“Across the Universe” by Ambrosia was our ninth grid for 2026.

Stats: 58 solvers attempted this puzzle.  45 solvers managed to complete the puzzle and the bonus forms as well. As many as 24 solvers got the full score.

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

Bonus Questions: 1-4. Any four of the nine themed words in the grid

5. Theme word associated with Sting

Logged in solvers can check their submission Here:

Here’s the list of Top Scorers (For the full list, please check the Leaderboard in the Hall of Fame)

Out of 58 solvers,  45 completed and submitted the grid and bonus forms, of which 24 got the full score. Each of the following scored 149 points (Grid Score – 144,  Bonus – 5).

Aashwina Mouli
Amita Annette Joseph
Arun Hiregange
Devi Prasad
Harish T.K.
Himanshu Rajurkar
Ian J VanderSchee
Krittibas Dasgupta
Lakshmi Prakash
Madhup Tewari
Max Jackson
Mona Sogal
Mukundala Balasubramanyam
NARAYANAN R
Panyam Tejas
Ramachandra Nagendra Prasad
Ramesh Ss
Ramki Krishnan
Ratnakumar V
Samit Kallianpur
Samraat Saxena
Shobha Nayak
Steve Gunter
Venkatraghavan S

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

Grid Rating: The puzzle got a good rating of 8.4. It was rated a perfect 10 by 5 out of the 45 folks who voted (11%). The lowest rating was 6.

Favourite Clues:  The Top clues were

1. 13D.A myth – having car within budget (10) – 15 votes
2. 8A.Dirty girl, scratching bottom made a bloomer (8) – 9 votes
3. 21A.Tackle software bug (8) – 8 votes
4. 2D.Part of Science Department\’s grant (4) – 7 votes
5. 11A.Fellow worker walked in front getting pushed (10) – 7 votes
6. 23A.Taking a turn, newbie circles street in city (6) – 7 votes
7. 24A.Disposed cereal cans in sales (10) – 7 votes
8. 3D.Skin turning crimson on snubbed young lady (6) – 7 votes

Thanks Ambrosia. Such a fun theme and great clues with fab surfaces. Enjoyed it thoroughly. The solvers ratings and the comments in the thread below