Inquisitor 1585: To Come by Chalicea

15 comments on “Inquisitor 1585: To Come by Chalicea”

1. 

   bridgesong

   #1 - Wed 20th Mar 19, 07:00

   
   

   Duncan, at 17 I had “hapless lad” not “heartless lad”, so hapless was the anagram indicator.

2. 

   David Langford

   #2 - Wed 20th Mar 19, 07:35

   
   

   @1 Yes, “hapless lad” it is. Not an exhaustingly difficult IQ but enjoyable and neatly designed.

   The usual thanks to Chalicea and duncanshiell

3. 

   duncanshiell

   #3 - Wed 20th Mar 19, 07:51

   
   

   @1 and @2

   Oops – sorry – it’s a silly transcription error on my part when typing the clues.  I’ll update the blog

4. 

   Kippax

   #4 - Wed 20th Mar 19, 09:47

   
   

   Another top-notch puzzle from Chalicea, many thanks to her. Puzzles that manage to hide messages within the clues in this way will always get a thumbs up from me.

   Thanks Duncan for the blog.

5. 

   Jon_S

   #5 - Wed 20th Mar 19, 09:52

   
   

   A welcome bit of light relief, thoroughly enjoyed. A regular offering from Chalicea to balance some of the more mind-bending Inquisitors suits me just fine. 🙂

6. 

   cruciverbophile

   #6 - Wed 20th Mar 19, 09:53

   
   

   Lovely elegant puzzle, as we have come to expect from Chalicea. Balm to the brain after the previous week’s offering!

7. 

   Bingy

   #7 - Wed 20th Mar 19, 10:43

   
   

   Lovely gentle puzzle this, and I echo the applause for getting the clues to read normally whilst still getting the message from the fourth letters

8. 

   Ylo

   #8 - Wed 20th Mar 19, 14:21

   
   

   A pleasant puzzle from Chalicea with a sensible preamble!

9. 

   HolyGhost

   #9 - Wed 20th Mar 19, 15:01

   
   

   I do prefer more of a challenge, but very much take Duncan’s point that puzzles such as this serve as a good introduction for novice solvers. Thanks all round.

10. 

    Ylo

    #10 - Wed 20th Mar 19, 17:07

    
    

    I was expecting a poetry theme from Chalicea, after the 2 last year. The middle column filled up pretty quickly. ART came first and guessed the last word could be LETTER. A bit confused until I googled “famous people named Art” and the rest of it came quite quickly.

11. 

    Neil Hunter

    #11 - Wed 20th Mar 19, 20:00

    
    

    Yes, no one will complain that the preamble was overcomplicated this week (I suspect editorial humour to have this following last week’s). I spent much too long looking at the letters of the fourth clue before sense prevailed.

12. 

    Alan B

    #12 - Wed 20th Mar 19, 21:56

    
    

    This was a more approachable puzzle than the last one I tackled (no. 1584 by Jetdoc) with a gentle theme that took much less time to complete. I thought it was well constructed, with the four ‘ages’ incoporated very neatly into a symmetrical grid.

    As often happens, I completed the grid before I noticed anything thematic, apart from the vaguely familiar name that appeared in the shaded cells. ADOLESCENCE was the first item I spotted, and the others quickly followed. I now know the origin of the Four Ages of Man.

    It was pleasant to complete a puzzle without having to use Google at all, whether for specific or speculative searches.

    I too couldn’t help noticing how often single-letter indications were used. I also noticed that there were more indications of initial and final letters of words than single-letter abbreviations – in fact about twice as many. The phrase ‘hint of’ (used twice) is one of a handful of apparently vague indications that have become established in crosswordland, a ‘bit of’ (used once) being another one. There seems to be a rule or convention that a phrase like that only ever indicates one letter.

    Thanks to Chalicea for a satisfying puzzle and to Duncan for he blog.

13. 

    Hi of Hihoba

    #13 - Wed 20th Mar 19, 22:40

    
    

    Good to have a puzzle where the only use of Google was to check up on what I had already found in the grid. Chalicea’s puzzles are always elegant and at the simpler end of the IQ difficulty scale. Thoroughly enjoyed by me. Thanks to setter and blogger.

14. 

    Chalicea

    #14 - Thu 21st Mar 19, 21:09

    
    

    Yes, Ylo, I believe I exhausted the poetry themes last year producing war-poetry themed ones for every outlet I set for but it was a rather fruitful theme with the hundredth anniversary of the armistice.

    Indeed, the editor opted for this crossword to balance Jetdoc’s of the week before and I am happy that it was not far too easy after that challenge (which we couldn’t complete).

    Thanks for the prompt about the (over)use of single-letter indications – I will try harder! The comment about ‘hint of’ and ‘bit of’ was made to me only last week by the editor of the Toughies – where it is frowned on/banned as it is impossible to know which ‘touch’ or ‘hint’. The problem is, of course, finding new ways to use H, A, U, E, or O, say, in wordplay – not ‘husband’ with more ‘energy’ in another ‘old’, ‘adult university hospital’. All advice welcome.

    Many thanks to Duncanshiell, as always, for such a generous, meaty blog and to all of you.

15. 

    Alan B

    #15 - Fri 22nd Mar 19, 09:44

    
    

    Chalicea @14
    And thanks for your setter’s view of this puzzle and of the use of single-letter indications in particular.
    On the matter of using first and last letters of words (as opposed to single-letter abbreviations), I would just note, by way of crude comparison, how many instances of this device were used in a daily cryptic I completed a few hours ago. Of 26 clues, nine had such an indication (‘first of, ‘finally’, …). I don’t know if this sort of ratio is typical, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was, and I think we can talk about use rather than overuse.

Comments are closed.