Stats: The puzzle pages were loaded 1,910 times. 123 visitors had a go at it. 43 solvers completed both the puzzle and bonus form and 81 completed it partly. 29 solvers got the full score.
Sum of their parts – Grid 5<<< Click Here for the Puzzle Post (this post has links to all the grids)
Here are the solution grids:
BONUS QUESTIONS:
Q1# The 8 word clue phrase from Grids 1-4
ANS: FIRST PINCH JOLLY ROGER WITH SHIP, FORGE AHEAD
Q2# The 8 letter solution to the clue above that is found in Grid
ANS: PROGRESS
Q3# Location of the above solution
ANS: NINA from the words: PROud OGRES laSSo
Annotations
Grid 1
| # | Clue | Solution | Annotation | Setter |
| 1A | Sick and tired of unresolved feud with project leader (3,2) | FED UP | FEUD*+P; def: sick and tired | Heidi |
| 5A | About 50% ignore rule (5) | REIGN | RE+IGN; def: rule | Aashwina |
| 5A | Chompers, an alien found in the soup (5) | TEETH | ET in THE*; def: chompers | Debbie |
| 1D | Hand in hand is of greatest importance (5) | FIRST | FI(R)ST; def:of greatest importance | Claire |
| 2D | Steer right into bar (5) | DRIVE | D(R)IVE; def: steer | Debasmita |
| 3D | Nick’s soft malformed chin (5) | PINCH | P+CHIN*; def: nick | Mona |
Grid 2
| # | Clue | Solution | Annotation | Setter |
| 1A | Huge estate in place for new judge (5) | MAJOR | MA(-N+J)OR; def: huge | Neelima |
| 4A | Luggage goes astray when company leaves labour camp (5) | GULAG | (LUGGAGE -GE)*; def: labour camp | Supriya |
| 5A | Chicken skin? (5) | LAYER | Punny DD | Melissa |
| 1D | Magnate or genuinely unique leader basically (5) | MOGUL | Acrostic &Lit | Sowmya |
| 2D | Two students entered the portals of Juniors’ Oxford Yard in great spirits (5) | JOLLY | JO(LL)Y; def: in great spirits | Juhi |
| 3D | In negotiation, ergo nearing end of war? Yes! | ROGER | ERGO*+R; def: yes | Viveca |
Grid 3
| # | Clue | Solution | Annotation | Setter |
| 1A | First signs of women empowerment — equality, kinship, common pay period (4) | WEEK | Acrostic; def: common pay period | Mona |
| 4A | Not hard but strong (5) | TOUGH | T(-h)OUGH; def: strong | Lakshmi |
| 5A | Prune and currant loaf is perfect for starters (4) | CLIP | Acrostic; def: prune | Claire |
| 1D | …and initially we invited them home (4) | WITH | Acrostic; def: and | Amrita |
| 2D | Have qualms about mate (5) | EQUAL | Telescopic; def: mate | Heidi |
| 3D | Quiet pressure to inspire inclusion’s beginning to deliver (4) | SHIP | SH(I)P; def: to deliver | Qryptonyx |
Grid 4
| # | Clue | Solution | Annotation | Setter |
| 1A | Elements of loperamide composition (5) | OPERA | HIPS; def: composition | Stella |
| 4A | Food without a mould (5) | FORGE | FOR(-a)GE; def: mould | Debasmita |
| 5A | Valued beloved taking time to return (5) | RATED | DE(T)AR<<; def: valued | Gayathri |
| 1D | Assassin’s bid? (5) | OFFER | Punny DD | Sowmya |
| 2D | Denizen of the wetlands turns up, covered in detergent (5) | EGRET | Reverse HIPS; def: bird | Rhiannon |
| 3D | Pieces of artefacts, historical emblems are displayed in front (5) | AHEAD | Acrostic; def: in front | Santha |
Grid 5
| # | Clue | Solution | Annotation | Setter |
| 1A | Noble poured rum, removing the last bit of ice (5) | PROUD | POURED*-E; def: noble | Amrita |
| 4A | Harbour, nestled under rising, shady, evergreens basically (5) | NURSE | Acrostic; def: harbour | Viraj |
| 5A | Mule bound by large, old rope (5) | LASSO | L(ASS)O; def: rope | Lakshmi |
| 1D | Follow the Spanish team (5) | PANEL | PAN+EL; def: team | Supriya |
| 2D | Monsters are hence, upside-down and small (5) | OGRES | ERGO<<+S; def: monsters | Phoenix |
| 3D | “Because of Love” after “I Got You Babe”, e.g. (3,2) | DUE TO | O after DUET; def: because of | Debbie |
Each of the following scored 113 points (Grid Score – 103, Bonus – 10)
Al Sanders
Anantakrishnan N.
Arvind Ramaswamy
Bhalchandra Pasupathy
Harish T K
Himanshu Rajurkar
Ian VanderSchee
Koteswar Rao
Lakshmi Prakash
Lakshmi Vaidyanathan
Max Jackson
Melissa McSeismal
Mona Sogal
Mukundala Balasubramanyam
Nagendra Prasad R.
Narayan Mandyam
Narayanan R
Nilesh Parmar
Prakash Arumugam
Ramesh Swaminathan
Ratna Rao
Rengaswamy N.
Samit Kallianpur
Sohil Bhagat
Srinivas Venkatesh
Supriya Mithal
Suyash Roongta
Tejas Siddharth
Venkatraghavan S
Congrats to the toppers and to all the solvers who participated.
Grid Rating: The puzzle got an excellent rating of 8.56. It got 13 perfect 10s (30% of those who rated). The lowest rating was 5.
Favorite Clues: The Top clues were
-
- Sick and tired of unresolved feud with project leader(3, 2) – 12 votes (Setter: Heidi)
- About 50% ignore rule (5) – 10 votes (Setter: Aashwina)
- “Because of Love” after “I Got You Babe”, e.g. (3,2) – 8 votes (Setter: Debbie)
- Assassin’s bid (5) – 7 votes (Setter: Sowmya)
- Not hard but strong (5) – 7 votes (Setter: Lakshmi)
- Hand in hand is of greatest importance (5) – 7 votes (Setter: Claire)
Thanks to all our solvers, setters and Qryptonyx who co-ordinated with all the setters. The “Mini grids” were an attempt to make cryptic crosswords accessible to more solvers, in the IWD2024 spirit of “inclusion”. Hope you enjoyed it.
Here’s what our solvers said..
| Participant(s) Name | Comments / Feedback on the puzzle |
|---|---|
| Al Sanders | Lots of fun, enjoyed the metapuzzle |
| Bhalchandra Pasupathy | Fun. Simple. Full marks for collaborative effort and the commemoration of the occasion. Just a feeling that this talented group has perhaps set the bar a bit low, not just for us, for themselves? |
| Mukundala Balasubramanyam | Simple and elegant puzzle |
| Narayan Mandyam | FANTASTIC TEAM WORK LADIES. KEEP IT UP. HAPPY WOMEN’S DAY |
| Rathnakumar V | Kudos to the entire team, very difficult to set thematic grids with small clues, job well done |
| Sohil Bhagat | Happy women’s day! Good daily challenge. Great clues through-out. I hope I have the right 8 word clue and the answer 🙂 |
| Srinivas Venkatesh | Small in size but tall and proud in stature |
| Steve Gunter | Today is Pi Day(3.14), so my ranking is Pi squared = 9.87 |
| Venkatesan P. | Mini grids but great clues. Excellent team work. Kudos. |
| Ashit Hegde | Relatively simple grids (except for the 8 word clue phrase) but several lovely clues found it difficult to select only three. |
| Lakshmi Vaidyanathan | Very nice idea Sowmya. Loved the grids |
| Nagendra Prasad R. | FUN PUZZLE. TOOK SOME TIME TO GUESS THE WORD AND THEN THE CLUE PHRASE. ENJOYED SOLVING. |
| Narayanan R | excellent team effort from all these women setters |
| Samit Kallianpur | Very good series with a nice theme! Happy women’s day! |
| Sparsh Sinha | Good fun… Not too sure about the clue phrase |
| Tejas Siddharth | Fun to reconstruct the clue |
| Venkatraghavan S | Super set. Or sets. And nice concept. |
| Madhusudan H | Happy Women’s day !!! |
| Mona Sogal | Fun puzzle…some neat clues..Happy Women’s Day.. everyday:) |
| Prakash Arumugam | Well crafted puzzle |
| Ramesh Swaminathan | Very smooth and good fun. Bonus clue formation doesn’t read well, so not sure if correct. |
| Ramki Krishnan | The 5 mini-grids were all nice and easy. But completely lost on building the clue with the 8 words! |
| Sandhya Paruchuri | Good ones! |
| Saurabhu | Really liked this format of mini puzzles |
| Supriya Mithal | Loved the concept , lots of fun to solve,specially the bonus. Happy to be a part of this. |
| Anantakrishnan N. | Not sure if I have the bonus answer right, so don’t want to comment |
| Arvind Ramaswamy | Lovely themed tribute for Women’s Day! |
| Koteswar Rao | Good offering for a great occasion. Cheers! |
| Max Jackson | Enjoyable.Fairly easy clues. The bonus material took a bit of finding. |
| Melissa McSeismal | Please make the bonus form questions make sense and not ask people to formulate clues with a poor surface from a set of thirty random words then ask people to justify their solution to the clue but not tell people how much they should write. Ask for an annotation, yes but why ask for a geographical description of where to find the clue?? |
| Narayana Swamy D | Rather easy solutions to the clues. But finding the proper clue for the final answer was a little tricky |