“Let’s Pray” by Smasher was our seventh grid for 2026. 

Stats: 58 solvers attempted this puzzle.  39 solvers managed to complete the puzzle and 38 complered the bonus forms as well. As many as 20 solvers got the full score.

Try the puzzle here (Annotations will be visible on solving the puzzle or on clicking “Reveal Grid”)

NOTE: As the puzzle was originally published in non-contest mode inadvertently, the scores will not count for the 2026 leaderboard. 

Bonus Questions: 1-5. Any 5 of the twelve themed entries in this grid

Logged in solvers can check their submission Here:

Logged in users can also view their submissions in this page.

Out of 58 solvers,  39 completed and submitted the grid and 38 completed the bonus forms, of which 20 got the full score.

Although not counted for the leaderboard, each of the following scored 157 points (Grid Score – 152,  Bonus – 5).

Ashit Hegde
Himanshu Rajurkar
Lakshmi A J Vaidyanathan
Lakshmi Prakash
Mona Sogal
D Narayana Swamy
Nilesh Parmar
Prakash Arumugam
Ramachandra Nagendra Prasad
Ramki Krishnan
Ratna Rao
Samit Kallianpur
Samraat Saxena
Sandhya Paruchuri
Arun Hiregange
Krittibas Dasgupta
paulhenderson991700421
Shobha Nayak
P. Venkatesan
Venkatraghavan S

Congrats to the toppers and to all the solvers who participated.

Grid Rating: The puzzle got a great rating of 8.6. It was rated a perfect 10 by 9 out of the 38 folks who voted (24%). The lowest rating was 6.

Favourite Clues:  The Top clues were

1. 26A. Teacher and lawyer interrupted by conflict in place of worship (9) – 10 votes
2. 2D. Cage trapping grand vultures initially fleeing house of fire (6) – 8 votes
3. 6D. Hands are almost shaking in divine view (7) – 7 votes
4. 1A. Reaching out to those gone from new church by the coastline (6) 7 votes

Thanks Smasher for an interesting grid with a closely integrated theme. The solvers ratings and the comments in the thread below