Comments on: Inquisitor 1213: 20/20 by Ferret

By: RatkojaRiku

RatkojaRiku — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:19:21 +0000

First of all, many thanks to duncanshiell for such a detailed, reader-friendly blog. I got started with this puzzle in much the same way that you describe.

Yes, I agree with the others about counting the bars – it surely has to refer to the bars that are independent of the black squares on the perimeter, otherwise the sums don’t add up.

I think that I hadn’t fully understood the implications of the symmetry and so was not very bold when entering solutions. I strove valiantly to get the first two across solutions into the first row, and to have the first down solution start in the top left-hand corner. This vain effort doubtless held me up considerably.

Otherwise, an impressive set of clues and excellent grid constrution, even though the denouement (i.e. what all the twenties referred to) was a tad tame for my liking, although that brought with it a symmetry all of its own.

I look forward to tackling more Ferrets, both here and in The Magpie, which one hopes has a very long life ahead of it.

By: HolyGhost

HolyGhost — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:23:15 +0000

A cracking debut from Ferret. Welcome to the IQ fold. We haven’t had a carte blanche for a while, and this was an ingenious implementation to boot. A most enjoyable challenge. Thanks.

Given the 90-degree symmetry, half the clues were Acrosses and half Downs, so I didn’t bother to look for patterns in the answer lengths. The two 12-letter answers were quickly solved, but this was by no means a fast puzzle to complete. As most of the others seem to have done, I blacked out the 20 blocks to leave 20 bars.

I now read less & less of the Saturday Independent, but will keep buying it for the crossword.

By: Steve Foulds

Steve Foulds — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:51:51 +0000

I found this an entertaining puzzle from a setter who I’ve not solved before. Thank you Ferret

By: duncanshiell

duncanshiell — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:19:18 +0000

I did wonder a bit about the blocks and bars, but there was no specific instruction to black the blocks. To paraphrase the preamble, it simply said what you see is what you get. What I saw was 20 white blocks and 20 letters forming 20 ‘bars’ between the white blocks. I suspect though that blacking in the 20 blocks to leave 20 bars in the grid is probably the right interpretation.

By: Dave Hennings

Dave Hennings — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:33:28 +0000

I agree with Duncan and Hi … an excellent puzzle. This was a nicely implemented theme with really good clues, and what a superb piece of grid construction. As Hi says, when the 20 blocks are filled in, 20 bars are left in the rest of the puzzle.

By: Hi of hihoba

Hi of hihoba — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:09:58 +0000

I don’t quite agree with Duncan’s interpretation of the 20/20. In the perimeter there are 20 unused squares. These should be “blocked” in black. In the body of the puzzle there remain 20 bars.
I thought this was a splendid puzzle from a setter I had not come across before.