Comments on: Inquisitor 1149: Last Laugh by Kea

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 07:04:52 +0000

Was that faster or slower than normal, Kea,…?

By: Kea

Kea — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 02:12:08 +0000

Thanks for the comments. For the record, the time taken from starting to construct the grid to emailing the puzzle was 7 hours. Not my normal work rate!

By: Hi of Hihoba

Hi of Hihoba — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 22:06:30 +0000

Sorry HolyGhost, misunderstood!

By: HolyGhost

HolyGhost — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 20:25:09 +0000

Hi(hoba): I was describing my early erroneous analysis of 11a; it was only later, when thinking about “welcomes” not pulling its weight in the clue, that I realised that Northern Ireland wasn’t simply NI, but in fact N(orthern) + IR(eland).

By: Hi of Hihoba

Hi of Hihoba — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 07:22:49 +0000

I too am amazed at the speed and accuracy of the setter, Kea, so thanks for that insight Mike!
In response to HolyGhost, isn’t “welcomes” simply indicating a “contains” – so “Ireland welcomes private” = IR round PTE.

By: Simon Harris

Simon Harris — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 00:42:08 +0000

TRINISCOPE kind of beat me, I could only think of GRINDSTONE for a long time, but couldn’t justify it.

A typically great Inquisitor, and Mike Laws’ comment helps remind me just how amazing some of these setters are. Bravo, Kea.

By: scarpia

scarpia — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 23:51:23 +0000

Thanks Hihoba.
Tricky,but very satisfying puzzle.
Managed to complete but couldn’t make head or tail of 31 across.
Not too difficult once it’s been explained!

By: HolyGhost

HolyGhost — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 22:00:14 +0000

Harder than of late, but not hugely so – probably because the wordplay in the ‘non-normal’ clues had a letter omitted rather than generating an extra letter. (For example, it was quite easy to see that 16a was ?EHRI, but I had to hunt a bit to find that it was S that was needed. Also, for quite a while, I thought that 11a was NI + PTE with the final R being extra … but what was role was “welcomes” playing.)

And the (rather neat) &lit. clue for 15d (SAPROLITE) took a while before I realised what was going on: I considered “A soft rock” as the definition, and PROL(e) (=primarily left ???) in SITE as the wordplay, generating an extra A, but that was just too messy.

The thick black line edging the grid was rather a strong hint; but all in all quite an enjoyable puzzle. (And, as Mike L. indicates, a very impressively fast construction from Kea.)

By: Steve Foulds

Steve Foulds — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 17:30:39 +0000

I also found this hard but an enjoyable and well constructed puzzle. If it was compiled in a day then I’m in complete awe.

By: Mike Laws

Mike Laws — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 11:32:39 +0000

Norman Wisdom died on Monday 4th October. This tribute from Kea was in my inbox at 4.30 a.m. on Wednesday 6th.