Inquisitor 1792: Trios by eXternal

19 comments on “Inquisitor 1792: Trios by eXternal”

1. I’m here to check out the parsings for the title

   I wasnt familiar with Père being added to the author but parsing and anagrinders got me there, what with trios and letter count it HAD to be that title
   I’m a great fan of Dumas and I could see the characters swashbuckling their way through the grid and it seemed like the easy bit to stick the motto in
   Splendid puzzle(awful fillum)

   Thanks HG and eX

2. I loved the way the ‘trios’ theme ran through this, covering the title of the work, the name of the author and the names of the characters – as well as the way that the clues were distributed, with normal clues separating trios of clues, as noted by the blogger (although it took me a long time, relatively, to discover that).

   It was a pleasure working through all the clues, some of them (where the trio was hard to pin down) being quite tough. When the grid was complete, and I was certain of having identified all but two of the 36 trios (and picked out their middle letters), I recognised both the writer and the work pretty much simultaneously. With this theme, incidentally, I didn’t have to look anything up.

   Thanks to eXternal and HolyGhost.

3. Just seen the parsing of the down clues-this was a case of “no cigar”although I got the theme
   Must try harder!

4. Superb puzzle

5. All very cleverly done I thought. I particularly liked the way that the theme of TRIO ran all of the way through the puzzle, from start to finish. A really excellent puzzle which was a pleasure to (successfully) complete – with all clues solved and parsed correctly here.

6. You had me scratching my head over “three consecutive cells” until I realised that you probably meant “three consecutive clues”.

7. How great to notice that Dumas has the same number of letters as his most famous novel. That his three protagonists the same number of letters as their slogan. No search engine required. Others have rightly praised the elegance of construction and unity of theme; I loved the helpfulness of the setter in the patterning of both the slogan in the grid and ‘defective’ clues. Likely one of the picks of the year.

8. What an absolutely wonderful puzzle, a definite contender for Inquisitor of the Year for me if nothing else than for its sheer elegance.

   Scarcely believable that title, author, main characters and slogan all have 18 letters!

9. TonyG @6: now corrected – well spotted, thanks.

10. O is joy unbounded! (…and it is!!)

    My first completion for several months. Unusually I worked out the theme after only having solved about five clues, and actually completely independently of those five — the Three Muskeeters are a famous trio, and once I spotted the 18-lettered-ness of title, author (thank you, Wiki) and protagonists, I was away.

    I got confused by the “sets of trios” and had to reread the rubric a number of times. But I eventually understood at just the right moment to unlock a few more clues.

    Thanks to eXternal — an early contender for puzzle of the year for me too, (a) for the elegance of three sets of 18 letters, and (b) for the satisfaction of completion. Given the trials of a taxing day job it’s a very welcome diversion each evening.

    And thanks to HolyGhost for the blog too.

11. It’s all been said. A brilliant puzzle with a gob-smacking grid construction. The only bit that floored me was the parsing of 38D. As a teenager, I saw bits of the tale on TV and so knew enough not to need any research for the endgame. But the OTT swashbuckling put me off the book. I did, however, read The Count of Monte Cristo and The Black Tulip, and I enjoyed both.
    Thanks to External for an entertaining ride and to HG for the thorough analysis.

12. Not bad at this setting lark, is he?

13. Such a satisfying puzzle to solve. Everything so neat and beautifully crafted.
    Thanks eXternal and HolyGhost.

14. I wanted to add that the thing that elevates eXternal’s puzzles, both alone and with Serpent, is that not only is the grid construction a thing of wonder but that they never forget that we are all solvers and as such like good clueing, an abundance of which are always on show in both setters’ work.

15. Apologies for the quite dreadful grammar in my last post. Long day.

16. Nothing to add to the above really, except to say that this was thoroughly enjoyed!

17. Lots to admire in this beautiful puzzle. Chapeau, eXternal!

18. Coming late to the party here, but I really should add my tuppence-worth of enthusiasm for the neatness of the whole thing. All thanks to eXternal and HolyGhost.

    I didn’t try to look at the generated letter trios until I’d filled the grid, and it was a nice surprise to find how easily they rearranged to author and title — I’d been half expecting some grim anagrammatic struggle. And it’s always cheering to complete the endgame without needing to check the book or fiddle with Google. Great stuff.

19. DL:18 Hear hear to your second paragraph!

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