This edition covers:

1. A review of the August Extra 2021 crossword
2. A review of the September 2021 crossword
3. A reminder of upcoming deadlines

Clues by Sirius and Grid by Komorník

Theme: First Indian test match victory in England, 24 August 1971

The winner of the August Extra puzzle was Robbie Etherington of Kenilworth, Warwickshire.

[Because I edited this grid with Sirius I asked Soup, of Guardian and 1 Across fame, and one of our 3D editorial team, if he could review it. The puzzle was set by Komorník as one of the winning entries in our April extra grid design competition. – Alan]

Hello, Soup here with some notes on the August Extra puzzle. 

We're told this puzzle celebrates a topical anniversary. We're also told that it's set by Sirius, so expect heffalump traps along the way. I've known Komorník for a while - he sets for 1 Across magazine and I've seen some of his work online, and his grids are frequently very clever and unusual. So, we're up against something here. 

We have some shaded cells, and some discrepancies in clue numbers. Without knowing what's what, let's crack on. Lots of the clues reference cricket, we've got some stuff to do with India in there, maidens etc... ok, it'll be a cricket-themed puzzle. So, off we go. 

Some of the solutions fell easily - ENGLAND was one of my first in, LILAC nice and straightforward, TO A DOG could only be that, WONDERS... and then I slowed down. I had a lot of 'Could that be X?' moments, working at the wordplay to see if I could get it. 

And these blasted extra letters. Early on I decided that the cells in the second layer down were shaded because that's where I should put more than one letter. But then there were some clues in the top layer which had them too! Hm, that's not right. But press on. 

Eventually, I had the bottom three layers, some of the second, some on the top. How does 1 Across fit in? The preamble says "Solve discrepancies in letter counts of eight clues to find when the highlights and their playmates got one across twelve". Could... could Sirius *really* be that evil as to include the words 'one across' meaning simply 'one across' rather than 1ac? ARGH, of course - and so the penny drops, all the crossers in 1 Across can (with a following wind) be numbers. And then fell ARGI9, 9TIES and (embarrassingly my last one in, staring me in the face), COTT1D... and then of course it's 24-8-1971, when India won their first test in England. 

As expected, I found this puzzle a lot of fun with flashes of pure disbelief at Sirius' chutzpah. Some I still can't parse - eg CITED, I think the definition is 'Quoted in the Times for example', and I can see it's an anagram of 'Edict', but I'm not sure what 'Snowstorm Snowdrop' is for; LUDGATE I can't get at all (M'LUD, I think, but after that I'm lost)... but I'm sure if I give it a bit more time I'll get there. My favourite is GODIVA - such a glorious definition. 

Thanks, Sirius; looking forward to seeing more from Komorník.

Grid solution

Clues and Grid by Shark

Theme: Freddie Mercury and Queen

The winner of the September puzzle was Jake Schumacher from Champaign, IL, USA.

The instructions were lengthy. We were told that the crossword celebrates the unclued 5ac 13ac’s 75th anniversary (and later this year a 30th anniversary). Twenty answers must have the same thematic letter inserted or removed before entry (10 of each).  A further three answers need a two-letter thematic abbreviation inserted before entry. The star’s surname also contains these two abbreviations.

Finally, solvers must change the star’s full stage name to his original birth name, thereby creating 14 new entries. The final grid contains real words or names of five or seven letters in length; it is these final grid entries that need to be submitted.

Solvers should also submit with their entry a thematic title (6,5) which can be derived from the two highlighted words in the final altered grid, by using the red word (running from top right to bottom left) followed by the most appropriate possible example of the blue word.

Well this all takes a bit of unravelling the threads of which, no doubt, will become clearer as we make progress. With a view to adding a little tension and excitement I try and write these little summaries of my solve as if in real time. For some inexplicable reason Cliff Richard and his birth name of Harry Webb come to mind as an illustration of what we’re after. Clearly not right but maybe on the right lines. 

I note that the picture clue reveals our sought for hero. Surely a concentrated effort here might pay dividends. ‘Christ the Redeemer’ is obvious and is preceded by ‘F’ on the stave. So we have F(redeemer) together with the finishing “Y”. Ok take away an ‘e’ for mc2 and add ‘di’ for 501. Freddie Mercury obviously, ah! The dog is a ‘cur’. Maybe the earlier thoughts about Cliff helped subliminally. Either way we’ve made a good start. I note via a quick internet search that Freddie started life out as FARROKH BULSARA, which conveniently fits the grid. 

Solving the first few clues proves a struggle. A trial and error approach eventually produces results. We have to either add or subtract an ‘R’ from lots of clues. No idea yet why an ‘R’ is thematic but it clearly is. A few clues in I get a bit of luck ‘KIL’ emerge as the first three letters of the red shaded squares and KILLER fits. Surely the blue squares must lead to QUEEN. But we already have EULER, the setter’s favourite mathematician in the blue squares. Back to the rubric; a close read shows that we need the finally altered grid. I’m not sure which thought is triggered first but clearly RULER and QUEEN fit the bill and we’re cooking with gas.

Now it dawns (which in passing was a delightful clue 7 (4) Beginning French for DAWN) on me that ER must be the two letter thematic abbreviation. 

That, Shark, had all the ingredients for a cracking 3D puzzle, brilliant. Thank you so much. My favourite comment this week from GS nicely endorses this: Nice one Sharky, Nice one son, Nice One Sharky, Let’s have another one! (adapted from a popular football chant of the 1970s) [GS]

Postscript: We received the following comment from Jake, the winner of the August puzzle:

It is hard to express how much enjoyment the calendar puzzles give me, both the ingenuity of construction and the process of teasing out the answers. If I may ask, what is roughly the size of the "pool" of 3-D solvers? I feel a great kinship and sense of community with fellow enthusiasts. It is a great project, and I appreciate and applaud all of the hard work you folks put in, and the fact that it is for the benefit of the chosen charities makes it even more meritorious. Well done, indeed!

(Answer to Jake’s question: we sold 322 of this year’s calendars with +-50 regularly submitting their answers and a number of others doing so occasionally. There are those who complete but don't send in their results, and more who just potter through as far as they can go).

Grid solution

Entries for the October puzzle by Qaos and Mang are due by October 31.