Comments on: Inquisitor 1238: GOOD QUESTION by Schadenfreude

By: HolyGhost

HolyGhost — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 05:50:22 +0000

A late addition to this thread of comments – in a hotel in Hanoi, having recently arrived from the backwaters of Laos.

As with the blogger, the theme came easily – rather too easily I fancy – and then there was the ‘trek’ to find the the final 2 or 3 flowers to finish off (linSTOCKs and CANNAbin from memory) – sympathies to Bertandjoyce.

I agree with Hi that the puzzle was probably a grade 2, and with him (& Ho) about ETHERI/EALISE – the it’s not too predantic to grumble.

Re 21d, EYES, nests, pheasants, etc. – I think that ‘nests’ can have a broader usage than that which is common, to mean ‘brood’, or some such.

So … cheerio from Vietnam. Thanks to all.

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 19:02:51 +0000

Well, we are VERY impressed! We both knew canna as a plant as we saw many of them in South Africa where my (Joyce’s) parents lived for a while. I loved them so much that i grew some of them in pots as they don’t overwinter very well. We’d not heard of cannabin though – more familiar with cannabis – although not ‘intimately’ so to speak!

However long we’d looked at the clues we don’t think we would have managed to finish. Some of our friends think we are so strange, saving crosswords while we are away and then as soon as you finish one it goes into the bin without even entering it for a prize.

We often wonder if they will ever publish some of the best ones. Although they may get thrown away, the themes live on in our memories!

By: Hi of hihoba

Hi of hihoba — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:21:30 +0000

Thank you Bertandjoyce for the comment. I managed to solve the whole thing on my own (by Tuesday) except for 12D where I had to refer to Ho and Ba. Odd that, as REATE was one of the answers in the previous week’s Inquisitor by Ploy. I think the problem was with the pronunciation of “recreates” (wreck-reates!). My last success was with 40D CANNABIN; this was difficult due to the removed letters being at the start of the word, and I was not familiar with either the flower or the narcotic!

Getting the theme very early and then having to fill in the blanks is not the way my Inquisitor solving normally goes.

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:40:42 +0000

This was one of the first Inquisitors that we haven’t finished.

12d, 40d, 18ac, 21d eluded us. Normally we would keep on hunting and searching during the week but this one just didn’t seem to inspire us. Maybe it was because we had returned from Greece and had a backlog of Inquisitors to catch up on! The difficulty seemed to be that with so many flowers to choose from, if you couldn’t get ‘into’ a clue there was little hope, especially in short entries like 40d.

Still, it woke up the brain cells and the Inquisitor is still up there among the best.

Sorry Schadenfreude, we really enjoy your puzzles normally so please don’t take offence. Thanks Hihoba for the blog – we really needed you this time. Three heads worked better than two for this one – or did one of you complete it on your own?

By: Al Dente

Al Dente — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 07:59:41 +0000

Thanks to Hihoba for the blog and particularly for the link in to what is a very interesting history of
the song. My favourite version was Johnny Rivers folkrock 1965 US TOP 40 hit. Very nostalgic Hihoba, thanks
for the good start to my day.