Comments on: Inquisitor 1194 – Presidential Interference by Emma

By: Hi of hihoba

Hi of hihoba — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 06:34:45 +0000

Glad this one attracted a new solver, jmac. We long-term solvers occasionally complain when there are “easy” weeks or the reverse, but this crossword has given us all enormous pleasure over many years, and the creativity of our setters is a source of continuous wonder to me!

By: jmac

jmac — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 05:07:06 +0000

It was the simplicity of the preamble that encouraged me to attempt this, my first Inquisitor, so although it might not satisfy more experienced solvers, it did at least add to the audience.

When solving, I didn’t think overmuch about 1ac, just pleased to get such a useful clue; I assumed it had something to do with “many a slip twixt cup [catch] and lip [howzat]” but maybe that’s a bit whimsical.

Thanks for the blog.

By: Hi of hihoba

Hi of hihoba — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:38:54 +0000

So it is HG! I’ll alter 11A accordingly.

By: HolyGhost

HolyGhost — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 12:57:22 +0000

It seems that my experience very much mirrored Hi’s: a little quizzical about 1a, thankful for the mention of “country” in the preamble which gave me IRAN & narrowed down the list of possibilities, further reduced by guessing REGARDANT replaced RETARDANT. (And discarding EAON as an abbreviation.)

And whilst I admire anyone who can construct and fill a symmetrical 13×13 grid with words that are not utterly obscure, and include some thematic material, I must admit to feeling somewhat underwhelmed at the end, thinking to myself “Is that it?”

PS The definition in 11a is “walk”.

By: Hi of hihoba

Hi of hihoba — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:14:52 +0000

If that’s right it’s a bit over-cryptic for me!

By: IanN14

IanN14 — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:03:01 +0000

I think the clue to 1ac. should be read more as a cryptic suggestion that a slip (fielder), if he (or she) was a Freudian, might analyse the (wicket)keeper’s thoughts.