Stats -The puzzle was pretty tough and though we had nearly 300 page views, we received only 6 submissions, from the following people..

1. Bhalchandra Pasupathy

2. Kishore Rao

3. Ratnakar Sonthi

4. Venkatraghavan Sahasranaman

5. Samurai Pony (Mona Sogal + Supriya Mithal)

6. Viresh Ratnakar

In addition, to the above we also got a last minute submission from

Anirudh Sahni who managed to complete the grid in record time despite starting late. Although he wasn’t able to complete and send the full solutions before the deadline, the effort is appreciated by us.

Here’s the Solution grid

The message obtained by rearranging the letters in the purple square was “TOIL AND BE STRONG”

Here are the Annotations.

1 Fringe novel edges around East Las Vegas (8)

S(ELV)EDGE, EDGES*, novel = *, fringe = def..

2 Giant Jobs Company’s east-coast location (8, two words)

Giant = BIG, Jobs Company = APPLE, east-coast location = def..

3 I, accompanied by Tritons, played music for the masses to begin with (8)

I + TRITONS*, played = *

4 Remarkable guide all but gave us Burns’ address finally (8, two words))

Remarkable = UNCO, (GUID –e (all but)), = moral, ref. Burns’ ‘Address to the Unco Guid’.

5 A frog, perhaps René, returned first, in a hurry (8)

Frog (fastener type), René returned = ENER, first in a hurry = FAST

6 Seize stoned sailor (8)

Seize = def., stoned = high, jack = sailor

7 In Rome I strip away bouts of self-indulgent activity (8, two words)

In Rome I = EGO, I STRIP*, away = *

8 Couple on board she described earlier, for a fellow traveller (8)

On board she = SHIP, Couple = MATE

a Cry at model’s apearance (5)

Sigh + T; appearance = def..

b Donald loses heart for love crush (5)

TRUMP – U + O

(c) Pirate’s revolutionary tales (5)

(TALES)*

d Some chieftain that Cain’s entertaining could be a fence supplier (5)

c(HIEFT)*ain

(e) Dreadful Lagos porridge is served here (5)

(LAGOS)*

(f) It’s vanilla. honest! (5)

DD

(g) Academic lot had concealed this material (5)

Telescopic, def. material

(h) ‘Dance around, old Etonian!’ soldier suggested (5, two words)

(JIG< + OE)*, soldier = def.. (N.B. OE for Old Etonian is supported by the OED)

(i) Boorish Ozzie topped back knee joint with little hesitation (5)

Boorish Ozzie = def., top (-H)OCK = back knee joint + ER
(j) Congress meeting in the pipeline (5)

DD: congress, meeting in the pipeline

(k) A scholar’s preposterous unlimited slip-ups (5)

(-S (LIP-UP<) –S) (preposterous / unlimited); scholar= def.

(l) Do sit! Sadly her address could take a while to deliver (5)

(DO SIT)*, sadly = *

(m) Short reptile (argot, maybe) (5)

(ARGOT)*, maybe = *

(n) Mates – that’s an unusual break in Oz! (5)

Mates = BOS, that’s = IE. Unusual break = def. ref. to an cricketing term for googly

(o) Panegyric a chap in Spain referred to with revolutionary self-confidence (5)

EL + EGO<; panegyric =def..

(p) Nick lived up to his name!(5)

LIVED< = devil (TD)

Given the very high standard of the puzzle, everyone who submitted is indeed a winner.  However, we decided to score the entries and  each correct answer (including the Anno.) was given a score of 1 point. Incorrect answers were not given a score for annotation.

Here is the final scorecard.

1. Bhalchandra Pasupathy – 24.5/25

2. Ratnakar Sonthi – 24/25

3. Venkatraghavan Sahasranaman – 24/25

4. Kishore Rao – 23.5/25

5. Samurai Pony (Mona Sogal + Supriya Mithal) – 23/25

6. Viresh Ratnakar – 21.5/25

Bhalachandra Pasupathy is therefore the clear Winner. He was also the first to send the solution and his submission was a veritable work of art, going above and beyond what we requested. Attached is a screenshot.

Thanks a lot to Brian and Uma for a challenging grid. Thanks are also due to Martin who helped to test solve and suggested some valuable tweaks.

All those who sent in solutions had generous words of praise for the setters and the unique puzzle and 1ACross is delighted to have hosted this.  I am sure that, along with us, our readers also look forward to more puzzles from you.

Did you enjoy the puzzle? Do you have any feedback for us or for the setters. Do comment in the blog and let us know.