Comments on: Inquisitor 1128 – Conflicting Opinions by Phi

By: HolyGhost

HolyGhost — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:39:00 +0000

This one required quite a bit of concentration, solvers having to remove one letter from most clues before solving, and with the wordplay leading to the answer with one letter removed (wherever it occurred) in an unspecified number of clues.

But with some inspired (lucky?) guesswork, I checked the ODQ for MERITORIOUS under GILBERT and, having drawn a blank, resorted to the internet – and was rewarded. With the first line of the glee now known, the rest slotted neatly into place.

I concur – one has to admire Phi’s construction.

By: Hi of Hihoba

Hi of Hihoba — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 06:43:37 +0000

I really enjoyed this puzzle. Like Duncan I was slow to start. I was in the caravan without access to the internet, so was fortunate in knowing the glee. (I played in the orchestra pit for the Mikado for a week many years ago!). As usual I started at the bottom right and didn’t finish the top left until the end. I spotted the B omission quite quickly but didn’t find bizarre and zebroid until quite late. This led to mis-identification of Gilbert as GALANT and hence meritorious as ceremonious which held me up for some time.

The lights came on when I eventually found SE? H?W at the start of the quote.

As Mike says, what a brilliant grid, and thanks to Phi for hours of fun!

By: Mike Laws

Mike Laws — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 02:04:20 +0000

Thanks for such a comprehensive blog, Duncan.

The same apology for the two-for-three error as I’ve aleady sent to those who e-mailed me privately. Careless annotation on the original solving copy, I’m afraid.

May I suggest that those of you who haven’t set this kind of puzzle reflect (if you haven’t done so already) on the skill and patience required to design such a grid-fill? It’s not easy! Thanks, Phi.