Flat Earth Theory – Solutions, Annotations & Results

Stats -We had a fabulous response for “Flat Earth Theory” and received 43 submissions. Of those who submitted, 34 got the full grid score of 39 and 26 people got the maximum possible score of 41. Here’s the Solution grid.

The puzzle had these special instructions and two bonus questions that needed to be solved.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS The world is flat. You don’t believe us? You don’t need a mirror to see a (1,1),(1,15),(15,1),(15,15). You can find them at all ——- (7)

Answer the following questions after solving the grid:

1. What’s (1,1),(1,15),(15,1),(15,15)?

2. Fill in the blank. Find them where? (7)

The correct answers are

(1) FOOL (4 coordinates in the grid)
(2) CORNERS

Here are the Annotations.

Across:

1 Guess fruit is next to river (6) – FIG URE
5 Carried circular letter to island (6) – BORNE O
8 Exercise in ease, I hear, and get sword (4) – E(PE)E
9 Perhaps monitor Elizabeth on a road (6) – LIZ A RD
10 Highlander runs, dropping egg and spoon at first (4) – SCO(o)T(s)
11 Cap with German engineers (5) – MIT RE
12 Nurse follows Lord and attractive woman (5) – SIR EN
15 Stop seeing titillating eastern movies, in the beginning (4) – Acrostic
17 Be old first (5) – EX IST
18 What daddies become when wrapped up in pyramids? (7) – CD
21 Clearly broken nail has passed through layer (7) – P(NAIL*)LY
23 Horrible North American pen (5) – N A STY
25 6 leave blue pill here (4) – vi AGRA
27 Send clock back (5) – TIMER<
30 Noisily drink eggless-soup having bits of lemon and radish (5) – SoUP around L and R
31 Stop Indian aircraft company’s unrest at last (4) – HAL T
32 Clouds with unusually long icicles, for starters (6) – CUM U L I
33 Silver uniform’s base temperature (4) – AG U E
34 Twist round organ (6) – O LIVER
35 Show about some flesh (6) – RE VEAL

Down:

1 Shoots father-in-law, for starters, with lady (5) – FIL MS
2 Witness Germany getting first and last letters (5) – G(A Z)ER
3 Wayward unmarried maid’s gone for show once again (5) – UNmaRRiEd*
4 Girl’s pail is damaged – contains last drop of water (5) – PAIL*<R
5 Remember. Think of Pooh (4,2,4) – DD
6 Pet couple’s fashion accessory (7) – NECK TIE
7 Damaging pot with bad aim results in best conditions! (6) – POT* AIM*
13 Freeze one cube finally in container (3,2) – I C(E)UP
14 Heather’s cooking rice at first (5) – RICE*A
16 Note returned by army officer, with the Italian resistance, for neckwear (4,6) – NOTE< COL LA R
18 Period after 4 PM (3) – Period after 4(=April)= May, Prime Minister
19 Problem kid (5) – DD
20 Pens may be fashionable to some extent (5) – STYLIsh
22 German femme-fatale, around 5, may be lovelier (7) – (LOvELIER)*
24 Language has to be translated by Pathan at first (6) – P (HAS TO)*
26 Old ship-builder transported sugar (5) – SUGAR*
27 Defeat on East Path (5) – ROUT E
28 Mickey, perhaps … it is near your keyboard (5) – CD,DD
29 Test one in Kashmiri town (5) – TR(I)AL

Here is the scorecard (sorted by total and then in Alphabetical order)

The first entry was submitted by Ramki, and it was also the first all-correct entry.  The last all-correct entry was received from Max Jackson, this time as well.

Congrats to the 26 people who managed to max the score.

We requested folks to rate the puzzle on a scale of 1 (Lowest) to 10 (Highest). The puzzle got a good average score of 7.9

The top 3 clues that emerged as favorites of the solvers were Mummies with 14 votes, May with 13 votes and Agra with 12 votes.

Thanks to “The Oracle” (Kishore) for the “April Fool” special. We certainly didnt find ourselves cornered by this one though:).

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