Inquisitor 1686: Nearly Ten to Four by Eclogue

23 comments on “Inquisitor 1686: Nearly Ten to Four by Eclogue”

1. The thematic design made this puzzle quite a challenging one – much like what I remember of this setter’s previous puzzles. With just two clues left to solve (16a and 31d) I started to work on the theme, of which all I had at that point were the two unclued entries TEXAN and GEESE. Not surprisingly, I was unable to make any connections between those two words, or between those words and the narrative in the preamble. I had another go at 31d, which I solved (SCLERE), and also found an error I made (a false clash} near the NW corner. That enabled me to finish the grid with 16a (BOROUGHS), and both clashes then made perfect sense. I saw the film Sully quite recently and remembered the names of all the relevant people and places except SKILES the co-pilot.
   This was a very well-constructed puzzle with a good variety of clues, including what I would call accessible ones. The ‘map’ corresponded very well with one I found online, with the two potential landing points and the actual one. It was an interesting theme, and that always adds to my appreciation of a puzzle.
   I agree that the wording in two parts of the preamble would have been better with Hihoba’s corrections, although the word ‘available’ in the first instance made that instruction clear enough, and I readily guessed what was meant in the second case.
   Thanks to Eclogue and Hihoba.

2. Thanks Eclogue, I really enjoyed this. I guessed the theme from seeing LAGUARDIA but had to read up on the full story to finalise the possible destination clash.

   I think that you are being overly harsh with the rubric being misleading. The instruction about the spaces didn’t cause a problem at the time and I it still seems fine to me now: the letter counts refer to the space available, simple as that. Maybe the instruction could have ended there I suppose?

3. Yes Kippax (#2), the numbers refer to the space available, but not for the clue answers which are much longer! If the word clue had been omitted, it would have been a bit better, but as it is I can’t agree with it. Sorry, very pedantic, but what do you expect of an ex teacher and GCE exam-setter?

4. Perhaps because preambles generally confuse me anyway, the instruction seemed clear enough and set me on the right path (with no unexpected obstacles encountered, unlike the plane in question). The grid fill was straightforward enough, but I made heavy weather of the end-game, finding things in finished grids never being one of my strong suits. It all fell together rather neatly, though, I thought. The most enjoyable IQ in a while as far as I was concerned. 🙂

5. I liked this and remembered the headline
   Is that the black box in the middle?

6. Good idea copmus (#5). I wondered about the meaning of the black square.

7. I found the Hudson River all right, but I couldn’t work out what was wanted from the Texan’s contiguous path; I was thinking more geographical than nominal. Seems obvious now (if his route, pre-geese, looks odd.) Always difficult when you have great clumps of letters missing, but it was a fair test, and, for me, Teterboro, via Wikipedia, opened everything up.

   I agree with above: very enjoyable; thanks to Eclogue and Hihoba.

8. A very enjoyable IQ with a great finale. It took us a while to uncover the theme and we then struggled to find the last part of the endgame. It wasn’t until we googled the flight path of 1549 that we realised that it revealed the pilot’s name.

   Thanks Eclogue for such a satisfying solve all round.
   Thanks Hihoba. Thankfully the points you give the yellow card to did not effect our solve!

9. I guessed the number immediately on seeing the title – though not the theme at that stage.
   Once I had GEESE, I did a search for “1549 GEESE” and figured it was about Sully: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3263904/.
   I then started trying to shoehorn PILOT into 43a but it, understandably, refused.
   All-in-all, a great puzzle and not a bad Tom Hanks movie, either.

10. It’s amazing what one can learn from these puzzles. I knew nothing about this flight before, and am always glad to acquire new knowledge. I didn’t notice anything wrong with the wording of the preamble at the time of solving, but having read the blog I think I agree with Hihoba’s point.

    Great puzzle. Have to confess I forgot all about deciphering the title!

11. I didn’t attempt the puzzle, so perhaps ought not to comment, but having myself been involved in discussions about the use of “contiguous” I’m going to chip in regardless. So – to my way of thinking – a “block” is a group of cells entirely connected by their edges. A “contiguous” group is one in which at least one pair meet only at a mutual corner. Feel free to disagree, of course.

12. Ifor @11
    I too have been involved a bit in such discussions! I had the chastening experience of using my more restricted definition of ‘contiguous’ in IQ 1562 (by Ifor) back in 2018 and for that reason alone just failed to finish that puzzle. (There was a ‘contiguous group of cells’ in a heart shape.) I took note of HolyGhost’s advice on that occasion and since then have always approached a setter’s use of the word ‘contiguous’ with caution.

13. I failed at the last on this. I didn’t take “highlight the 43s contiguous path” as meaning his name, so I was looking for …well I don’t know what I was looking for, which is why I failed.

14. So, Ifor (#11) two contiguous blocks as here would imply two blocks (edge to edge) touching at one corner? My wording would have been two blocks of contiguous cells, but by your definition that is wrong too. It should be two groups of contiguous cells.
    I have to say, that though this irked Ho and me enough to comment on it, I didn’t stop me from enjoying the puzzle a great deal, or from getting the solution!

15. Hi; Without in any way criticising (or even referencing) the puzzle, I agree with both of your description/example pairs and would use them where relevant, but of course that’s just a personal view.

    Alan; I remember it well, and was indeed referring to that episode.

16. [Ifor, on that occasion you used the phrase ‘a group of contiguous cells’.]

17. Sorry for being dim here Hihoba but I don’t understand the link to that earlier Chalicea puzzle?

18. Kippax (#17), It is number 1549!

19. Thanks all round. Much enjoyed here too. I got the Teterboro clash first, which meant absolutely nothing to me, and couldn’t resist a quick Google for that plus GEESE, which did the trick. I don’t remember seeing a graphic of the flight path but eventually twigged that SULLENBERGER, who seemed to deserve a better namecheck than just TEXAN, was the right length.

20. Thanks Hi @18

    D’oh!

21. I agree with comment #9. I think this is the first IQ puzzle I remember where the title was helpful – if not a complete giveaway.

22. We enjoyed this, thanks, Eclogue. I have read the book about the event and the geese were the prompt. It was great how accurate the map was but we still needed to look up Sullenberger to complete our grid – wht a star! Thanks to Hihoba.

23. Really enjoyable puzzle. Steady progress with the clues, followed by an interesting & entertaining endgame. It may well feature in my end-of-year vote.

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