wonderful puzzle. Lots of fun to solve. Very nice clues all around |
| Supriya Mithal | Enjoyable ,many wonderful clues in different styles. |
| Venkatraghavan S | Super grid. Great show Lakshmi V for putting this together, and to all the clue setters. Also to Sowmya for being the Superwoman |
| Ashit Hegde | As always in a community grid , the quality of clues was mixed . The additional letter in the wordplay made it more interesting. Had a good time solving |
| Harish Kamath | Nice |
| Koteswar Rao | QUITE ENJOYABLE |
| Loks Subrahmanyam | It was a good challenge to solve each clue with an additional letter in wordplay. Couldn’t annotate some clues properly. |
| Max Jackson | A few clues I didn’t fully understand, but a generally top quality. I’m not keen on the entry font. |
| Narayanan R | very nice Grid and superb effort by all the setters |
| Ramki Krishnan | Amazing set of clues, with many aha moments when discovering the letter to be deleted. |
| Tejas Siddharth | Not sure why L is extra in ASSASSIN. If L is extra in the CD wordplay, the CD doesn’t work. Also some clues have one word that point to a certain letter, and that letter is the superfluous letter, such as e = online in THANKSGIVING. Neither ‘e’ nor ‘online’ are required for the clue to work, if the nitpick makes sense. Otherwise enjoyable. |
| Bhalchandra Pasupathy | Good fun, varying styles, quite a few anagrams (expected) and many a clue that had me scratching my head |
Special Messages celebrating the milestone
| Name | Message for 1Across admins for the 10 year celebration |
|---|---|
| Al Sanders | Congratulations on reaching such a big milestone! |
| Arun Hiregange | Wow! I can’t even imagine the level of imagination needed to create such a crossword. |
| Arvind Ramaswamy | Happy 10th Birthday To 1Across! |
| Himanshu Rajurkar | Congratulations to all |
| Ian VanderSchee | Thank you for 10 years of challenging entertainment. |
| Jose A | 1 across but 10 down, hopefully many more to go! |
| Jyothish Balakrishnan | Long live 1Across. Thanks to admins for creating a springboard for cultivating and nuturing topclass setters and making life meaningful for the solvers. |
| Lakshmi Prakash | A big thank you to all admins for this continuous effort to keep us all engaged and entertained by these wonderful grids for so many years.. |
| Mona Sogal | Thank you Sowmya and all the admins for nurturing this community… may we see more and more puzzles and grids in the times to come..take care! |
| Narayana Swamy D | Wishing you all the best for continued setting of grids with excellent clues |
| Ranjani Srikanth | great work |
| Rathnakumar V | Well done keep going |
| Ratna Rao | Congratulations 👏👏 Truly a great achievement |
| Sandhya Paruchuri | Hearty congratulations Sowmya and team! |
| Shashwat Salgaocar | Wow, it’s been 10 years already?! Kudos to the admins, setters, and solvers for fostering a community all these years and consistently delivering high quality content on what is an otherwise niche hobby! Always cheering for 1AC 🙂 |
| Sparsh Sinha | Congratulations to the admins on 10 years. Let’s keep the puzzles flowing. Super fun and I’m always looking forward to it. |
| Tulika Das | Heartiest congratulations 🥳 🎆 Keep it up!!! |
| Veera Raghavan | Congrats for keeping up the amazing job of running the blog. Happy to be associated with the community. Wishing many years more of setting and solving |
| Venkatesan P. | My best wishes to the Admin & the group members. Let the group grow bigger. I would like to see many more celebrations in the years to come. |
| Anantakrishnan N. | Congratulations, great going! |
| Avtaar | Happy 10th to all of us. Looking forward to 15th |
| Debasmita Basu | It’s been a fun journey |
| Deepak Gopinath (Col.) | Happy Anniversary and keep it going |
| Gayathri Subramanian | Happy Anniversary!! Looking forward to many more decades!! |
| Madhup Tewari | Please continue the great work. World would be a worse place without you. |
| Madhusudan H | Congratulations on the 10th year anniversary. Good luck for many more decades … |
| Nagendra Prasad R. | WISHING MANY MORE ANNIVERSARIES TO COME. THANKS FOR KEEPING THE BRAIN CELLS TICKLING. |
| Nilesh Parmar | Congratulations and thanks for all the grids over the years |
| Prakash Arumugam | A huge thank you for keeping my passion for cryptic crosswords alive |
| Ramesh Swaminathan | Well done 1ACROSS. Look forward to many more anniversaries. |
| Rengaswamy N. | Happy 10th Anniversary, 1Across! May the clues be ever in your favor (and just a tad easier, please?) |
| Samit Kallianpur | Congratulations and more strength to you! |
| Sohil Bhagat | Congratulations on reaching the 10-year milestone! I can honestly say that 1ac rekindled my interest in solving cryptic crosswords after a hiatus of over a decade. My current regularity and improved skills in crossword solving are largely thanks to 1ac. Please continue this fantastic work! |
| Supriya Mithal | Congratulations on the milestone, thank you for all the effort in making this a fun and meaningful group . Here’s to another 10 years of growth and friendship. |
| Venkatraghavan S | Have fun, and let us continue this amazing journey |
| Ashit Hegde | Thank you for all the fun and excitement you’ll have added to my otherwise boring life. |
| Harish Kamath | Congratulations! |
| Koteswar Rao | HAPPY ANNIVERSARY |
| Loks Subrahmanyam | Congratulations on the ten years anniversary milestone! |
| Max Jackson | Well done, thank you, and keep up the good work. |
| Narayanan R | It’s been a wonderful decade of “knowledge and entertainment” for me – thanks to 1Across admins for the excellent work & coordination. |
| Ramki Krishnan | Here is to the next 10 years and more! |
| Satyen Nabar | Thanks a lot! May the coming decade be as enjoyable. My best wishes. |
| Tejas Siddharth | Congrats! Waiting for the second 10 year mark 🙂 |
| Bhalchandra Pasupathy | What next? |