Comments on: Inquisitor 1159: House Call by Schadenfreude

By: Chester

Chester — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 14:51:35 +0000

According to the Oxford Dictionary of the World, the Arabian Desert is indeed in Egypt – goodness knows why!

By: REGALIZE

REGALIZE — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 20:52:33 +0000

Oh bloody hell, foiled again! I too realised it must be two fat ladies and like HiHoba searched in vain for Clarissa and Jennifer. Thanks Kenmac for the blog making everything crystal clear (Yeah?)

By: Scarpia

Scarpia — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:47:56 +0000

Thanks kenmac.
I eventually completed this one on my third attempt.Ran out of time on Saturday with the NW and SE corners incomplete and not getting the phrase from the misprints.One meaning of BRAIL is a piece of leather to tie a hawk’s wing so I was not looking for a misprint there – very devious I thought!
I didn’t notice the anomaly at 5 and 22,probably because 5 was one of the first clues solved and I was so pleased to get a start and 22 I thought could possibly be hyphenated.
Only managed to solve 1 and 2 after spotting the two eights.Very tough clues I thought.
All in all,a very satisfying solve.

By: HolyGhost

HolyGhost — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:14:31 +0000

Almost a trademark of Schadenfreude is CAT = vomit = SICK, and there it is again in the last clue. With all bar two clues solved (1a and 2d), I looked for the two 8's: CORPULENT CHATTERLEY came first, then OVERWEIGHT BOUNTIFUL. The last of these gave me IT'LL (I'll echo Hihoba's comment), and that led to DIT … with another common Schadenfreudian (?) usage: THE OTHER = sexual activity = IT in the first clue. Agree with Hihoba that the ARABIAN DESERT is not part of Egypt; and also with Ken about 5a & 22a. Also, not that comfortable with HOY = stop (at 39a). But let's not be churlish – a nice one from the setter.

By: Hi of Hihoba

Hi of Hihoba — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 21:46:51 +0000

Nice puzzle from Schadenfreude. I had no trouble with solving Arabian Desert, but the reference I looked up placed it in Saudi rather than in Egypt! I spent some time looking for Clarissa Dixon Wright and Jennifer Paterson, but the fat ladies were rather more literary. I’m sure that the “House” call in Bingo (which used to be called “Housey Housey”) was the right reading of the title.
I suffered with the clue for IT’LL. It took a long time to realise that it was a two word definition!

By: Mike Laws

Mike Laws — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:56:42 +0000

Yes, 5 and 22 should have been indicated as two wwords – sorry. My only excuse is that I didn’t even notice the anomaly when originally solving the puzzle!

By: Duncan Shiell

Duncan Shiell — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 09:10:56 +0000

I got the figurative bit i.e. the pictures of the two eights, but failed on the proper location of the eights. Thanks for pointing out corpulent Chatterley and overweight Bountiful. I thougbt I was probably missing something, but didn’t have time to follow it through properly.

7d is an anagram of (forming) (A [area] + A + D [deserted] + BARREN SITE)so I don’t think the ‘deserted’ is relating to the ‘desert’.