Comments on: Inquisitor 1153 – Cross Purposes by Nutmeg (Saturday 20 November)

By: Simon Harris

Simon Harris — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 19:00:05 +0000

Enjoyed this one a lot. Having studied classical guitar throughout my teenage years, ASTURIAS was a giveaway, thankfully. Thanks to Nutmeg and Duncan.

By: Mike Laws

Mike Laws — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 02:22:58 +0000

Sorry, hit the Tab key instead of the Caps Lock.

For some obscure reason, I spotted ISAAC ALBENITZ before GUSTAV MAHLER, so the SW-NE diagonal was the last twig for the Eddie!

By: Mike Laws

Mike Laws — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 02:13:13 +0000

For some obscure reason, I spotted

As has been amply demonstrated in her previous IQ’s, she is a (crossword/classical music) nut by the name of Margaret. I always find her submissions tricky but fair, soundly clued, and most important, entertaining. The two I have in stock are no exceptions!

By: scarpia

scarpia — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 00:25:45 +0000

Thanks Duncan.
I was convinced the composer was going to be Samuel Barber and so made this a bit more difficult than was necessary.
The only one I didn’t understand was ASGARD – thanks HolyGhost.
Strangely,Albeniz’s music is usually heard transcribed for guitar,when most was originally written for piano.
Perhaps this might show why it is tackled by very few pianists – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WWz1Abdwgk

If anyone is interested in hearing more of the piano music of albeniz,I can highly recommend the first(E.M.I. cat. no. CMS7645042)recordings made by Alicia de Larrocha.

Another great puzzle in the Inquisitor series.

By: HolyGhost

HolyGhost — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:08:56 +0000

In my top 3 of the year so far, I think. I felt enjoyably manipulated. Solved the bottom left and top right quadrants fairly smoothly, and made headway with top left, enabling me to feel sure about GUSTAV and, with that, MAHLER helped me to fill in the bottom right. But I could find no thematic works, so with a completed grid I sat back to ponder.

I’d seem CHOOSE going up the other diagonal earlier, but made no sense of ISAACA for quite a while, until I spotted those as the choices I’d discarded in favour of GUSTAV. Still the penny didn’t drop, and then I went back to the puzzle to see what if I also discarded MAHLER … and up popped (A)LBENIZ (also b.1860). And it was a short (googly) sprint to the three musical pieces.

Mugged – but gently.

By: Ali

Ali — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 13:46:52 +0000

I made ridiculously heavy weather of this and ultimately failed on some clues in the bottom half of the grid and my own inability to consider that the theme was anything other than Mahler. ‘of note’ in the preamble was a fairly clear signpost to a composer and I spotted GUSTAV in the diagonal clashes early on, so started poring over Mahler’s Wikipedia entry and was convinced that this all related to Bernstein’s ‘resurrection’ of his music in 1960. Oh dear!

Score one for the setter then, but yet another great puzzle to continue the excellent run of IQs

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 13:19:53 +0000

kenmac, re comment #3, you’re literally correct of course but it think it would be read as a ‘special anniversary’, that’s how I saw it, as here of course, the 150th.

If memory serves, Nutmeg did a Chopin puzzle for Inquisitor too, so a setter with a great interest in classical music for sure, I’d say.

By: Duncan Shiell

Duncan Shiell — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 12:57:21 +0000

Thanks Kenmac and Holy Ghost – A A Milne as a source seems a lot more sensible than my two rather tenuous suggestions.

By: kenmac

kenmac — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 11:57:23 +0000

Was anyone else puzzled by the phrase “…for whom 2010 is an anniversary…”?

Surely every year is an anniversary for everyone!!

TANGO was the last one to fall for me too.

By: HolyGhost

HolyGhost — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 11:48:12 +0000

Will comment on the puzzle later. Meanwhile ASGARD & TANGO …

From Winnie the Pooh, I believe, is the poem/song that starts “They’re changing guard at Buckingham Palace – // Christopher Robin went down with Alice. // Alice is marrying one of the guard.”

TANGO was the last answer I got – I think it is as Duncan says: measure = dance, and the code word for T (in international radio communication) is Tango.