Stats The puzzle page was loaded over 955 times. 86 visitors had a go at it and 55 solvers managed to complete and submit both the puzzle and bonus forms. Of those who submitted, only 15 managed to get the full score.
Ladies First<<< Click Here for the Puzzle Post
Here is the solution grid:
The theme words are highlighted in the grid.
BONUS QUESTIONS:
1-6: 6 themed entries hinted by the title of the grid (A) ANS: Any 6 of the following answers were accepted.
Aretha Franklin: In 1987, she became the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Junko Tabei: In 1975, she became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
Amelia Earhart: In 1932, she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
Marie Curie: She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and remains the only person to have won Nobel Prizes in two different scientific fields—Physics (1903) and Chemistry (1911).
Kamala Harris: In 2021, she became the first female, first Black, and first South Asian Vice President of the United States.
Indira Gandhi was the first and, to date, the only female Prime Minister of India, the largest democracy.
Although not in my original list, we have also accepted the following two
Lata Mangeshkar – the first woman in the film industry to win a Bharat Ratna and Dadasaheb Phalke award
Gaga (Lady) – the first woman to win an Academy, BAFTA, Grammy and Golden Globe award in one single year in 2018
7: Jumble the circled letters in the puzzle to arrive either ways at a potential introduction to a First Lady (5,2,4)ANS: – MADAM, I’M ADAM
Annotations
Editor & Co-ordinator: Qrypt on Y X
|
Ref. |
Clue |
Answer |
Annotation |
Setter |
|
1A |
A heartthrob, liberal backing sincere, popular singer (6, 8) |
ARETHA FRANKLIN (6, 8) |
A+RETHA* FRANK+L+IN ; def: singer |
Lakshmi |
|
8A |
Desert tree regularly caught in stream (6) |
REJECT (6) |
RE+JE(C)T ; def: desert |
Debasmita |
|
11A |
Returning citrus fruit and fork, Richard Child hosts popular poet (5, 9) |
EMILY DICKINSON (5, 9) |
LIME<<+Y+DICK(IN)SON ; def: poet |
Stella |
|
12A |
Loud and independent Henry needing no introduction, dressed in glad rags (6) |
FINERY (6) |
F+I+(-h)ENRY* ; def: glad rags |
Amrita |
|
13A |
Very chilly region described in letters from vice captain (3, 3) |
ICE CAP (3, 3) |
[T] ; def: very chilly region |
Bharati |
|
15A |
Drunk beer..love taking a small breather! (6) |
AEROBE (6) |
BEER+O+A* ; def: small breather |
Gayathri |
|
20A |
The hearts of great matchmaking women galvanise matchmaker in novel (4) |
EMMA (4) |
middle letter acrostic ; def: matchmaker in novel |
Claire |
|
22A |
Beginners in advanced crosswords, ideally diplomatic sorts, or sour and corrosive things! (5) |
ACIDS (5) |
Acrostic ; def: sour and corrosive things |
Juhi |
|
23A |
Sheer drop ! Epic price ! Amazing (9) |
PRECIPICE (9) |
EPICPRICE* ; def: sheer drop |
Aashwina |
|
25A |
Career? She endlessly juggled study and exploration (8) |
RESEARCH (8) |
CAREERSH(-e)* ; def: study and exploration |
Claire |
|
26A |
Joy in Rajasthan’s top Craft Association (12) |
RELATIONSHIP (12) |
R(ELATION)SHIP ; def: association |
Bharati |
|
29A |
Typical claim takes a lifetime (7) |
AVERAGE (7) |
AVER+AGE ; def: typical |
Rhiannon |
|
30A + 10D |
Work involving experiments in radioactive chemistry, primarily radium and uranium, occupied me (5, 5) |
MARIE CURIE (5, 5) |
M(IEIRC+RA+U)*E ; &lit |
QryptOnYX |
|
31A |
Revolutionary running riot in a new city (7) |
CHENNAI (7) |
CHE+INAN*=CHENNAI ; def: city |
Mona |
|
33A |
Using a computer let me mostly pay off a person working from home (12) |
TELECOMMUTER (12) |
(A COMPUTER LET ME)* – PA(-y) ; def: a person working from home |
Neelima |
|
35A |
Filled with regret, wayward butler, for the most part, becomes devout (4, 4) |
TRUE BLUE (4, 4) |
{T(RUE)BLUE-r}* ; def: devout |
Supriya |
|
36A |
Tales of code set in stakes (9) |
ANECDOTES (9) |
AN(CODE*)TES ; def: tales |
Maya |
|
37A |
Film criminal case, involving top lout (5) |
SCALE (5) |
SCA(L)E* ; def: film |
Viraj |
|
39A |
Alternative to Uber? Get ready to fly (4) |
TAXI (4) |
DD |
Debbie |
|
42A + 41D |
Chaos in Kashmir! Alarm around a missing male politician (6, 6) |
KAMALA HARRIS (6, 6) |
KASHMIRALARM*+A-m ; def: politician |
Camelia |
|
45A |
Shy away from shoddy quality – no thank you! (5) |
QUAIL (5) |
(QUALITY-ty)* ; def: shy away |
Heidi |
|
50A + 46 A |
This stateswoman and amazing Indian had daring (6, 6) |
INDIRA GANDHI (6, 6) |
CA ; (INDIRA GANDHI+AND)*=(INDIAN+HAD+DARING)* ; def: this stateswoman |
Mona |
|
51A |
He draws with chalks making naive attempts to capture essence of sunrise (8, 6) |
PAVEMENT ARTIST (8, 6) |
NAIVEATTEMPTS* + R ; def: he draws with chalks |
Debasmita |
|
52A |
Equipment X could be a result of queening (6) |
KITTEN (6) |
KIT+TEN ; def: a result of queening |
Phoenix |
|
53A |
Short story about a girl captivating many — mostly transforming her as ultimate playback singer (4,10) |
LATA MANGESHKAR (4, 10) |
TAL(-e)<< A(MAN(-y)G HER AS K*; def: singer. |
Sowmya |
|
1D |
Pilot in the morning at her aerial maneuvers (6, 7) |
AMELIA EARHART (6, 7) |
AM+ATHERAERIAL* ; def: pilot |
Heidi |
|
2D |
Without a bit of work, pep up, turn around online publication (5) |
EZINE (5) |
EN[-erg]IZE<< ; def: online publication |
Janet |
|
3D |
Prime time follows exuberant call (6) |
HEYDAY (6) |
HEY+DAY ; def: prime |
Bharati |
|
4D |
Sitting in the sofa I remain OK (4) |
FAIR (4) |
[T] ; def: OK |
Debbie |
|
5D |
Inconvenient presentation about walkingstick’s tips (7) |
AWKWARD (7) |
A(WK)WARD ; def: inconvenient |
Rhiannon |
|
6D |
Baby sitter donating money for thousand children in Germany (6) |
KINDER (6) |
(-m+K)INDER ; def: children in Germany (German for children) |
Aashwina |
|
7D |
Beginning to inscribe details on Lady’s statue (4) |
IDOL (4) |
Acrostic ; def: statue |
Maya |
|
8D |
It’s a small matter, start off and search quickly (5) |
RIFLE (5) |
(-t)RIFLE ; def: search quickly |
Juhi |
|
9D + 14A |
Take uni job to develop individual who scaled great heights (5, 5) |
JUNKO TABEI (5, 5) |
(TAKE+UNI+JOB)* ; def: individual who scaled great heights |
Rachel |
|
15D |
Fired adult arranging critical care around cold location of Santa’s workshop (6, 6) |
ARCTIC CIRCLE (6, 6) |
{(CRITICAL CARE)* – a} around C ; def: location of Santa’s workshop |
Amrita |
|
16D |
At the end, lover to pine badly and become mature (5) |
RIPEN (5) |
R+PINE* ; def: mature |
Juhi |
|
17D |
Drunken revelry in China, a cabal dancing (11) |
BACCHANALIA (11) |
CHINAACABAL* ; def: drunken revelry |
Rhiannon |
|
18D |
Most American coeds ordered this dessert (3-5, 4) |
ICE-CREAM SODA (3-5, 4) |
{AMERICA(-n)+COEDS}* ; def: this dessert |
Supriya |
|
19D |
Little-known dog passes endless wind after a bit of rawhide (6) |
ARCANE (6) |
A+R+CANINE-IN ; def: little-known |
Guinevere |
|
21D |
Perverse plan involves insane dungeon and an assortment of items! (11) |
MISCELLANEA (11) |
MI{S(CELL)ANE}A<< ; def: an assortment of items |
Guinevere |
|
24D |
Language or jargon amazingly versatile, aids beginners (4) |
JAVA (4) |
Acrostic ; def: language (computer) |
Supriya |
|
27D |
Haunting energy on surface of lake (5) |
EERIE (5) |
E+ERIE ; def: haunting |
Guinevere |
|
28D |
May once immerse in trip at sea (5, 8) |
PRIME MINISTER (5, 8) |
(IMMERSE IN TRIP)*; def: “May, once” for Theresa May |
Debbie |
|
30D |
Attacked man accepting union with daughter (6) |
MAULED (6) |
MA(U)LE+D ; def: attacked |
Debasmita |
|
32D |
Too exciting! Very encouraging news basically (4) |
EVEN (4) |
Acrostic ; def: too |
Viraj |
|
34D |
Dummy keeps a disc in hot drink! (5) |
COCOA (5) |
(DODO – dd + CC) + A ; def: hot drink |
Janet |
|
38D |
Fancy I am in Switzerland having a great time (7) |
CHIMERA (7) |
CH(IM)ERA ; def: fancy |
QryptOnYX |
|
40D |
Archimedes’ exclamation every second really suggested bragging, despite skills mathematically (6) |
EUREKA (6) |
second letter acrostic ; def: Archimedes’ exclamation |
Claire |
|
42D |
Basically kiwi and nectarine juice infused fermented drink (5) |
KANJI (5) |
Acrostic; def: fermented drink |
Mona |
|
43D |
Humid fog covering the top of Oslo (5) |
MOIST (5) |
M(O)IST ; def: humid |
Amrita |
|
44D |
Pick up student cycling close by (5) |
LEARN (5) |
L+>NEAR< ; def: pick up |
Aashwina |
|
47D |
NRI confused between 500 and 1000 after booze (5) |
DRINK (5) |
D(RIN*)K ; def: booze |
Gayathri |
|
48D |
Silence a lady crooning “Born This Way” (4) |
GAGA (4) |
GAG | A ; def: lady crooning ‘Born this way’ |
Neelima |
|
49D |
All men settle in time? Quite the contrary (4) |
STAG (4) |
S(T)AG rev. ; def: all men |
Camelia |
Here’s the list of the Top Scorers.
These participants got the full score of 309 (301 for the grid + 8 bonus points) (For the full list, please check the Leaderboard in the Hall of Fame)
Anantakrishnan N.
Bhalchandra Pasupathy
Ian VanderSchee
Jyothish Balakrishnan
Lakshmi Prakash
Madhup Tewari
Max Jackson
Nagendra Prasad R.
Narayanan R
Nilesh Parmar
Ramki Krishnan
Ratna Rao
Samraat Saxena
Sohil Bhagat
Venkatraghavan S .
Congrats to the toppers and to all the solvers who participated.
Grid Rating: The puzzle got an excellent score of 8.75. It got 18 perfect 10s (33% of those who rated). The lowest score was 6.
Favorite Clues: The Top clues were
- Janet Lazar: Without a bit of work, pep up, turn around online publication (5) – 9 votes
- Claire Louise Clark: Career? She endlessly juggled study and exploration (8) – 8 votes
- Sowmya Ramkumar: Short story about a girl captivating many — mostly transforming her as ultimate playback singer (4,10) – 8 votes
- Mona Sogal:This stateswoman and amazing Indian had daring (6, 6) – 8 votes
- Debbie Manber Kupfer: May once immerse in trip at sea (5, 8) – 8 votes
- Qrypt On Y X: Work involving experiments in radioactive chemistry, primarily radium and uranium, occupied me (5, 5) – 7 votes
- Camelia Oberoi: Chaos in Kashmir! Alarm around a missing male politician (6, 6) – 7 votes
It has become a tradition at 1Across to have a wonderful community grid celebrating women for every Women’s day. I am always amazed that although we are under-represented in cryptic crosswords, we still manage to have so many setters come together for this common cause. Thanks to each of the setters who participated, to Qrypt on Y X who put this together tirelessly coordinating with 20 plus setters on over 50 clues and to all the solvers for the encouraging feedback.
Here’s what our solvers said.
| Name | Comments / Feedback on the puzzle |
|---|---|
| Al Sanders | Impressive consistency, quality and theme density for such a large puzzle |
| Krittibas Dasgupta | Lovely grid, so many good clues it was hard to pick 3. Cant think of a better way to celebrate IWD than a collaborative grid by awesome women setters. |
| Ian VanderSchee | Wonderful grid for International Women’s Day! |
| Jyothish Balakrishnan | A delightful smorgasbord of clues by the women meshed beautifully. A fitting tribute on Women’s Day for the breakers of the glass ceiling. |
| Mona Sogal | Great collaboration…the variety was amazing…happy women’s DAYS to all 🥰 |
| Mukundala Balasubramanyam | Enjoyable women’s special |
| Sandhya Paruchuri | Excellent puzzle, ladies! It was very tough to select only 3 favourite clues! |
| Usha Dronamraju | Love the theme and the creative clues! Congrats to all the setters |
| Steve Gunter | As the self-proclaimed “Man from the Planet Palindromeda”, any puzzle that culminates in one deserves a perfect 10 ! |
| Veera Raghavan | Excellent work. Nice clues |
| Rathnakumar V | Very good team work , kudos to all setters, |
| Lakshmi Prakash | Lovely grid |
| Gita Iyer | love the theme |
| Venkatesan P. | Kudos to all the ladies who accomplished this task nicely. |
| Venkatraghavan S | Superb giant puzzle from the ladies. Good workout, great gridfill and some lovely clues there |
| Samit Kallianpur | Great grid, with an awesome theme! Happy women’s day! |
| Lakshmi Vaidyanathan | Nice puzzle for Women’s day ! |
| Narayanan R | real “Nari shakthi” displayed in this Grid |
| Nagendra Prasad R. | Nice tribute to all the ladies. |
| Jez Lundstrom | Some really great wordplay to be found here – I greatly enjoyed the parsing of the longer entries. |
| Anantakrishnan N. | Wonderful puzzle with many great clues. |
| sampath2009 | It is a well constructed grid with quality clues, with a good mix of diverse cryptic clue types. |
| Arun Hiregange | Very enjoyable |
| Max Jackson | Is it necessary to pick the correct six names? |
| Prakash Arumugam | Well crafted puzzle. Nice way to celebrate Women’s Day |
| Madhup Tewari | Beautiful puzzle with great clues. |
| Ramki Krishnan | Great team effort in putting together this grid. Kudos to all the setters. Could get the second bonus question even without completing the grid! |
| Aashwina Mouli | Very nice effort ! |
| Madhusudan H | Enjoyed solving this collaborative puzzle. Happy Women’s day |
| Ramesh Swaminathan | Great effort a jumbo with such special grid entries. Well done. |
| Sparsh Sinha | Some really good anagrams |
| Sohil Bhagat | Belated wishes on women’s day to all the setters! This was a fun grid. Enjoyed deducing the famous people from the clues. I feel the 6 themed answers is probably ambiguous since I found more answers for which there’s a potential reason for inclusion. As for the clues, loved 28D above all. Not a fan of the device used in 1A. 2D is wicked hard. Couldn’t parse 21D but I’m quite sure of the answer |
| Q. Pheevr | An impressive number of long themed entries, smoothly incorporated into the grid. And an impressive collaborative effort! |
| Ashit Hegde | Several great clues many good clues and only a few average clues. Great job. |
| Harish Kamath | Grid was ok. Was expecting some more inspired cluing considering the theme. 4d and 38d 😔 |
| Supriya Mithal | Lovely theme and concept , happy to be a part of this annual grid. And to solve so many wonderful clues from so many great setters. More power to us all. |
| Claire Clark | Some beautifully constructed clues and a most enjoyable puzzle. |
| Paul Henderson | Eight female names, six thematic ‘Ladies First’ – but seven have firsts to their name, so who is to be discarded? (Dickinson, one can surmise, is more ‘foremost’ than ‘first’ in the required interpretation…). Hope I’ve chosen right. |
| Arvind Ramaswamy | Wonderful collaborative effort by these wonderful women! Nice and simple clues. Could not anno 2-3 clues so not sure if I got it all correct. |
| Koteswar Rao | GREAT PUZZLE !!! |
| Bhalchandra Pasupathy | Nice and a lovely tribute |
| Narayana Swamy D | Nice clues and interesting subject |
Private Comments
| Comments / Feedback on the puzzle |
|---|
| Wonderful grid |
| Always look forward to this ladies’ special |
| SUPERB |
| Enjoyed, as always. |
| Nice theme, smooth clues |
| Very Interesting. Great variety of clues. |
| Great Themed puzzle |
| Good puzzle. Hats off to all the women involved. |
| Good one |
| It was interesting to learn about Junko Tabei, and playback singers (which I’d never heard of before). Thanks. I do not understand 34, still cannot parse it. |
| Interesting grid |
| Not sure which of the ladies make the sixth cut to the theme, assuming the theme is ladies who were first in a particular field. I thought some of the surfaces were haphazard, clues too long and confusing to read, but there were some really good ones in there too. |
| Some cryptic grammar could be improved |