Inquisitor 1588: Odd One Out by eXtent

9 comments on “Inquisitor 1588: Odd One Out by eXtent”

1. Thanks to eXtent for a good, enjoyable Saturday workout. We worked out fairly early on what was happening but it still took quite a while to sort things out. We also listed all the codes towards the end of the solve which helped us complete the grid more easily.

   Thanks HolyGhost – what the state of play will be like at the end of the week is still a mystery and there’s only 2 more days to go.

2. How do the Inquisitor setters keep coming up with such interesting, imaginative themes? This was yet another one.

   When commenting on my only other puzzle by this setter (no. 1552 ‘Floors’) I remarked on the excellent clues, and it was satisfying to experience the same again. Most (80%) of the clues in this puzzle were thematic, and some of these took some breaking down, but I enjoyed the challenge. Of many inventive twists and tricks, the indication ‘lowers out of the Ark’ (for BEMEANS) was the most entertaining.

   The very neat final twist (‘BREXIT’) came when I had only five clues left to solve – a good moment for that discovery. I too saw UK as the odd one out because the IVR code is really GB.

   While solving I wondered why there were so many (21) clues that had a letter short in the wordplay, as only 11 were needed for the theme. I found the answer to my question much later. The following sets of entries (all except the last being clearly visible in the colour diagram above) are symmetrically placed in the grid:
   – the four 3-letter codes and their corresponding entries
   – all 13 2-letter codes, including UK, and their corresponding entries
   – all 10 duplicated letters and their corresponding entries (20 in all)
   – all 9 normal lights plus the entry containing the remaining single letter (FAERIE)

   I’m amazed that this has been achieved with such an impressive gridfill.

   There was an ambiguity in one of the instructions in the preamble: ‘each of these (distinct) letters belongs to a thematic set.’ One could infer that the 21 letters were distinct, but the ambiguity was resolved as soon as duplicate letters started to appear.

   Many thanks to eXtent for the brilliant design and to HolyGhost for a succinct and clear blog.

3. Good puzzle, nicely realised, just a pity that the powers that be messed up the timing. 🙂 It took me to the very close to work out what was going on which shows how sharp I am on a Saturday. Do we get another Brexit puzzle if / when we leave?

4. I didn’t think I’d manage to complete this by the deadline so I begged the editors for an extension 🙂

   Seriously though a very clever puzzle which, as HG says, was no pushover even though the theme became apparent quite early on. Perhaps it’s not surprising that a not dissimilar thematic puzzle appeared the same weekend?

   Jon @3: If we get another Brexit puzzle if/when we leave, its difficulty will have to reflect the softness of the Brexit. Personally I hope that means a puzzle of junior coffee time easy level, or preferably we’ll not see one at all!

    

5. It’s unfortunate (though perhaps predictable) for eXternal and Serpent that the Listener puzzle of the same day rather more overtly(!) referred to the same theme – nonetheless I thought this an excellent workout and one which even when you had the PDM was still a challenge. Chapeaux.

6. An excellent puzzle, not easy, but fair. I hadn’t noticed the symmetry of the unclued letters and squeezes, so now I admire it even more. I particularly liked the clueing for ‘backbite’ and ‘battiest’. Once I was 70% done, I just listed all the 2 and 3 letter squeezes I’d entered, and suddenly the theme became clear, and, unfortunately, why.

7. I thought this was great, though I didn’t quite finish, due to spelling biryanis wrong! Anyone for a combined Halloween/Brexit puzzle in October?

8. Very enjoyable, many thanks eXtent, and to HG for the blog.

   I managed to twig the theme fairly early on via HR and SK and spotting BRE… appearing across the centre.

9. I’m surprised to see several comments suggesting this wasn’t easy – whilst an enjoyable theme and puzzle, I found this to be right at the gentlest end of the IQ spectrum. Uniquely for me, I think I cracked the theme by about the third clue solved – 1a – and had BREXIT filled in across the middle a couple of clues further in. I completed it without looking anything up, which added an extra element of challenge particularly when it came to sorting out the IVR codes (though in the end I did have to resort to Google to clarify the HR, which I kept wanting to be Switzerland – the Helvetic Republic? – against all knowledge to the contrary). Some lovely cluing – Smear rear? for example – though looking back now I realise I never sorted out the parsing for IMPALA.

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