Inquisitor 1390: Verbatim by Bics

20 comments on “Inquisitor 1390: Verbatim by Bics”

1. Hugely enjoyable debut by Bics, and as Hihoba says, a truly gobsmacking gridfill. To have 17 thematic answers each containing very specific letters all in unchecked positions in a perfectly symmetrical grid is a quite astonishing feat! I wonder, did the setter have to search Chambers from cover to cover in order to find words with the requisitive alternative spellings?

   If Bics can maintain this level of ingenuity then we clearly have a new star in our midst.

2. * requisite

3. BICS is not a new setter. It is (yet another) pseudonym for the combination of Shark and Chalicea. This puzzle was almost identical to IQ1344 from about a year ago, IQ Test by Samuel. In that puzzle the alternate letters spelled out ANDREW JACKSON, one letter per column.

4. Quite a different solving experience from last week’s Who Ya Gonna Call, but just as impressive and enjoyable in its own way. Unlike that one, in this puzzle the theme didn’t really play a part until the end. I found the SE half fell quickly, the NW more steadily but I got there in reasonable time. Plenty of obscure words, which probably should have registered earlier than it did with me.

   But then I spent a couple of days idly picking up the completed grid every now and then and staring hopelessly at it waiting for inspiration to strike. I wasn’t helped by having SEW LETTER NOT WORD for a while – thinking that a SABKHAH was an Arabian sand feature and being quite happy with the clue ‘Show path I step off’ as it stood – but after failing to find any cross stitches or the like in there I eventually came to my senses. Not that it seemed to help.

   Finally, like Hi, Ho or Ba, a couple of days after finishing the grid, I made the decision to get serious and applied some logical reasoning to it. Verbatim suggested letter for letter and/or word for word, but ‘new letter not word’ implied the first interpretation and eventually the penny dropped. Given the brief preamble and the relatively straightforward grid I was expecting a clever twist and certainly wasn’t disappointed. A distilled PDM, pure and very satisfying.

   Thanks to Bics and HiHoBa.

5. I was lucky enough to have kept a note of solutions with alternate spellings as I went along and I found it curious that there were so many, so the final grid revealed itself relatively quickly. Which isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy the puzzle a great deal – good stuff.

   I’m not sure that I understand the apparent gripes @3 but I have to say that it did bring to mind memories of IQ test. Not a criticism, just noting a happy coincidence.

   Fun solve.

   Many thanks to Bics and Hihoba.

6. Lovely, though a much-delayed drop for me. NEW LETTER NOT WORD eventually suggested alternate spellings, helped by memories of items like SHELDDUCK/SHELLDUCK, but I kept putting off the chore of actually looking them all up. When I got around to it (slightly hindered by having carelessly put LOON for LOOM) I was glad of the laugh when the alternate spellings of the words having alternate spellings magically spelt out ALTERNATE SPELLING. Thanks!

7. Like others, I completed the grid reasonably quickly and although noting lots of words with alternative spellings, instead of making an actual note as per BF@5, or even a mental one, I ploughed on into the brick wall at the end.

   Also, like others, I stared at the grid for quite a whie and the NEW LETTER NOT WORD “helpful’ phrase, which morphed in my head into, firstly, NEW LETTER NOT W OR D, then NEW LETTER NO T, W OR D ! Having struck out all the Ts, Ws and Ds in the grid, I counted 18…hmmm, start again.

   I eventually came round and as soon as I realised NEW LETTER NOT WORD meant what it said, I had a real PDM and found the alternatives quickly.

   Really good fun despite managing to tie myself in mental knots ! Thanks Bics and Hihoba.

8. No gripes – just saying that it was pretty similar to the puzzle from last year!

9. My experience was uncannily like that of Rob H @7 (we could have been in the same room, monitoring each others progress): a reasonably quick grid-fill, noting lots of words with alternative spellings, particularly the less common LOOM & SPAUL for the more usual LOON & SPALL.

   After getting nowhere for about half an hour, I too considered NEW LETTER NOT W OR D (but not NEW LETTER NO T, W OR D). Then things clicked (with Verbatim = “word for word”) and soon it was all over.

   I too noted the similarity to Samuel’s IQ1344 (which I enjoyed a bit more), but that shouldn’t detract from this puzzle – so, thanks to Bics & to Hihoba for the blog.

   PS I do have one quibble, though, with preambles that say “corrected misprints“:
   if the clue reads “BIT” which has to be changed to “BUT” before solving, I never know whether the preamble means the misprinted letter that has been corrected (“I”), or the letter that has corrected the misprint (“U”). If the latter (as is the case intended here), why doesn’t the preamble simply say “corrections to misprints“?

10. What a dummy! That’s me – not anyone else. Apart from not finding the T from 1d) which didn’t really detract from working out the phrase. And, apart from being very confused by SHELDDUCK vs SHELLDUCK when filling the grid, I spent ages staring at it and eventually gave up. I blame the fact that our house was in disarray while the floor was being retiled.

    Now that I see the finished puzzle, I’m definitely impressed.

    Thanks to Bics and well done to HiHoBa

11. I completed the grid, had NEW LETTER NOT WORD, but still couldn’t work out what to do next *looks embarrassed*
    Thanks to Bics for a week’s worth of head-scratching and sighing!

12. Like most others I stared at the completed grid for some time (two days in fact) before a consideration of the exact meaning of Verbatim and the instruction revealed by the corrections to misprints led me to my own PDM.

    I’m surprised that nobody has commented on the use of “alternate” for “alternative” in the two-word explanation that was asked for. Or am I the only one who regrets the increasing use of this alternative to “alternative”? (Yes, I know it is in Chambers, but I still regard this usage as a regrettable Americanism).

    Thanks to Bics and Hihoba

13. Thanks to Ss & Bs for the puzzle and blog.

    Thankfully we were in the group that noticed that there were alternative (not alternate!) spellings during the solve. We were however, not as organised as BF so had to go through the grid afterwards.

    The construction was very impressive. An enjoyable solve overall.

14. Re : 3kids1cat @11

    Exactly the same experience for me! Solved all the clues – grid complete – didn’t have any idea what to do next. Enjoyed it, nevertheless and, yes, I should have twigged what was going on but didn’t. C’est la vie.

15. I can’t believe IQ test was a year ago…it seemed much more recent to me (possibly because I didn’t manage to make the final step on that one so it stuck in my mind when I saw the solution), and when I noticed all of the alternative spellings, IQ test was still fresh enough in my memory to point towards a similar denouement. So ‘new letter not word’ fitted in with what I was expecting, and it fell into place relatively easily.

    Another ingenious grid construction. Thanks to S and B.

    It’s scary how short a time a year can seem….still, I suppose it means I must be ‘having fun’!

16. I parsed 5D as Wessex, minus its ‘without’. W and X being the letters without the word, in the sense of surrounding it. Too complicated?

17. jonsurdy #16, I think a bit too complicated, though I understand your reasoning. But Wessex isn’t actually a county and X is in the dictionary as “without”. Perhaps the setter might comment?

18. Yes, as Hi of Hihoba says, jonsurdy, that is an engaging parsing of our clue but a little too complicated and Shark in the Bics partnership hones all our clues down to their rational minimum (though I am a great Hardy fan and would put his Wessex into any crossword where it could be squeezed in).

    I loved Kenmac’s blog on the Kandy crossword last week and was itching to say that another team compilation was coming up this week.

    ‘Yet another’ pseudonym, says Mike Denton. Indeed, as a group of very active setters who all test-solve and vet for each other, we moot ideas, two or three (or in one case six!) of us like one and agree to work together. It is a great learning experience and, as kenmac says, a privilege to work with brilliant setters (I too was at John’s birthday party when the two of them got their heads together and came up with Kandy.)

    Bics has been appearing in the Magpie for years. The first time was when Shark so improved the grid of one of mine that it was only fair to share it, and other joint compilations followed. This time, the idea was his, we both worked on the grid but I had despaired of getting it to work when he produced the astonishing symmetrical one we used. (It is no accident that he was last year’s Magpie winner and, as part of Rood, this year’s Listener Ascot Gold Cup winner!)

    Our usual system is that I produce a preliminary set of very basic clues that he then tweaks and polishes (a bit like kenmac and Anax). It’s a very amicable way of working: some of the compiling teams collapse in vexatious litigation after two or three creations.

    Howard L – just imagine the size of grid we would have needed and the additional struggle of fitting in that extra IV!

    As I have said before, we really look forward to the blogs and truly appreciate what goes into them. Many, many thanks, Hihoba.

19. Many thanks for the clarification Hihoba and Chalicea.

20. Luckily I was one of those who noticed the high number of alternative spellings early on and got another 100% unaided solve this week.

    I liked the way that the preamble was vague about whether the misprints or corrections were required, makes it all the more fun to figure out what is going on.

    Thanks to Bics and Hihoba for a fine puzzle and blog.

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