Comments on: Inquisitor 1193 : Clearance by Shark

By: davew

davew — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:46:32 +0000

Thanks Duncanshiell for your quick response. Also for your very helpful contributions to this site.

I shall periodically return to this page to see if “at least one more” person has read my comment!

By: duncanshiell

duncanshiell — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:24:36 +0000

Davew@4 – All comments on a puzzle get e-mailed direct to the blogger so there will always be at least one person who reads comments that come in some time after the publication date of the blog. I think it’s always worth looking at whichever version of ODQ you have just in case. Some puzzles require you to look in the older versions as the newer versions have discarded the quote the compiler wants to use.

By: davew

davew — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:55:32 +0000

Working through my backlog, I have just reached this puzzle!

With the aid of Chambers, I was pleased to complete the grid and text of the extra letters. However, I did not recognise the quotation and was totally thrown by Shark’s reference to ODQ 5,6 & 7. The title “Clearance” and the unclued “sale”, coupled with this reference, led me to believe the quotation was fairly recent, so I did not consult my well-used 3rd edition of ODQ. I thought of “everything must go” and searched for an EVERYTHING or two THING’s to remove, obviously to no avail. It was not until I had conceded and looked at the solution that I eventually consulted my ODQ3 and found what I am sure would have enabled me to fully complete.

Perhaps I should have applied ancient Greek logic and understood that ODQ567 did not imply NOT ODQ1234 but simply that Shark had not checked the earlier editions!

By the way, am I the only one who is so far behind with these puzzles? If anyone has read this comment at this late stage I would be most grateful if you would post a short acknowledgement to reassure me. Thanks.

By: HolyGhost

HolyGhost — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 20:49:17 +0000

Thanks go to Shark for a puzzle a bit more challenging than those from some of the other first-time setters (for the Inquisitor) and look forward to #2. As with Duncan, I got a bit delayed by OSIER in the endgame - but fair enough. I had the precise quote (from ODQ), but despite that I didn't twig the indication of "goods exposed" to deleting the first and last letters of relevant entries. Didn't spoil it for me though.

By: REGALIZE

REGALIZE — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:37:08 +0000

Thanks Duncanshiell for another excellent IQ blog. But (the way these things go) had me thinking about Alexis Jordan’s version of ‘Shout’ which I had been listening to just the night before, which, of course set me off on the wrong track completely, but perversely, gave me the link that I needed. 18 across gave me the most problems and I ended up using Ephedrine from my poor recollections as a medical secretary, without actually working out the clue. Inquisitors have long been my most preferred published crossword.

By: Shark

Shark — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:33:38 +0000

Thanks Duncan for a detailed blog. Glad you enjoyed despite the final struggle.

In ODQ, “on looking at” finishes with “a multitude of goods exposed for sale”. This gave the justification for deleting the first and last letters to give synonyms of sale. Without ODQ the internet gave a variety of endings but as you found out there were other ways of getting to the end.

You hopefully should see another Shark Inquisitor puzzle later on in the year.