Indy Cryptics & Inquisitor Petition

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Dave Tilley has started a petition to try to ensure that the Indy cryptic puzzles and the Inquisitor (and I would add Beelzebub) continue to be available after the Independent paper version is scrapped towards the end of March. If you would like to sign the petition it can be found here.

31 comments on “Indy Cryptics & Inquisitor Petition”

  5. A Petition is all very fine and laudable, however these sort of actions were ineffective alone in my great grandmother’s day. We need to throw someone under the Queen’s horse in the Derby, or at the very least a group of us should get together with some baseball bats, go down to Little Russia in the West End and democratically rouse Alexander and Yevgeny screaming from their beds at 3 o’clock in the morning, drag them across London, down to Derry Street, and chain them in their undies to the gates of Northcliffe House,…..what?…..oh,…er, yes, I see,… sorry,… of course I’ll add my name to the Petition.

  8. A very dissatisfying turn of events, as I like the paper, and very much like the crossword it carries. I’m definitely signing the petition.

  10. Following Don’s wise advice @6 I have written in these terms to O. Duff:

    “Sir:

    Ceasing publication of your cryptic crosswords when you go digital would be an outrage, on a par with King George’s folly in losing the colonies (and he went mad in consequence).
    Such a fate beckons, Sir, if you do not proceed wisely.

    I write as an occasional setter of your Saturday Inquisitor series, and a regular solver thereof. I even have a bottle of your fine Prosecco in my cellar, to be opened in joy when good
    news about your future crossword plans are announced.

    Mike Lunan”

  11. Just seen Don’s suggestion at #6. This seems very smart to me. Most people who have a go at crosswords like to have a grid presented on paper [NOT themselves printing out a pdf file on the train!]. And they don’t, I suggest, want to solve puzzles they’ve seen and solved even 5 years before. If the i continues in printed form then a change of crossword policy there, importing the cryptic and Inquisitor series, looks like a perfect solution for setters and solvers alike, and at no extra expense to the Independent as a whole.

  14. Signed, and I sent this to Oliver D:
    ==================
    Dear Mr Duff

    One of my weekend routines for the past goodness knows how many years on buying the Independent on Saturday has been to solve the Saturday Prize Crossword, the Super Sudoku, and the Inquisitor – the last of which, in the manner of a small child with the chocolate flake in his/her ice cream, I save till last. Yes, I do the Quick Crossword, the regular Sudokus and the Codeword too – and they would be missed – but the first three are gems and really need to be rescued from the ashes of the printed edition, particularly the two cryptic crosswords.

    Crosswords, as you may well know, have a character, one which is carved out by their setters and the crossword editors. Over the years, I’ve seen both the Prize Crossword and the Inquisitor develop their own quirky styles, complete with (sometimes frustrating but always entertaining) idiosyncrasies, but now they have, in crossword terms, reached maturity, they become more interesting each year. They’ve also become far more wide-ranging in the breadth of knowledge and lateral thinking required to solve them.

    I believe the jury’s out as to whether crosswords and other puzzles help stave off Alzheimer’s, but it seems to me that they help keep my brain sharp and encourage me to continue learning many, many years after I’ve left formal education.

    So I urge you to make a space, or rather create a new home, for these worthy institutions when the Independent finishes print production at the end of March.

    You’ll be doing your bit to keep one pensioner amused and educated – and out of his wife’s hair for several hours each weekend.

    Yours sincerely

    Chris Jones

  17. A few years ago the Sunday Telegraph were intending to get rid of the EV series of thematic puzzles.

    James Leonard (the editor of those puzzles at the time)asked all supporters of the series to express their support by way of emails to the “powers that be”. That proved to be a successful campaign and EV was eventually retained.

    It is really important that everyone who knows and loves IQ and the daily Indy puzzles get a similar message across to the new owners of “i” and the future on-line Indy.

    There is still hope!

  18. Thanks, DT – I have signed and commented.

    Also to Q@6 for actually suggesting a positive action on a thought that had occurred to a number of us, I guess.

    Also to CJ@14. An excellent treatise which summed up my view perfectly and which I wholeheartedly endorsed in my own email to Mr Duff.

  20. There is a reply to Chris Jones et al. in today’s i — there will be the usual daily crosswords but other crosswords are only under consideration. And we don’t yet know whether i will be in tandem with The Indeendent or recycle old puzzles for the next five years. Others might like to press on te rcycling issue — I’ve had my say already

  21. Further to Don @ #20, for what it’s worth I’ve cannibalised my previous comment at #11 above to write this:-

    Dear Mr Duff,
    I’ll be upfront in owning a vested interest in writing to you as I have been a crossword setter for The Independent [as Charybdis and Crosophile] since 1990.

    Putting self-interest to one side, however, I am concerned at what might be the fate of Independent crosswords following the move of The Independent to only an on-line presence from April onwards.
    Most people who have a go at crosswords like to have a grid presented on paper [NOT themselves printing out a pdf file or whatever on the train!]. And in the long run they don’t, I suspect, want to solve puzzles they’ve seen and solved even 5 years before, which is the current situation at the i.
    Furthermore, it would be a very big shame for some of The Independent’s readership if the Inquisitor series of crosswords moves to an online-only format [or indeed disappears completely]. These more complex puzzles really do need pencil, rubber and a printed grid.
    It occurs to me that if the i continues in printed form then a change of crossword policy there, importing the up-to-date cryptics and the Inquisitor series, looks like a perfect solution for setters and solvers alike, and at no extra expense to the Independent as a whole. It would also mean not losing a chunk of the Independent’s readership who buy it wholly or largely because of the high quality of the cruciverbal content.

  23. Dear Mr. Duff,

    Please forgive the unsolicited mail; I hate getting them myself.
    I’m sorry, but hardly surprised, that the Indy is closing its print run. I bought the first copy and took the paper for many years, before leaving the UK for Germany, where I live now.
    I set cryptic crosswords for the Independent as Knut and, thanks to Mike Hutchinson’s support, have established a reputation for setting topical, news-driven puzzles. Last year, I wrote puzzles themed around, inter alia, the HSBC tax avoidance scandal, Corbynmania, the Ashley Madison hack, the Greek Eurozone crisis, the VW diesel emissions scandal, the death of Brian Close and Donald Trump’s hair. My most recent puzzle was themed around the career of David Bowie, and was published in the paper seven days after his death. Writing in The Guardian crossword blog, Alan Connor described this as “a masterful effort by Knut and his editor”.
    So I think there is a place for news-relevant crosswords in a newspaper, and I hope you will consider running newly-commissioned crosswords in the i as you develop your future plans for the title.
    My fellow setters in the Indy have a loyal and devoted following. Crossword solvers are by and large a bright bunch, and probably worth having as readers.
    I wish you and your colleagues every success for the future.

    with warmest regards, I remain,

    yours sincerely,
    Rob Jacques

  24. Yeah, I agree with that comment above. Doing crosswords an’ stuff do help to stave off,..er,..that late-life illness-thingy, you know what I mean, what’s it called again??? Anyway look at me, do I strike you as an aged doolally lady gaga!?
    I’m gonna send off an e-mail to that bloke, Duffy; can someone please remind me what his e-mail address is again?

  28. Either I’ve misunderstood the current situation or posters above are missing a point in respect of crosswords in The I being in tandem with online Indy. They’re about to sell The I to Johnson Press, so there’ll no longer be any connection between the two publications.

  29. Geebs @ 28 is right. Oliver Duff is editor of i, which recycles old Indy crosswords, a practice that might be under threat when i transfers to Johnson Press.

    The editor of the Independent is Amol Rajan, and it is to him these letters should be addressed.

  30. Geebs @ 28 – All the journalism in the i will be syndicated from the Independent online. It’s possible that the crosswords will be part of the package they’ve bought, though whether that will continue to be recycled cryptics, or new ones, we don’t know.

    Regarding the recycled cryptics, it’s worth remembering that for the brief period the i published the same cryptic as the Independent, it prompted a deluge of complaints to the i’s editor, and they promptly went back to cherry-picking older puzzles, with a slight bias towards the easier ones.

  31. Jon @30. Thanks, that’s helpful. I shall be bereft when the Indy stops so maybe the i will ease the cold turkey …

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