Comments on: Inquisitor 1170 Forevermoor by Rasputin

By: Chalicea

Chalicea — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 18:32:29 +0000

Sorry – forgot to say thank you, Hihoba for this detailed and perceptive blog.

By: Chalicea

Chalicea — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 18:31:03 +0000

No, Rasputin is not Monk.We are a group of three compilers who have come together (the others are Ilver and Artix) and indeed, we spent months compiling this one and were delighted with the very fine welcome and response we received. Mike Laws, the editor we have so sadly lost since this was published, attempted to squeeze this into the available space and rather tangled our much more verbose preamble. You’ll be seeing us again soon (but group setting is very demanding – even if the results are effective!)

By: BadHarry

BadHarry — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 12:12:20 +0000

Very tricky, not helped, of course, by misfilling in NEUS instead of NEUM giving S?STE?S for navigators. Also didn’t get ATTRAP despite thinking writing might be R.
Really liked it, thank you.

By: Chesley

Chesley — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 08:38:28 +0000

Any comparison between IQ, EV and Listener is not really valid as all three vary in difficulty from week to week. I think IQ has become much harder under Mike Laws’ editorship but is still usually do-able and EV has always covered the full spectrum of degree of difficulty. The Listener went through a spell a few years ago when it was more solvable but has now reverted to type and is completely beyond me – even if I solve all the clues the final gimick (shading or whatever) usually defeats me.

By: HolyGhost

HolyGhost — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 21:07:28 +0000

I am in broad agreement with Hi(hoba)’s comment 9, but more tolerant: I don’t really mind common synonyms (anathematise & ban) and put it down to the range of my vocabuary, but agree that locating a headword (vill) that includes rather unrelated clued word and answer something of a stretch. It’s only another jump to relating ‘white’ (colour) and ‘hard’ (in lead pencils) both as antonyms of ‘black’.

And I didn’t say that the Inquisitor is a stepping stone to the Listener, just that I felt it is more of a stepping-stone to the Listener than a bridge from the blocked puzzles that I assume Tilsit was referring to.

Anyway, back to this rather fine puzzle from Rasputin …
I guessed Thomas Hardy just from the T and Y but that didn’t help much, not being familiar with the book apart from the title. And I felt that the setter’s diverse use of misprints made this hard to solve but pretty satisfying – misprints in definitions of the answers, in definitions of bits of wordplay, in hidden answers (29d naVEL IDLY), in anagram indicators (32a faxed -> fixed), and in mode of entry (30a invested -> inverted) – all highly inventive and clearly an indication of lots of thought given to the cluing.

Not so keen on the title though – I suppose that the ‘moor’ referred to Egdon being Egdon Heath. But GOOD STUFF all round.

By: REGALIZE

REGALIZE — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:31:32 +0000

Thanks HiHoba, I look forward to your IQ blogs. Either its ‘Oh Gawd now I see where I went wrong’ or ‘YESS’.
Scarpia, I couldn’t agree with you more. As a Guardian/Observer reader for almost forty years, my choice of Crosswords were naturally Araucaria and Azed. One Saturday my newsagent send me the Daily Mail instead of the Guardian. After donning the Marigolds, I took it back to find only the Independent available. I dont think it was called Inquisitor in those days, but after 10days I finally cracked the puzzle – and was hooked. These three are still my choice of Crosswords. I also refuse to subscribe to M****ch sheets (no pun intended) but a friend (who has overcome his prejudices) occasionally scans and sends the Listener on to me. I try to ignore my inner daemons who say this is still ‘selling out’. But I do find they are mostly on a par with the Iqs.

By: Scarpia

Scarpia — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 11:26:06 +0000

Thanks Hihoba.
Quite a difficult puzzle but ultimately very satisfying.
The minor error in the preamble didn’t really bother me,as Ali says,it wasn’t difficult to work out what was meant.
Very good ending to this puzzle I thought,being a big fan and familiar with the works of T.H. helped considerably.
Could Rasputin be Monk?

I have only been attempting the Inquisitor for about a year,having progressed to it from Azed and definitely do not see it as a stepping stone to the Listener or EV puzzles.Unless they were available free online they are off limits to me – I wouldn’t willingly buy either paper,Mr. Murdoch and the Barclay twins will have to manage without my money!

By: Raich

Raich — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 09:30:12 +0000

As a setter who has had puzzles in both the Inquisitor and Listener series, I’d like to comment on this. Each individual puzzle stands on its own IMHO and should be fair, challenging, and of course, capable of being solved, with enjoyment the ultimate object of the exercise. With the rare exception that can happen in any field, I find this is pretty much always the case.

I doubt if any puzzle series would see itself as being gateway to another! Also, Ali, at #10, while I can only speak for myself, I don’t see myself as part of an elite, nor do I think from my dealings with them that Listener solvers (and indeed setters) do either!

By: Ali

Ali — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 08:31:51 +0000

I would have thought that a regular solver of thematic puzzles would have been able to unpick the error in the preamble fairly easily. I’ve not been doing these for long but didn’t have any problem with it.

Completely agree with those who disagree above too. The Listener always used to be my first port of call, but I now find the IQ a far more entertaining solve, much in the same way as the daily Indy is, IMO, a more interesting solve than the Times daily. Horses for courses I guess, but I’ve never got the impression that there’s a level of competition between puzzles, and the average solver (i.e. one who doesn’t do as many puzzles as possible each week and then blog about them!) probably does the IQ because he/she buys The Independent, not because they want to graduate to buying The Times for the Listener.

Besides, isn’t the general consensus amongst the Listener elite (and they really do see themselves as such) that the puzzle has been dumbing down a bit recently?!

By: Hi of Hihoba

Hi of Hihoba — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 07:36:06 +0000

P.S. Thanks HolyGhost for your explanation of village and anathematise, my question marks.
I am not very happy about clues where the verification involves finding an otherwise unclued and unrelated word containing both references (here vill). Finding common synonyms in anathematise and ban is more acceptable, though I’m still not keen!
Does anyone else share my reservations?