We ran 19 new puzzles custom made for our solvers, fortnightly, during 2021, including two innovative cryptic puzzles in Tamil. Adding on the 25 grids in our Gridfest, we delivered a total of 44 original cryptic crosswords for our readers during 2021.
Two puzzles each were set by Bingo, Mathrix, Afterdark and Dynamic Ladies. There was one from each of The Oracle, Eclogue, Saral, Avtaar, Spiffytrix, Sideswipe, Silicon Gent, Smasher and The Zodiac. In addition, two special grids were put together as Community grids – one was a special for Women’s day and the other was a tribute to Gridman.
Thank you setters for some brilliant grids.
The total number of submissions received for individual puzzles, ranged from 16 to 64 depending on the level of difficulty. The Grid that got the most views during the year was “Woman O Woman” with 1,396 views.
A significant part of the blog’s resources was dedicated to the 1ACross 7th Anniversary Gridfest which was a huge success with excellent participation from both the setters and solvers. The Gridfest landing page registered 14,747 views, compared to 5,282 views (till date) for the 5th Anniversary Gridfest. These grids have now been compiled in Cryptic Crossroads Vol. 3 and are available worldwide. DO grab a copy for your library. If you have already got the book and enjoyed it, please do leave us a review on Amazon or Goodreads and help us reach a wider audience who can access these puzzles.
Here’s the Summary of the year’s puzzles
2021
| S.No | Date | Puzzle | LB | Setter | Views | Solvers | Rating | 10s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15. | 12th Dec. | Form of Attraction | LB14 | Bingo | 826 | 34 | 9.0 | 13 |
| 14. | 28th Nov. | A Time to Produce Fruit | The Zodiac | 646 | 50 | 8.5 | 6 | |
| 13. | 25th Jul. | Game of Throne | LB13 | Bingo | 826 | 16 | 8.4 | 5 |
| 12. | 11th Jul. | Endless | LB12 | Mathrix | 608 | 50 | 8.4 | 10 |
| 11. | 27th Jun. | 21 Squared | LB11 | Smasher | 718 | 45 | 7.8 | 9 |
| 10. | 6th Jun. | Not At Work | LB10 | Dynamic Ladies | 621 | 48 | 8.5 | 11 |
| 9. | 9th May | Guru Dakshina | LB9 | Setters of 1AC | 735 | 48 | 8.7 | 13 |
| 8. | 18th Apr. | Opening Salvo | LB8 | Sideswipe | 582 | 28 | 8.5 | 7 |
| 7. | 4th Apr. | One Two | LB7 | Eclogue | 623 | 36 | 8.1 | 9 |
| 6. | 21st Mar. | Fix Hot Messes | LB6 | Mathrix | 857 | 36 | 8.5 | 17 |
| 5. | 7th Mar. | Woman O Woman (WOW) | LB5 | Women of 1AC | 1,396 | 64 | 8.5 | 17 |
| 4. | 21st Feb. | Go Figure | LB4 | Spiffytrix | 729 | 25 | 9.2 | 11 |
| 3. | 7th Feb. | XWorD | LB3 | Avtaar | 518 | 24 | 8.8 | 8 |
| 2. | 3rd Jan. | All in a Day’s Work | LB2 | Saral | 685 | 50 | 8.6 | 17 |
| 1. | 3rd Jan. | Once in a Lifetime | LB1 | The Oracle | 518 | 55 | 8.5 | 15 |
Other Grids
Hindsight – By Silicon Gent on 23rd May 2021 Solutions Here
Kattrrthu Kaathal – By Kaariravu on 14th Feb 2021 Solutions Here
Iru Kodugal – By Kaariravu on 11th Jan 2021 Solutions Here
Here are the WINNERS
The first spot goes to Anicha Reuban with 2,710 points.
At #2 are Keith Williams and Mona Sogal with 2,708 points each
At #3 is Lakshmi Prakash with 2,707 points
The remaining of the Top 10 spots goes to..
Venkatraghavan S.(2,706), Bhalchandra Pasupathy (2,693), Narayanan Rangamani (2,691), Venkatesan P.(2,690), Prakash Arumugam (2,552) and Madhup Tewari (2,539)
Congrats to all of you.
Here’s our leaderboard (Top 50) for 2021 and our Hall of Fame
Hope you enjoyed all our puzzles. Which one was your favorite? Do you have any compliments / brick bats to share with us? Please do write in. Our first grid for 2022 is “Auld Lang Syne” by Metacryptix and will be published on Sunday 9th, January 2022. If you would like to see your puzzle featured in our blog as part of the #1ACGrids contest, get in touch with me at 1acrossgp<at>gmail<dot>com