Here is the last in the sequence of 5 debutants: Soup’s first puzzle for the Inquisitor though he has set puzzles for The Guardian.
Preamble: Rows and columns represent streets, with arrows indicating driving direction (one-way or two-way). Answers to clues a to ai trace a tour through the city, being entered in the grid in sequence, starting in the top left-hand corner and ending in the square just below it. Numbered squares represent traffic lights; each answer ends at a traffic light and the next answer begins in the same square. Solutions to clues A–G provide the letters found at traffic lights, according to the numbers in brackets.
All squares are visited either once or twice, but never more. An entry may take any number of right-angle turns, but the driving direction must always be obeyed. U-turns may be performed only when stopped at traffic lights. Letters in the coloured squares are jumbles of the five items at the top of a thematic 2022 list.
One definition is not found in standard UK dictionaries but can easily be checked online.
Thanks to Hex for the inspiration.
My initial reaction could be captured by a Three-Letter Abbreviation of one flavour or another. Where to start? Well, read the rubric again and a few times more, take a deep breath, and tackle the 7 clues to the ‘traffic lights’: I think I solved 4 or 5 without too much difficulty. OK, now for a lengthy session of cold-solving.
At the end of that (they weren’t all that tough as a rule) I had just 6 left unsolved – 2 in a row plus a run of 4 – and still had a couple of the traffic lights to do. For a bit of light relief (!?) I made a start on the grid-fill; a hesitant 4 or 5 from the start were pencilled in, plus maybe 3 leading up to the end. Time for a break until tomorrow afternoon.
Finished off the clues, then edged tentatively along the grid from the start and a bit more towards the end, enough to be confident of BOSTON. I immediately thought of marathons (and would later waste what seemed like hours chasing that wild goose), and this fitted in with the possibilities of PARIS, LONDON, and CHICAGO & no ideas about the fifth, a jumble of GOOT??. The next 36 hours were a write-off: people for dinner, house guest, a long walk and lunch with them all on Friday … slight panic creeping in – will I finish and still have time for the blog before 10:00 on Tuesday? 
Finally, a sigh of relief as I complete the bottom left quadrant and a bit above, and everything checks out. In the static grid alongside, the traffic lights are red (but unnumbered) and the row/column labels tie in with the locations given in the table, ie HOSTESS is entered progressively in cells 1a 1b 1c 1d 2d 2c 1c.
A very tough journey with Soup, the kids in the back continually asking “Are we nearly there yet?” Still, thanks for the challenge. Did I pass?
PS I nearly forgot. It’s BOGOTA that completes the list of the top 5 most congested cities in 2022. I had thought that the title would have been cryptic or more subtle, not literal. Maybe a case of not seeing the jam for the cars?
I am deeply indebted to John Lowe & kenmac for the dynamic grid below – John painstakingly produced the 243-page pdf file and Ken heroically animated it. (The first traverse of a letter is left behind in blue, a second passage leaves the letter red, and earlier words fade.)
| Traffic lights | |||
| Clue | Answer | Wordplay | |
| A | Pens, formerly pens north of the Border (32,11,2,28,23) | REEDS | REEDS (ree, an enclosure, Scot) |
| B | Dussek composition featuring all except the second banks of violins (35,14,4,10,16) | DESKS | [D(u)SSEK]* |
| C | Priest enters Bishop’s office for drunken bout (1,22,20,33,29) | SPREE | PR(iest) in SEE (Bishop’s office) |
| D | Shelf for incomplete financial records (25,31,17,19,21) | LEDGE | LEDGE(r) (financial records) |
| E | Some drink (e.g. stout) could be held in them (30,27,24,6) | KEGS | (drin)K EG S(tout) |
| F | Chucks Cockney stuff over one side (7,26,9,8,12,15) | FLINGS | FINGS (things, Cockney, stuff) around L(eft) (one side) |
| G | Go second time for an appointment (5,3,13,34,18) | TRYST | TRY (go) S(econd) T(ime) |
| City tour | ||||
| Clue | Answer | Location | Wordplay | |
| a | Deputy Führer engages East German whore (7) | HOSTESS | 1a 1b 1c 1d 2d 2c 1c | HESS (deputy Führer) around OST (east, Ger) |
| b | In the local, handle tablet (5) | STELE | 1c 1d 2d 3d 4d | STELE (steal², handle, dialect) |
| c | Might one be seen making stops in Bude, Penhallam, Salem, Mousehole and Torpoint? (5) | EMMET | 4d 4e 4f 3f 2f | (Bud)E (Penhalla)M (Sale)M (Mousehol)E (Torpoin)T |
| d | Wrong to take last slice of chocolate cake (5) | TORTE | 2f 2e 1e 1f 1g | TORT (wrong) (chocolat)E |
| e | After regular losses, we exit tennis courts; they straighten up (9) | EXTENSORS | 1g 2g 2f 3f 3g 4g 4h 3h 2h | (w)E (e)X(i)T (t)E(n)N(i)S (c)O(u)R(t)S |
| f | Foot becomes inflamed from toe to heel (5) | SERIF | 2h 1h 1i 1j 2j | FIRES< (becomes inflamed) |
| g | Type of steak tart as part of starter? Quite the reverse! (8, 2 words) | FLAT IRON | 2j 2i 3i 4i 4j 4k 3k 2k | TIRO (starter) in FLAN (tart) |
| h | Either of the essential parts of Danish seaweed (4) | NORI | 2k 1k 1l 2l | (Da)N…OR…I(sh) |
| i | Affected: almost defiantly pompous (8) | INFLATED | 2l 2k 2j 2i 3i 4i 5i 6i | [DEFIANTL(y)]* |
| j | Alters 18th-C author’s short manuscript – gripping writing? (7) | DEFORMS | 6i 5i 5h 5g 5f 4f 4g | DEFO(e) (18th-C author) MS (manuscript) around (w)R(riting) |
| k | Captivated by Italian and Greek islands, I retired, fond of others’ company (8) | SOCIABLE | 4g 5g 6g 7g 8g 9g 10g 10h | ELBA & COS (Italian & Greek islands) around I all< |
| l | Welcomed rescinding of instruction from one requesting removal of wheat and potatoes? (8) | EMBRACED | 10h 9h 9g 9f 10f 11f 11e 10e | DECARB ME (no wheat or potatoes) all< |
| m | Nation’s evil overlord? (5) | DALEK | 10e 10f 10g 10h 10i | cryptic definition (Terry N., creator of the Daleks for Doctor Who; Davros seems to be the actual overlord) |
| n | ‘The man will cry’, opines Spooner, giving rebuke severely (8) | KEELHAUL | 10i 10j 10k 9k 8k 8j 9j 9i | Spoonerism of HE’LL CALL (‘The man will cry’) |
| o | Singing gently to a bull lying uncomfortably (10) | LULLABYING | 9i 9j 9k 9l 8l 7l 6l 5l 4l 3l | [A BULL LYING]* |
| p | Most bloody awful goitres (7) | GORIEST | 3l 3k 3j 4j 5j 6j 6k | [GOITRES]* |
| q | Sheet, when rewritten, indicated things (5) | THESE | 6k 5k 5j 6j 7j | [SHEET]* |
| r | Half of meal sent back, with slight change in ingredients attributed to added preservative (8) | EMBALMED | 7j 7k 7l 8l 9l 10l 11l 12l | ME(al)< BLAMED (attributed) with AL swapped |
| s | Ring-shaped charm on the nose removed in repugnance (7) | DISLIKE | 12l 12k 11k 11j 11i 10i 10j | DISC-LIKE (ring-shaped) ¬C(harm) |
| t | When inebriated, oiliness leads to dropped syllables (8) | ELISIONS | 10j 11j 12j 12i 11i 11h 11g 12g | [OILINESS]* |
| u | Fine candlestick (6) | SCONCE | 12g 12h 11h 11g 11f 12f | double definition |
| v | One’s involved at the point of death – or soon after? (8) | EXECUTOR | 12f 12e 11e 11d 12d 12c 11c 11b | double definition |
| w | Twice dance about to sort of recorder (10) | REEL-TO-REEL | 11b 11a 12a 12b 12c 11c 11b 10b 10c 9c | 2×REEL (dance) around TO |
| x | Uncles not fat after cycling (7) | LENDERS | 9c 10c 10d 10e 9e 9f 8f | SLENDER (not fat) with letters cycled |
| y | Hiding from view, taking out bottom from covering, I held in tinkle (9) | SHIELDING | 8f 7f 7g 7h 6h 6i 7i 8i 8h | SHEL(l) (covering) around I in DING (tinkle) |
| z | Breathe with pain in debilitating asphyxia (4) | GASP | 8h 8g 8f 8e | (debilitatin)G ASP(hyxia) |
| aa | Complete a diary for report for one who studies culture in texts (10) | PHILOLOGUE | 8e 8d 9d 9c 8c 8b 8a 9a 10a 10b | homophone of FILL A LOG (complete a diary) |
| ab | Plant protection revoked by Old King Neddy (8) | EELGRASS | 10b 9b 8b 7b 7c 7d 7e 6e | LEE< (protection) GR (former king) ASS (neddy) |
| ac | Start to scurry and clamber about? (8) | SCRAMBLE | 6e 6f 5f 5e 4e 3e 3d 3c | S(curry) [CLAMBER]* &lit. |
| ad | You once knocked over jug, holding a pair of glasses? (7) | EYEWEAR | 3c 4c 4d 5d 6d 6c 7c | YE< (you, archaic) EWER (jug) around A |
| ae | Sacking elderly rabbi first of all (8) | RAVAGING | 7c 6c 5c 5b 5a 6a 7a 7b | AGING (elderly) after RAV (rabbi) |
| af | Broadcasting dismal short verse makes money (5) | GRAVY | 7b 6b 5b 4b 4c | homophone of GREY (dismal) around V(erse) |
| ag | Guillotined those in favour – but the answer’s still affirmative (3) | YES | 4c 3c 2c | (a)YES (those in favour) |
| ah | Island’s small boat (4) | SARK | 2c 2b 2a 3a | S(mall) ARK (boat) |
| ai | Maniacal Valkyrie picking off Ymir and Iván in the vanguard shows robust fibre (6) | KEVLAR | 3a 4a 4b 3b 2b 2a | [VALKYRIE]* ¬ Y(mir) ¬ I(ván) |
What a treat!
It took quite a while to complete the fill but we enjoyed it so much that we really didn’t want to stop. Apart from Bert’s training session for his up-and-coming walk, we stuck at it for the day before finally finishing it over our evening meal.
Our one complaint was that we created quite a large amount of mess from all our rubbing-outs!
Thanks to HolyGhost, John and kenmac for all their efforts. Mostly however, thanks to Soup for a really splendid IQ. We have enjoyed all your puzzles so it was a delight to see that you had set an IQ. We notice that you are intending to be in York for the S&B – we will buy you a drink as a thank you for providing so much pleasure.
An outstanding puzzle – quite tough and complex, but very rewarding to solve and, eventually, to complete.
I solved the clues A to G before attempting any others and then solved any of the remaing 35 clues that I could. When I had enough to work on I got going with the absorbing grid-filling phase, following the strict rules. With the grid one-third full, I realised I must have made at least one mistake and had to start again! This time I got almost to the end, leaving just two clues, aa and ab, unsolved, and a few blanks in the SW corner. By that time I had worked out the theme and was finally able to crack the last two clues and finish.
I retraced my route to check that the rule for 1 or 2 visits was followed, and indeed it was.
The animated grid is amazing!
Many thanks to Soup, HolyGhost and those responsible for the animated grid.
Incredible blog. Well done all.
I managed to cold-solve most of the clues, but the ones I couldn’t get were the ones that I really needed in order to make a start on the grid, so I ultimately got nowhere near finishing unfortunately.
Looking at the solution, I’m also a bit confused as to how he entries work. I’m probably missing something, but why does the entry for HOSTESS only obey the arrows and take a right turn when it hits cell 1d? I would have assumed it went 1a, 1b, 12b…, or at the very least would have turned at 1c.
Great stuff overall. Many thanks to Soup for the challenge. Very glad to see Hex getting a call-out too. I had the pleasure of chatting to them briefly in Stamford last year and they were the most humble, lovely couple you could hope to meet.
It was too hard. Elitist. Borderline impossible to fill the chain. A misfire, sorry Soup.
I could see what was happening but my satnav (aka brain) was playing up.
I was reminded of the South Circular, Place de Concorde etc etc
As for stopping in a cafe or bar to ask directions I realised my Spanish was non-existent
Seriously though I thought it was a very well devised puzzle but I wouldnt have got very far without “a little help from my friends”
Thanks all.
More pleasing for the setter than the solver.
Overall I (just about) enjoyed it despite the hard work.
Positives:
– a totally new and I thought fun concept
– interesting theme
– lots of different ways in (I used a mixture of the traffic lights, the coloured letters and starting from beginning and end at the same time)
– some fun mini logic puzzles along the lines of ‘I have five letters to get from this cell to that cell, hmm where could I go’
Negatives:
– Not a big fan of final grids with muddled up letters, it feels even more futile than usual to try and fit a letter into a box simply according to a number of rules (as opposed to, to create real words or allow highlighted words to emerge)
– Very hard to do without getting all the traffic lights (and took me ages to get FLINGS)
– Some really roundabout (sic) entries, particularly HOSTESS which was very fiendish as a first clue – I had it straight across from 1 to 2 for ages
But overall glad I did it, and wow! it must have taken ages to pull together
The idea was clever and the cluing fair but after what seemed a promising start I got bogged down in possible routes and gave up. Thanks all the same to Soup and HG.
A longer comment got lost after I realized I wasn’t seeing the animated grid “below”, experimentally turned off my ad blocker, saw a static grid below, unwisely clicked on it, admired the animation, and then found everything I’d typed had vanished.
Hi all,
First, thanks to HG and John and KenMac for an epic blog post. I am bowled over by the animation – that is way beyond the call of duty. I thought you might have a snake-line on a static grid if you could face doing it: the animation is a thing of beauty.
This was a very hard puzzle. I knew that when I set it; John Henderson knew that when he took it. I did a similar one (by Hex) in Gyles Brandreth’s book; it took me a couple of several-hour sessions and then many evenings as well. But I loved solving it, and I wanted to write my own.
Gila@3: It’s a tour of the city, that’s all – no set route! Just a meander.
So… For those who enjoyed it, I’m glad you did – it sounds like you got the bit between your teeth. For those for whom it was too hard, I’m sorry it wasn’t your thing. I don’t think it was elitist, though – no specialist knowledge required, just a stubbornness and a willingness to spend more time than usual on it. I doubt I will be a regular IQ contributor – it’s hard to have the ideas, compared with a normal grid – but I’m pleased this saw the light of day, if only because the people who liked it seem to have really liked it, and that’s always nice. It was interesting to watch people making headway with it on CrosswordSolver.org, too.
Hope to see you in another outlet sometime.
Gila @3: to go from one cell to an adjacent one, the driver can choose between moving horizontally and vertically as long as they respect the rules: one-way street/two-way street, no U-turns except after having stopped at a traffic light, no visiting a cell that they’ve already been through twice.
Hamish/Soup @9: I had been contemplating a snake-line but time was tight and when John & Ken came up with the offer at the 11th hour (well, quarter past 10 on Sunday morning actually) I thought “Why not?” – and it landed in my Inbox shortly after midnight!
HG@11 Wail. I contemplated getting in touch with 225 and saying ‘whoever’s blogging it, here’s a completed grid for you’. I should have done that. Chapeau to all involved!
Hamish/Soup
As you have given such useful insights into the creation of this interesting puzzle, I thought I would feed back some observations I had while solving.
Clue F was the hardest of the clues A-G. (Arnold and I had a similar experience of it.) ‘Cockney stuff’ was hard because there are several distinct characteristics of Cockney speech and because ‘stuff’ can lead to too many words. Also, ‘one’ is too strong (in fact not needed) for the cryptic grammar, being needed just for the surface.
The hardest of the other set of clues were SHIELDING and PHILOLOGUE: SHIELDING because of the word order and the use of the word ‘tinkle’, and PHILOLOGUE because ‘for report’ is a rather weak indicator of a sound-alike.
Finally, the ‘double def’ EXECUTOR doesn’t quite work: one answer is EXECUTER (a word probably never used, but spelt thus if ever it were to be), the other being EXECUTOR (as required). Perhaps the ‘?’ covers this.
Thanks to Soup for posting. An important point however: you seem to be inferring that anyone who disliked it did so because they found it too hard. If I may say so that is a false distinction. I simply found the entry process a slog and therefore didn’t enjoy the puzzle. I have come across much harder puzzles that I’ve nonetheless still enjoyed.
Ok, that’s fair!
A truly magnificent puzzle I thought. Took me a lot of thinking to ascertain which possible entry methods were acceptable for each answer, but I got there relatively easily in the end. A wonderful idea and a fantastic grid construction. Probably one of the most demanding Inquisitors ever I reckon, so it gets a great big tick from me. Felt great to successfully complete this one. FLINGS held me up for some time, but when it yielded it made me chuckle!
AlanB @ 13 : My copy of Chambers lists EXECUTOR as a person who executes or performs (as well as giving the other definition relating to the legal execution of wills), so I think that it’s a fair double definition.
Really enjoyed this, thank you. I don’t manage to complete many IQs and this was not an exception. However I got a good way through, both in terms of clues answers and grid filling – enough to work out what the coloured squares would yield.
It was fun working through the meander of traffic lights. Clue A had me stumped, and I had enough gaps that filling the grid wasn’t quite working out, but it helped me get a few more clues surprisingly. Oddly some of the clues others thought were tricky or vague were some of the earlier solves for me, e.g. flings and philologue.
Me_Sat… @16
Chambers 2016 also gives executer as a noun [undefined] under the headword execute, one of whose meanings is (of course) ‘to put to death by law’. That was what prompted my comment. But I cannot fault your reasoning using the same source, and I therefore would not now find fault with the clue despite my misgivings!
hamish@9 didnt we see you yesterday oin the Graun-a nice change.
Slightly late, but still. I cold solved most of the clues, but didn’t get Reeds and a couple of the others.
I managed to put a few answers in the grid, starting from the end, but I was stuck on the first few. I now see why I couldn’t get started properly: I would never had thought that it would be considered fair to have something like Hostess where the answer doubles back on itself and the 4th letter is the same one in the grid as the 7th.
Although I could admire the skill involved in the setting of this puzzle, I am afraid I found Soup’s offering less than appetising. I simply didn’t want to go all round the houses, literally or otherwise. Having seen the final grid, I am still happy that I didn’t make (or attempt) the journey. I’m pleased that many others enjoyed the experience, tastes differ.
I really enjoyed this. Yes, it was hard, but we like hard, don’t we? Congratulations to Hamish, who is a really inventive setter. Great clues too: took so long to get the recorder, the dictator, the tinkle and the wheat and potatoes – a lot of kicking self going on. I very nearly got there, just mixing up a few Es Is and Ls in the SE corner, with the result that my 16-year-old Octavia had a nasty head-on with itself coming the other way, its bonnet the victim of one of those ELISIONS. Didn’t hurt a bit. Shall walk from now on if ever in one of those cities. I hope we get another Soup soon in the Inq – and in the Guardian Genius, come to that.
I really enjoyed this, though it was a DNF for me. I didn’t manage to solve clues A, v and ab but filled in a lot of the grid successfully in spite of this.
I loved the journey, but didn’t quite reach the final destination!