Any explanation for why some downloaded fonts have tops cut off?

Most likely the font author did not set the ascender value correctly. The ascender is the portion of a font glyph that's above the height of regular flat topped glyphs. The descender is the portion of a glyph below the baseline. YOU don't need to know that, but someone who makes fonts does.

That sounds probable. Not sure how to let designers know-happened on "Laughing & Smiling" and "Ananda". Disappointing. Thanks for explanation.

KatStill, try sending a private message to any font author who has a font hosted on dafont with this problem. They might not be aware of it, and they might correct the mistake and submit an updated version.

If I find this problem with a font, I just adjust the ascender/ descender value in my own copy with my font editor, but I don't circulate the revised version to anyone.

Always post the name(s) of any font(s),(and their author(s)) that have peculiarities you've noticed when starting a thread in the General Discussion forum. There are four different fonts on dafont named Ananda.

Chances are good that one of the forum moderators will be able to tell exactly what the problem is. toto@k22 knows everything that I know, and much more.