17 comments on “Inquisitor 1583: Partial Survival by Schadenfreude”

1. Much enjoyed — nothing else to say really. I didn’t spot any names in the grid before THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN emerged, but then (in the now clear light of the title) went to the Wikipedia film article to check who died and who survived. BERNARDO beginning with 1D was especially handy since I didn’t then have 19A, 23A or 27A …

   Thanks to kenmac and the ever-reliable Schadenfreude!

2. DL @1

   I looked at the Wikipedia article several times and never saw the information but I just checked again and it’s clearly there. I can’t think how I missed it.

3. A fabulous puzzle and very cleverly executed in the grid.  Having real words in the grid all the way through is great and makes the solving so much more satisfying.  I found the three survivors but for some reason I couldn’t spot most of the fatalities.  In retrospect I can’t see any reason why they would be would be any more difficult.

   Thank you kenmac and Schadenfreude.

4. Schadenfreude’s puzzles are of such consistently high quality that it’s easy to take them for granted. To me his defining qualities are that he eschews puzzles that require you to stare at the completed grid for ages; there is never any ambiguity in the endgame and his clues are all 100% fair. Also they are hugely enjoyable to solve. This one measured up to that high standard – what more can one say?

5. Fantastic puzzle, thoroughly enjoyed. I’ve seen the original film countless times, but still needed Wikipedia to check the character names. I suspect because it was all about the actors playing them, wasn’t it?

6. I got the top half filled first and saw Bernard and Calver appear, but they didn’t mean anything to me. At that stage, though, I had the two words DELETE FIVE of the instruction, and I noticed that those two unconnected names could be removed leaving real words.

   After making some inroads into the bottom half, I got the sequence -FICENT-, which, with the M and a couple of other letters already in place, made me think of the film title. Clearly that was the theme, and I soon got another word (HIGHLIGHT) in the instruction.  Completing the instruction actually helped me to solve the stickier clues in the bottom left by suggesting what letters were missing or superfluous.

   I knew none of the characters from the film and had to look them up. I found the eight names easily enough and had no trouble determining which five could be deleted.  I too admired the way that real words were left after the deletions.

   I very much enjoyed puzzling over the clues and working out which way they needed to be manipulated. As I have come to expect, the cluemanship was excellent.

   In 42a I thought the use of ‘John’ was devious (although not quite as devious as Ed or Bill when they turn up), but I was happy with it.  (Perhaps we will see ‘Geoff’ one day.)

   Thanks to Schadenfreude for a super puzzle and to kenmac for the blog. It’s nice to have a run of two puzzles (my previous one being no. 1581 by Hedge-sparrow) in which I have got as far as having an endgame to tackle. Completing them both was a bonus.

7. Jon_S @5. Having read your own little blog, I can say that I have seen the 2016 version. I saw it at the cinema when it first came out. As remakes go, it’s one of the better ones and well worth a visit.

   (for the uninitiated, click on the highlighted “Jon_S” in reply #5)

8. Me @6
   So sorry about the ridiculous name that headed my last comment. I’ve no idea how it got like that.
   Alan B

9. It must be a good puzzle, because I battled all the way to the end, rather than giving up, despite many parsing confusions or ambiguities which led me to misattribute extra letters and missing letters, and thus block my path to the endgame. For example, for the longest time I had an H where the G of magnificent was (and I certainly didn’t have the G).

   Thanks to Schadenfreude for a very satisfying but difficult solve, and to Kenmac for clearing up the ambiguities.

10. Yes, a good puzzle, well up to Schadenfreude’s usual standard. I got everything quite quickly after checking who survived, but I couldn’t parse INHALANT, so thank you for clearing that up kenmac. Like Alan B I was led in by  “…FICENT…”

11. A fun solve, and like Neil Hunter I had H instead of G for quite a while, although I’ve binned the puzzle and can’t remember why.

12. Loved the original film and really enjoyed the puzzle. Like others we could not remember the names and needed to check on-line. Very neat as to who to delete and who to highlight – so satisfying.

    As others gave said, how Schadenfreude can produce such consistently well constructed grids with good clueing and saisfying endgames is amazing. Please keep them coming!

    Thanks kenmac for another very clear blog.

13. Kenmac @7

    Thanks! 🙂

    If it appears on the television I suspect I’ll have to give it a look, if only for curiosity value. I’ve avoided the True Grit remake to date for similar reasons, though do have it taped. I just can’t bring myself to watch it.

14. NormanLinFrance@11: the H seemed to want to come from Ephah.

    Jon_S @ 13: I very strongly recommend watching the True Grit ‘remake’ – which is more accurately described as a second, and more faithful, adaptation of the novel by Charles Portis. The novel is also really good.

    And of course, the ‘original’ Magnificent Seven is a replanting of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai.

15. Yup, that’s it, Neil.

16. Neil @ 14: All the best westerns are Kurosawa remakes. 🙂

17. Thanks to kenmac and Schadenfreude

    What a great puzzle, great blog, great graphics, great film.

    Just for the record, I’m sure EST in 42d is Erhard Seminars Training.

    R.I.P. John Harrington

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