Continental Drift
Generally speaking, when a new email correspondent writes to say “After years of doing cryptic crosswords, I’m now having a go at compiling them”, experience tells me that this is not a good omen. When this is rapidly followed by the submission of – horror of horrors – a puzzle with three consecutive unchecked letters across the middle of its grid and six unchecked letter pairs elsewhere, I mean, what is an editor to think?
It was only when solving (and very much enjoying) a puzzle by the same setter, which appeared as his Inquisitor debut in October 2016, that I revisited the original puzzle. I’m very glad I did. So were you. I’m delighted to announce that Inquisitor Puzzle of the Year is Captain’s Log by Harribobs, a clear winner in an otherwise very close vote. Commiserations (and congratulations) to Schadenfreude in second and to Lato who tied with himself for third.
The details follow, but by way of summary here are a few statistics (you may wish to compare these with the 2015-6 figures):
- 37 of this year’s 52 puzzles received at least one vote
- 28 solvers voted, 21 (+me) on Fifteensquared, 4 via email, 2 via Twitter
- 8 solvers said that they wished to abstain, usually because choosing between puzzles was too difficult or they had not attempted all puzzles
- the seven 3-star (harder) puzzles received a total of 32 votes
- the seven 1-star (easier) puzzles received a total of 6 votes
- 3 of the seven 3-star puzzles were in the top 10
- most voted-for puzzle (12): Captain’s Log by Harribobs.
- most talked-about puzzle (43 comments): A Big Sell by Gila.
- only 7 of the 28 voters awarded a 3 (3 of them to the winner, 2 to Blank Verse), only 3 others gave a 2½
- last year’s Harribobs puzzle (Double, Double) also totalled 22½ points (13 votes), but came 4th
| Position | No. | Title with starred difficulty (***tougher-*easier) |
Setter | Posts/ Votes |
Points | |||||
| 1 | 1488 | Captain’s Log*** | Harribobs | 28/12 | 22½ | |||||
| 2 | 1478 | Toppers** | Schadenfreude | 18/8 | 13½ | |||||
| =3 | 1482 | Changes** | Lato | 11/9 | 11 | |||||
| 1495 | Two’s Company** | Lato | 18/7 | 11 | ||||||
| =5 | 1489 | Blank Verse** | Triton | 18/6 | 10 | |||||
| 1507 | Shift Work II: Confessions*** | Ifor | 14/7 | 10 | ||||||
| 7 | 1476 | Contest** | Lavatch | 21/5 | 9½ | |||||
| =8 | 1480 | Bookshelf*** | Phi | 20/6 | 9 | |||||
| 1517 | CONTROL+ALT+DELETE** | Ifor | 10/6 | 9 | ||||||
| 10 | 1490 | Clue Two III: Hide and Seek** | eXternal | 14/6 | 7 | |||||
| =11 | 1494 | Mirror Image** | Serpent | 14/5 | 5½ | |||||
| 1513 | Alphaperimetrical Jigsaw** | Nimrod | 20/3 | 5½ | ||||||
| =13 | 1510 | Work** | Schadenfreude | 16/4 | 4½ | |||||
| 1487 | Delivery** | Eclogue | 19/3 | 4½ | ||||||
| 15 | 1512 | Boom and Bust* | Ploy | 9/4 | 4 | |||||
| 16 | 1470 | Plunder** | Pointer | 18/3 | 3½ | |||||
| =17 | 1493 | Four in a Row*** | Ifor | 12/4 | 3 | |||||
| 1518 | Establishment** | Schadenfreude | 14/2 | 3 | ||||||
| =19 | 1496 | Best Friend*** | Charybdis | 10/2 | 2 | |||||
| 1503 | Obeying a Rule** | Ifor | 18/1 | 2 | ||||||
| 1506 | Hanged in Error** | Encota | 9/1 | 2 | ||||||
| =22 | 1475 | 13-1** | eXtent | 16/2 | 1½ | |||||
| 1499 | From A to B** | Triton | 9/2 | 1½ | ||||||
| 1516 | One in Pieces** | eXtent | 10/2 | 1½ | ||||||
| 1520 | NOTCH** | Encota | 19/2 | 1½ | ||||||
| =26 | 1472 | Non-returnable*** | Kruger | 14/1 | 1 | |||||
| 1474 | Plucky Hero** | eXternal | 16/2 | 1 | ||||||
| 1479 | Symbol** | Shark | 15/1 | 1 | ||||||
| 1481 | The Listener Crossword** | Nimrod | 22/1 | 1 | ||||||
| 1500 | 3-Dimensional** | SPINK | 16/1 | 1 | ||||||
| 1505 | Total Wipeout** | eXtent | 7/1 | 1 | ||||||
| 1509 | Hexed* | Nutmeg | 14/1 | 1 | ||||||
| 1511 | Optical Illusion*** | Radler | 14/1 | 1 | ||||||
| =34 | 1473 | Toast** | Serpent | 12/1 | ½ | |||||
| 1477 | Why* | Chalicea | 15/1 | ½ | ||||||
| 1508 | A Big Sell** | Gila | 43/1 | ½ | ||||||
| 1519 | Space Invaders** | Shark | 17/1 | ½ | ||||||
Thanks to everyone who contributed in 2017: setters, solvers, testers, bloggers – and of course Gaufrid, for maintaining this excellent resource. A toast, then, to 2018!
John H.
I’m really pleased to see Captain’s Log winning, as I’d somehow whittled it out of my selection – a unique device and brilliant construction.
Congratulations to Harribobs.
Congratulations to Harribobs. A memorable, enjoyable puzzle, even if it was one where I fell over at the final hurdle! Here’s to 2018, and more of the same quality puzzles.
Congratulations Harribobs!
I was another who was beaten by the final twist, but the creativity involved and enjoyment in plotting the course make this a worthy winner.