Inquisitor 1934: No Matter How by Kruger

6 comments on “Inquisitor 1934: No Matter How by Kruger”

1. 

   David Langford

   #1 - Tue 25th Nov 25, 10:19

   
   

   Lots of fun again. Many thanks to Kruger and Bertandjoyce. I wonder whether I was the only one who, before twigging what was going on, confidently wrote CHEAP at 33D since it didn’t at the time seem to need treatment. (No “cheap as chips” in my 2002 Brewer, but an online check confirmed it’s since been added.) Couldn’t see any other way to parse 5D.

2. 

   Sagittarius

   #2 - Tue 25th Nov 25, 11:21

   
   

   Various challenges here. As usual it wasn’t always clear which word is superfluous, and how to resolve clashes with what seemed perfectly reputable answers (SOFTEN for 31A, for instance, appeared to have the right number of letters, as well as CHEAP in 33D). But the real problems came once the penny had dropped, via NEAR as DAMNIT, because the fertile English language offers lots of apposite phrases (eg DEAD as A DOORNAIL, or A DODO, and NICE, NEAT or even SMART as NINEPENCE.) Disentangling this lot was enjoyable but took quite a while, and I never did work out that RIGHT was the desired accompaniment to NINEPENCE. But my final and insuperable problem was wholly self-inflicted, by mis-entering LEETED for 25A (simple misprinting; I parsed the clue fine), and thereby seeking vainly for expressions like MOONSTRUCK as MAINE. In partial defence of the failure to solve 13D, it did look as if it would include an anagram of TRUCKS going to STRUCK, and I don’t think of SMART as meaning being punished, as opposed to being in pain. However, failure is failure. I too agree, with a shrug, with bertandjoyce about 5D. Thanks to them, and to Kruger (does the title mean anything?)

3. 

   Alan B

   #3 - Tue 25th Nov 25, 12:49

   
   

   I rather liked the clue to NOUNY, ‘defining’ a word using more than one example, plus the use of ‘possibly’ (a ‘?’ at the end being a common alternative). In this instance, of course, there are thousands of examples of ‘noun’ that could have been used, but it was natural that the setter related them to the pigeon in the clue.

   I could not finish this puzzle as it took me far too long to unravel many of the clues before (or while) solving them. Among the letters I extracted I got ‘IN BREWER’ but not enough of the seven letters preceding that, and I never ‘got’, and therefore never appreciated, the theme.

   For my own interest, since reading the blog, I looked up a few things in Chambers and found ‘as near as dammit’ (not ‘… damn it’ as in Brewer) and ‘as near as ninepence’ (I did not know this phrase, with either ‘right’ or ‘near’).

4. 

   Neil Hunter

   #4 - Tue 25th Nov 25, 13:41

   
   

   I also confidently entered ‘cheap’ – partly because, at that point, all the thematic answers had been four letters long, so I was taking that as a rule. I repaired that problem, but not the feeling that all those nests and eggs sounded nooky (never mind the parsing). The penny-drop in this case (thanks to butter and old boots) was a great pleasure: thanks to Kruger and Bertandjoyce.

5. 

   Bertandjoyce

   #5 - Tue 25th Nov 25, 16:39

   
   

   Chambers defines ‘as…..’ or ‘….. as’ – ‘no matter how……’ which explains the title.

6. 

   arnold

   #6 - Tue 25th Nov 25, 16:54

   
   

   Certainly TOUGH AS OLD BOOTS this one, between the obscure phrases and the (for me) rather unhelpful extra letters. It might have been Type 2 rather than Type 1 fun, but it did make me acquire a used copy of Brewer from World Of Books for £3. Perhaps it’ll come in useful again sometime.

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