Comments on: Inquisitor 1265: A-trocity by Shark

By: HolyGhost

HolyGhost — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 14:27:12 +0000

I only just realised (after looking at the published solution) that the A's dropped from the nth word of one clue into the nth word of the next – very neat, but lost on most of us.

By: Phil Richardson

Phil Richardson — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 21:58:49 +0000

Thanks Duncan for a great blog. And shark for popping in to provide context. Must admit this was a stinker and a stunner in equal measures. A good 5-6 days of torture. I managed to get there but struggled on the wordplay for pile-up and bone. The responses in this blog really help, thanks all. A masterful grid construct.

By: starburst

starburst — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 16:03:06 +0000

regalize

it must be so tedious to have to listen to people making valid points about the preamble. Or preramble as you put it. I may be wrong but the setter himself seems to concede a degree of ambiguity in it, so I’m at a loss why you felt the need to make such a graceless comment

By: Ross

Ross — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 10:22:55 +0000

Best puzzle of the year so far (although yesterday’s Woodchuck Puzzle in context might give it a run for its money). I too got troubled by the preamble, but the bars (or absence of bars) was sufficiently helpful to ensure that there could only be one final outcome.

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 09:09:05 +0000

We thought it was a really god puzzle. We did spend some time identifying what had to be removed but looking back on it we concentrated more on identifying proper words whilst also looking for an appropriate shape and weren’t confused by the preamble.

Thanks Duncan for the blog and Shark for a very ingenious and somewhat poignant puzzle.

By: HolyGhost

HolyGhost — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 10:37:04 +0000

What does regalize mean by "Usual snores re preramble complaints"?

By: regalize

regalize — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:51:56 +0000

The clues were ‘made slightly easier’? Thanks Shark! Your teeth bite. This IQ took me a full ten days to get through and I am gratified that Duncan’s blog confirmed I hadn’t gone completely wrong. Usual snores re preramble complaints.

By: starburst

starburst — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 21:19:15 +0000

Thanks for that Shark. The grid itself must, as you say, have been extremely difficult to construct, and for that I salute you

Thanks also to duncan for the blog

By: duncanshiell

duncanshiell — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:37:21 +0000

Holy Ghost @ 6 and Rob H @ 8

I think attention to detail has let me down on both your points – the SO I was looking at in the dictionary was ‘shipping order’ and not ‘shipping officer’. TENACES is the required word. In each case I think I just saw what I wanted to see and moved on.

Thanks also to Shark for dropping in.

By: Rob H

Rob H — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:22:54 +0000

Many thanks to Shark for a super puzzle and to Duncan for an excellent blog.

Just one small correction, I think the remaining real word in row 10 should be TENACES as there is no vertical bar after the N in the original grid. Thanks again to both.