Homomorphisms of extensions of a semigroup within a variety (Q2366142)

Given a semigroup variety \(\mathcal V\) and a semigroup \(S\in {\mathcal V}\), denote by \({_ S{\mathcal V}}\) the full subcategory of \(\mathcal V\) formed by all extensions of the semigroup \(S\) within the variety \(\mathcal V\). The universality of varieties of the form \({_ S{\mathcal V}}\) is studied. (A category \(\mathcal K\) is universal if the category of all connected directed graphs without loops can be fully embedded into \(\mathcal K\).) If \(S\) contains an idempotent then \({_ S{\mathcal V}}\) is not universal. Let \(\mathcal V\) be a universal semigroup variety (i.e. \(\mathcal V\) contains all commutative semigroups and \((xy)^ n = x^ ny^ n\) holds for no \(n > 1\)), and \(S\in {\mathcal V}\). If the reflection of \(S\) in \(\mathcal V\) is idempotent free then \({_ S{\mathcal V}}\) is universal. It is still an open question whether for any universal semigroup variety \(\mathcal V\), \({_ S{\mathcal V}}\) is universal if and only if \(S\) is idempotent free.