According to fifteensquared stats, Radler has been producing one Inquisitor puzzle once a year since 2013, usually towards the end of the year. Here is the 2020 offering.
The preamble was fairly short and stated that the wordplay in several clues omits one or more letters comprising a phrase. Solvers must shade the phrase (14 cells), and, in a similarly appropriate form, two words thought by some to have derived from that phrase.
It took me a long time to get going properly with this puzzle and even longer to suss out the letters omitted from the wordplay. Once I realised that the missing letters were forming a pattern in the North West corner of the grid, it became easier to understand the wordplay in some of the clues. It also helped that the same letter was omitted from the wordplay of intersecting entries. With hindsight, I suppose that fact was obvious, but often at the beginning of solving barred crosswords I tend to forget about the obvious.
The phrase is in Latin, not one of my strengths. Give me a computer language any day rather than a foreign one. Starting with the N in row 2 column 4 and reading clockwise in a circular pattern (as shown in the grid below), the omitted wordplay letters spell out the phrase NULLAM REM NATAM which translates as NOTHING IS BORN. I couldn’t find the phrase in any English or Latin dictionary that I have, but on-line there are several references to the phrase that go on to say that words meaning NOTHING in several languages are derived from it. The preamble tells us that two words thought to be derived are shown in the grid in a similarly appropriate form. Looking in the South East corner we have a circle starting with the R in Row 8, column 9 and going clockwise reading RIEN (French for NOTHING) and NADA (Spanish for NOTHING) The circular patterns, of course, represent the number ZERO or NOTHING.
In the end it all came together very well and the clues seemed a lot easier to understand when I came to write the blog.
Early on, I was semi convinced there were some extra unused letters in the wordplay for AMENDMENT (33 across) where I was think the first N alone was noon and in INULASE (20 down) where I was interpreting ‘about’ as a containment indicator. Eventually I realised that AM END was describing noon and about was represented by A.
The detailed blog below indicates all the parsing. The meaning of LEASH at 34 across was new to me, but the wordplay was clearly indicating the last letter of LEAST had to be replaced by H.
I think the clue for the three letter entry CON at 22 across has word play and four separate definitions. Very impressive!
The final grid looked developed like this:
The title JACKS is an American reference to two words spelled with three extra letters HIT to indicate ‘nothing at all’
| No | Clue |
Wordplay – letters omitted from the wordplay are shown in fuchsia |
Omitted letter(s) |
Entry |
| Across | ||||
| 2 |
Judge incorrectly marks criminal emails censoring line without question (10) |
M (marks or deutschmarks) + an anagram of (criminal) EMAI M ISMEA* SURE |
MISMEASURE (judge incorrectly) | |
| 11 |
Mythical flyer having twisted horn (5) |
ROC (enormous bird described in Arabian legend, strong enough to carry off an elephant; mythical flyer) reversed (having twisted) COR< NU |
NU | CORNU (anatomical term for horn or hornlike part) |
| 12 |
Beg, lacking spirit before noon (5) |
CRAVE CRAVE |
CRAVE (beg) | |
| 13 |
Australian left during broadcast and mailed Digger (9) |
A (Australian) + (L [left] contained in [during] RADIO [communicate by transmission; broadcast]) A R M ADI (L) L O |
ML |
ARMADILLO (American mammal with long snout, tubular ears and large front claws [used for digging; digger], an edentate whose body is covered with bands of bony plates [armoured; mailed]) |
| 14 |
Demon eats bears, I escaped (8) |
( R A KS HAS A |
AA | RAKSHASA (evil spirit or demon in Hindu mythology) |
| 16 |
Had a first degree (4) |
D (degree) + ONE – together represent first degree D ONE |
DONE (conned; had) | |
| 17 |
One way or another, exhibit will embrace one’s terms (7) |
SHOW (exhibit) containing (will embrace) OE (first and last letters of [terminals of; terms] ONE) S (O M E) HOW |
M | SOMEHOW (one way or another) |
| 18 |
They mark divers in sets … (8) |
Anagram of (divers [diverse; assorted]) IN SETS) ST A INE R S* |
AR | STAINERS (things that mark) |
| 21 |
… diver good to go after change of heart (3) |
AOK (all items satisfactory; good to go) with the middle letter O replaced by (change of heart) U A U K |
AUK (diving seabird) | |
| 22 |
Less firmly established police officer imprisoned man with blue skin (3) |
CON CON |
CON (prisoner) CON (CONservative; blue in political terms) CON– (indicating ‘wit’ as in CHILLI CON CARNE [chilli with meat]) CON (skin [swindle of fleece]) quadruple definition plus wordplay |
|
| 23 |
Elemental estimates firstly too crude, and secondly assumed standard issue (8) |
TCA (initial letters [firstly] of each of TOO, CRUDE and AND) + STS (second letter [secondly] of each of ASSUMED, STANDARD and ISSUE) ME TCA STS |
ME | METCASTS (weather forecasts; elemental estimates) |
| 26 |
Parisian that corrupts cases and drives on lawn (7) |
ROTS (corrupts) containing (cases) QUE (French [Parisian] for ‘that’) RO (QUE) TS |
ROQUETS (in croquet, strokes by which the striker’s ball is played against another ball, often quite hard by driving the striker’s ball. Croquet is a game played on a lawn) |
|
| 29 |
Nationalists joining league with others (4, 2 words) |
ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, the Basque nationalist group, seeking independence from Spain and France) + L (league) ET A L |
ET AL (and other people or things) | |
| 30 |
Cheats put off, I use cash (8) |
Anagram of (put off) I USE CASH CHIAUSES* |
CHIAUSES (cheats) | |
| 33 |
Editing noon broadcast intended? (9) |
(AM (morning) + END – noon signifies the END of morning) + MENT (sounds like [broadcast] MEANT [intended]) AM END MENT |
AMENDMENT (a change to a document as a result of editing) |
|
| 34 |
Little beyond others getting end away, hot threesome (5) |
LEAS LEAS H |
LEASH (a set of three of anything; threesome) | |
| 35 |
Pink cloth bearing name (5) |
LACE (example of a cloth) containing (bearing) N (name) LA (N) CE |
LANCE (pierce; PINK can also be defined as to stab or piece) | |
| 36 |
Drive screening loch from east, being investment-savvy? (10, 2 words) |
DR (drive) + (ESSE [actual existence; being] containing [screening] NESS [reference Loch NESS to the south west of Inverness) reversed (from east) DR E’S (SEEN<) SE |
DRESS SENSE (understanding the impact of wearing the right vestments [fine dresses for example]; in vestment savvy) | |
| Down | ||||
| 1 |
Stroke when cycling causes alarm (6) |
CARESS (stroke) with each letter moved one position to the right and the last letter S moved to first position (when cycling) to form SCARES SCARES |
SCARES (causes alarm) | |
| 2 |
Honey product used up storage facility (5) |
ROM (Read Only Memory – computer storage facility) reversed (used up; down clue) MOR< AT |
AT |
MORAT (drink made of honey and mulberry juice; honey product) |
| 3 |
Impudent language of Glaswegian band (5) |
SASH (band) S N ASH |
N |
SNASH (Scottish [Glaswegian] word for insolence or abusive language) |
| 4 |
Doctor when discharging Welsh marsh dweller (6, 2 words) |
MD (Doctor [of Medicine]) + M U D HEN |
U |
MUD HEN (any of a variety of water birds, such as rails, coots or gallinules, that inhabit marshy places) |
| 5 |
Lamb tagine, I avidly gobbled it (4) |
EIA (hidden word in [gobbled it] TAGINE I AVIDLY) E L IA |
L | ELIA (reference Charles LAMB [1775 – 1834], English essayist and poet, best known for his Essays of ELIA) |
| 6 |
Variety developed at loss (8) |
Anagram of (developed) AT LOSS ALLSORTS* |
LR | ALLSORTS (variety of different sizes, shapes, colours etc) |
| 7 |
Animals chucked up beer after revolting party game (7) |
(DO [party] + RU [Rugby Union {game}]) all reversed (after revolting) + ALE (beer) reversed (chucked up; down clue) (UR OD)< ELA< |
URODELA (the [permanently] tailed Amphibia, eg newts and salamanders; animals) |
|
| 8 |
Beak on head, female animal, no tail (3) |
MAR RAM< |
RAM (a ship’s beak) | |
| 9 |
Balance our mother on Highland cattle (7, 2 words) |
EVE (reference the biblical story of Adam and EVE. In theory, we are all derived from EVE who is therefore ‘our mother’) + NOUT (Scottish [Highland] word for cattle) EVE N OUT |
EVEN OUT (become equal; balance) | |
| 10 |
Occasionally plucked carelessly, no eyebrows regenerate (5) |
RENEW (letters 3, 6, 11, 15 and 19 [plucked occasionally] from CARELESSLY NO EYEBROWS) I can’t help but think I have missed something here, as there are other Es that could be randomly selected. RENEW |
RENEW (regenerate) | |
| 15 |
Irrational question inverted proposition conclusively agreed (4) |
(N final letter of [conclusively] PROPOSITION + OK [agreed]) all reversed (inverted) (KO A N)< |
A |
KOAN (in Zen Buddhism, a nonsensical, logically unanswerable question given to students as a subject for meditation; irrational question) |
| 17 |
Boilers firm owned by madam (8) |
SET (firm) + HERS (owned by a lady) SE E T HERS |
E | SEETHERS (boilers) |
| 19 |
Engaged to only daughter, collecting ring (7) |
(TO + THE [definite article, implying ‘only one’ + D [daughter]) containing (collecting) O (a ring-shaped letter) TO (O) THE D |
TOOTHED (interlocked; engaged as cogs [teeth] on gear wheels) | |
| 20 |
Doctor lies about universal carb converter (7) |
Anagram of (doctor) LIES and A (about) and U (universal) I N ULASE* |
N |
INULASE (an enzyme that forms fructose from inulin; carbohydrate converter) |
| 21 |
Unaltered 50% drop in savings (4, 2 words) |
ISAS (Individual Savings Accounts) with the first two of four (50%) letters IS dropping (down entry) to the end to form AS IS AS IS |
AS IS (unaltered) | |
| 24 |
Support for early retirement, perhaps, not entirely about me (6) |
C (circa; about) + RADLE C RADLE |
CRADLE (sleep [retirement] support for a baby [one early in life]) | |
| 25 |
Check underlying limits to subway network (6) |
SY (first and last letters of (limits to) SUBWAY) + STEM (check) SY STEM |
SYSTEM (network) | |
| 26 |
Orbit not affected by mass (5) |
REAL (not counterfeit or assumed; not affected) + M (mass) REAL M |
REALM (sphere of action; orbit) | |
| 27 |
One in race runs for lead past European (5) |
R UMAN |
RUMAN (archaic [past] term for a native or citizen of Romania [a European]) |
|
| 28 |
Price assuming no charge for barrier (5) |
FEE (price) containing (assuming) NC (no charge) FE (NC) E |
FENCE (barrier) | |
| 31 |
Course wanting lecturer prepares to print (4) |
INKS |
INKS (daubs, covers, blackens or colours with ink; prepares for printing |
|
| 32 |
Government rebels clash (3) |
RAJ (government) reversed (rebels) JAR< |
JAR (clash) |
Thanks for the blog. My solution is here , although I didn’t enjoy it very much. I’ve come to the conclusion that these puzzles are not for me.
My solving experience was very similar to Duncan’s. All was well except for ASIS which I had to have explained by Ho! I found this very useful list of Latin phrases on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_phrases which also refers to RIEN and NADA which made the endgame simpler. I hadn’t thought to look at the title, so thanks for that Duncan.
Nice puzzle, so thanks also to Radler.
All enjoyed here, though I too feel less than at ease when odd Latin phrases crop up. French and a little Spanish I can cope with. 🙂 A nice puzzle, with a final last satisfying PDM when it became clear what the title was referring to.
Thanks as always. Looks like something I should have been able to finish, but owing to various distractions I never really got started — just a few words here and there, none of them crossing the upper-left Circle of Doom.
I don’t remember solving a Radler puzzle before (this is only my second year of solving Inquisitors) so I was perhaps unfamiliar with the setter’s style and found it harder than usual. Like you, Duncan, I couldn’t understand 10 down. In fact I see now that I never did fully complete the puzzle, since I erroneously entered TROTHED (“engaged to”) at 19 down, making it impossible to solve 22 across. But I agree that there were some excellent clues, such as for AMENDMENT at 33 across. I did find the Latin phrase, but errors in identifying the omitted letters meant that I ended up with a question mark instead of the larger circle.
I think ‘carelessly’ in 10d is an anagrind – so the letters are in NoEyEbRoWs*.
Totally defeated by the endgame. Thanks for the explanation.
I remember Radler’s puzzle a year ago (‘ONCE’) as much for the quality of its clues as for its interesting and challenging theme of old capitals. This one was a similar experience. There were many clues to savour, of which the following stood out:
CON with its four definitions
CRADLE with Radler in the wordplay
TOOTHED which wanted to be TROTHED (‘engaged’) at first
AMENDMENT with ‘noon’ giving AMEND, not N
REALM and JAR for their economy and surfaces
The clues took some unravelling as well as solving in order to collect all the correct omitted letters. I would very much like to have known in advance the total number of thematic clues (14), so that I could check my total against it, but I understood later why that information could not reasonably be given.
It was fortunate that I decided to shade the cells in the grid corresponding to the omitted letters because doing so revealed not only the 14-letter phrase but also the fact that I had made two errors in my set of omitted letters.
My Latin was good enough for me to work out what the phrase NULLAM REM NATAM meant (something emphatic like ‘nothing on earth’ would be a free translation), but I had never come across it before. I found an online reference to it that also gave me the two words RIEN and NADA.
Thanks to Radler and Duncan.
Gridfill not too much of a problem but finding a quote not even knowing the language made it a DNF for me.
Grade 5 in latin 1961-not my strong suit
thanks radler and duncan
I thought this was a great puzzle. Nice that the omitted letters appeared in the grid so that there was little grid staring, and that a search for the phrase led quickly to the two derivations. Latin’s not too much of a problem for me (though I’ve forgotten most of it) as the Romans hadn’t been long out of Britain when I went to school. I’m guessing the circles are a nice touch from the blogger rather than a requirement of the puzzle?
JACK in its own right means “nothing” so I took the title to be a pluralised form of this than missing the HIT.
John Nick @6
Thanks for that explanation of RENEW, which was a bit of a puzzle for me at the time of solving.
I enjoyed the grid fill, though with several question marks now resolved by duncanshiell. I lacked the leisure, and several of the omitted letters, to search for a latin phrase that doesn’t leap out of Chambers. If it had occurred to me to shade the precise letters omitted in the clues, I guess all would have become clear!
Thanks to Radler and duncanshiell.
Didn’t enjoy this one that much. Failed to parse 14a RAKSHASA without help so didn’t get the two omitted A’s; I didn’t have the L’s in 6d ALLSORTS & 13a ARMADILLO at the intersection but selected the adjacent unchecked L’s, and I thought the I in 21d AS IS was missing from the wordplay – what a mess.
Got there in the end, but not unaided. (So, thanks to Radler and to Duncan for the complete explanation of 22a CON.