Stats: The puzzle page was loaded 679 times. 59 visitors had a go at it. 40 solvers completed the puzzle, of which 2 did not complete the bonus form. The remaining solved it partly. Only 18 solvers got the full score.
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Here is the solution grid:
Annotations
| Ref. | Clue | Answer | Annotation |
| 1A | Lot of difficult times following the onset of Kalyuga? (6) | KISMET | K + ismet*. |
| 4A | Unhappy about everyone entering this city (6) | DALLAS | D(all)as< |
| 9A | Basically combine yellow and navy blue (4) | CYAN | Acrostic. |
| 10A | Opportunity, perhaps, to ruin and drag one’s name through the mud (4,6) | MARS LANDER | Mar + Slander |
| 11A | Feels ‘chosen’, as he is getting 50% off on everything (6) | SENSES | (-cho)Sen (-a)s (-h)e (-i)s |
| 12A | Many labs hold mice essentially injected with a type of steroid (8) | ANABOLIC | (-M)an(-y) (-l)ab(-s) (-s)ol(-d) (-m)ic(-e) |
| 13A | Monkeys cycling regularly in Soho and Turkey (9) | STINKEROO | (+s)Tinker(-s) oo. |
| 15A | Dinner’s announced? Lovely! (4) | BELL | HP of belle = bell. |
| 16A | Cut out or edit content (4) | TORE | Hidden in ou(T OR E)dit. |
| 17A | Seat adjusted a couple of times to finally provide comfort (3,2,4) | SET AT EASE | [Set a]* [teas]* + e. ‘S (anagrammed twice) |
| 21A | Uber it back and basically eat out (4,1,3) | TAKE A CAB | (Back + a + eat)* |
| 22A | Respond to a rag primarily featuring fake news (6) | ANSWER | A (news)* r |
| 24A | I’m extremely sure – cleric manipulated figure (10) | SEMICIRCLE | [I’m s(-ur)e cleric]* |
| 25A | Samit sat back, drinking booze (4) | ASTI | sam(IT SA)t<< Rev T |
| 26A | Opts for red wines? (6) | PINOTS | ‘Opts’ = P in ots |
| 27A | Using keyboard, enter link – secure, reportedly (4,2) | TYPE IN | HP of tie + pin |
| 1D | The Reverend’s most vulnerable, in this place in the US (3,4) | KEY WEST | Spoonerism of Weakest = Key West |
| 2D | Files obtained from Swiss banks (5) | SANDS | S and S. Banks of Swiss = s and s |
| 3D | Some roles, Sam Neill rejected altogether (2,5) | EN MASSE | Rev tel.[rol(ES SAM NE)ill<<] |
| 5, 23D | Ten lacs can give you everything you need for a fresh start (1,5,5) | A CLEAN SLATE | Letter bank of ‘Ten lacs’ |
| 6D | Spooner’s outstanding invention becomes a tourist attraction (6,3) | LONDON EYE | Spoonerism of Undone lie |
| 7D | Boxer cycles after training pecs, to get better than the rest (7) | SPECIAL | [Spec* (+i)Al(-i)] |
| 8D | How to make bank CEOs work hard? (5,4,4) | BREAK ONES BACK | RA. Bank CEOs |
| 14D | Ignore wife for the most part, and change subject (9) | NORWEGIAN | [Ignore w an(-d)]* |
| 16D | Switch to something that’s better rated? (5,2) | TRADE UP | RA. Rated* |
| 18D | Came a day, sadly, when one had to leave school (7) | ACADEMY | [Came a d(-a)y]* |
| 19D | Story is gathering support from the south, honey (7) | SWEETEN | Ne(tee)ws<< |
| 20D | Project is done, with these lines, Joe! (6) | SCRIPT | Composite anagram. [Project is]* = [script + Joe]* |
Here’s the list of Top Scorers (For the full list, please check the Leaderboard in the Hall of Fame)
Out of 40 solvers, 18 got the full score. Each of the following scored 149 points (Grid Score – 149, No Bonus).
Anantakrishnan N.
Ashit Hegde
Deepak Gopinath (Col.)
Harish Kamath
Himanshu Rajurkar
Lakshmi Prakash
Lakshmi Vaidyanathan
Melissa McSeismal
Mohit Kallianpur
Mona Sogal
Nagendra Prasad R.
Nilesh Parmar
Ramesh Swaminathan
Ratna Rao
Samraat Saxena
Veera Raghavan
Venkatraghavan S
Viraj Divecha
Congrats to the toppers and to all the solvers who participated.
Grid Rating: The puzzle got a fantastic rating of 8.71. It got 12 perfect 10s (32% of those who rated). The lowest rating was 5.
Favorite Clues: The Top clues were
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- Lot of difficult times following the onset of Kalyuga? (6) – 11 votes
- Many labs hold mice essentially injected with a type of steroid (8) – 9 votes
- Feels ‘chosen’, as he is getting 50% off on everything (6) – 7 votes
- Monkeys cycling regularly in Soho and Turkey (9) – 7 votes
- Uber it back and basically eat out (4,1,3) – 7 votes
- How to make bank CEOs work hard? (5,4,4) – 7 votes
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Thanks Gridzilla for a cracking puzzle encompassing a variety of clue types handled proficiently. A lot of hard work had gone into creating and perfecting each clue over days. Glad it has received a good response and feedback. Looking forward to more puzzles from you.
Our next grid is “Raising The Bar” from Bingo – and trust me..he has upped the game with this one. It is coming your way tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Here’s what our solvers said..
| Name | Comments / Feedback on the puzzle |
|---|---|
| Anantakrishnan N. | Excellent grid with lovely surfaces |
| Lakshmi Prakash | Very nice grid |
| Jose A | Quite tough 🙂 Not at all sure of many of the answers even after submitting. But enjoyed it. |
| Bhalchandra Pasupathy | Good workout. Found it difficult to annotate quite a few, relied a bit on guesswork |
| Mukundala Balasubramanyam | Nice grid laced with lovely clues |
| Sandhya Paruchuri | Brain teaser! |
| Jyothish Balakrishnan | Beautiful but devious! |
| Harish Kamath | Excellent grid! Breezy and entertaining. 12a 26a 14d 18d my favourites. Thoroughly enjoyed solving! |
| Lakshmi Vaidyanathan | Nice puzzle . |
| Nagendra Prasad R. | Many good clues |
| Ramesh Swaminathan | Superb. Two spooners, cycling clues, RA, CA, LB and a wide variety of delightful clues. Enjoyed it. Great effort. |
| Veera Raghavan | Very nice grid. Good clues. A bit of doubt in 13A about the definition |
| Venkatraghavan S | Super set of clues |
| Al Sanders | Some fun clues |
| Madhup Tewari | Lovely clues in this extremely enjoyable puzzle. |
| Rathnakumar V | no comments |
| Ashit Hegde | Some good surfaces mixed with some average ones |
| Mona Sogal | Innovative grid..enjoyed solving :)Spoonerism (if my answer is right!) was difficult to anno….keep it up!! |
| Viraj Divecha | Loved the grid! Great clues with smooth surfaces. |
| Ramki Krishnan | Very nice puzzle. Too many favourites to pick 3!But personally I’m not a big fan of rebus-type clues 26A 🙁 |
| Madhusudan H | Nice puzzle with good wordplay. Was able to annotate all except one |
| Venkatesan P. | Lovely grid. Some tricky clues. Enjoyed. |
| Arun Hiregange | I liked many clues which were a bit different and not anagrams e.g. anabolic with central letters, “seat adjusted a couple of times” was also such a delightful clue. |
| Narayana Swamy D | Nice clues and enjoyable |
| Koteswar Rao | GOOD ONE |
| Sri K | Nice overall. Some clues can be cleaner |
| Max Jackson | Completely made up answer to 13ac, and a few others doubtful. Some convoluted clues. |
| Narayanan R | Good grid |