I think a true Mervyn Peake aficionado would have chosen Plumrott – the doubling of the consonant echoing that in -squallor and also the name of Rottcodd (the first significant character to appear in the trilogy) – Rottcodd itself seems to originate from a reversal of ‘doctor’, which would be a nice reference back to the good Dr P.

Annoying when you only think of things subsequently, isn’t it?

I really enjoyed this puzzle,even though I found it fairly easy.
As soon as the Saturday papers are delivered I usually check out the Inquisitor and read the preamble and, for the first time ever, I guessed the theme before even beginning the puzzle.(Trilogy/Plumrot…!)
Being a big fan of the trilogy and having been to the exhibition of Peake’s paintings and illustrations only the day before no doubt helped!
http://www.museum.guernsey.net/download/Mervyn-Peake%27s-Sark.pdf

I did hold myself up a bit by being too clever and pencilling in Gormenghast in the middle of the downs!
Thanks Plumrot. BTW I agree with HolyGhost,my money’s on Phi.

Re #6: I don’t see the normal Saturday crytic copy until the day before it appears. I thought the use of precisely the same theme words in both was rather odd and would have detracted from whichever puzzle one did second: many solvers, however, don’t do both puzzles, and, as you say, centenaries don’t come about that often.

Re Plumrot: all will be revealed on the solution page. Until then, I’ll leave it to the compiler to “come out” if (s)he so wishes.

Thanks once again for the feedback, and please bear with me for a little while longer – still learning the ropes!

John

As far as editorial ‘cock-ups’ go, I’m not sure the Inquisitor editor (latterly the late great Mike Laws, now the indomitable John Henderson) also covers the other Independent puzzles? Even so, it would have been harsh on either setter to spike one puzzle in favour of the other?…you only get one chance to celebrate a centenary, after all…

Phi’s puzzle (Inquisitor 99) from Nov-08 coincided with the 40th anniversary of MP’s death – so, jetdoc, was it he?

PLEA TO JOHN H (editor): for those of us with eyesight problems and that use pencil (HB), could you tone down the shading on the crossword grids – there’s simply not been enough contrast the last two weekends.

I wonder if there was a cock-up on the editorial front since the Saturday Cryptic on the same day also had a Gormenghast theme (http://fifteensquared.net/2011/07/16/independent-7716-by-crosophile-saturday-prize-puzzle-9-july-2011/). I don’t often do the normal cryptic but chose to that week.

Then when I sat down to do the Inquisitor, it was a breeze as the theme was obvious from the outset.

Comment 1 is itself rather cryptic, Jetdoc, and I’m wonder whether the ‘same letter’ is D or P.