Inquisitor 1606: Posthum(or)ous by Phi

12 comments on “Inquisitor 1606: Posthum(or)ous by Phi”

1. Perhaps because it wasn’t half as taxing as the previous week’s, I found this to be fairly straightforward. Ok, I wouldn’t have managed the composer’s name without recourse to Google, and was glad that I could check the inscription. The musical joke I was aware of, the only pity I thought being that nothing came of spotting it – perhaps a “write something under the grid” sort of thing would have been in order? Enjoyable though as ever.

2. I like it when Inquisitor brings lesser known but interesting things to one’s attention; this was an excellent example. And the clues were relatively gentle to compensate for the obscurity of the theme (and I like a bit of Schnittke).

   For quite a while I had _ _ H N running down the right hand column and naturally thought we would be in the world (or under the world) of John Locke, say, or John Smith. But at some point the music had to be heard. I found the Softest Knits helpful.

   Thanks to Hihoba and Phi

3.  

   Thanks For the great boating blog. Miles better than boring book by Jerome someone.Must save it.

   Now to have a look at the crossword blog

4. And nice blog on Phi’s puzzle too. I listened to Concerto Grosso afterward-nay watched it and really liked the music but now I have to conclude that Debussy’s La Mer would be a more suitable accompaniment to the sailing blog.

   THANKS ALL

    

5. The checked letters in the Y column suggested Schnittke early on, so I worked on that basis and assumed that the X column would be COMPOSING (I had the OM and the penultimate N). A quick look at Wiki put me right. I didn’t know about Schnittke’s tombstone,although I’ve heard some of his music,  so was pleased to learn something new. I thought the link with Mozart’s Musical Joke was clever.

   I was expecting moans about “obscure” classical music from those who prefer obscure (to me) pop and TV shows, so I’m glad to see positive comments so far. Thanks Phi, your puzzles are always welcome.

6. There is as always a blog: http://phionline.net.nz/setters-blogs/inquisitor-1606-posthumorous/

   I was somewhat trepidated by choosing what some would think an obscure theme, but I have been a great fan of Schnittke’s music for decades now (I was at the Proms on 3 August 1998 when the head of Radio 3 suddenly appeared on stage, and I said to the other half: “Schnittke’s died” before any announcement was made).  Glad a few of you have gone on to find some of the music to listen to.

7. I enjoyed this.  I don’t know anything by Schnittke (never heard of him) so I must have a listen and find out what he is all about.

   Phi @6 – Thanks for dropping in.  I didn’t have any issue with the obscure theme, it was an interesting snippet of information to build a puzzle on.  The puzzle tells you what you have to find and then it is just a matter of going to Google/Wikipedia to confirm or consolidate one’s guess and have an interesting read-up on the subject.

   The annoyingly obscure puzzles are those where the puzzle ends up in a internet-fishing expedition looking for random facts that might link together to reveal a theme.  These are essentially a quiz using a crossword puzzle as a starter. I like the puzzles where there is a crossword with a learning element as a corollary.  The crossword needs to lead you to the research, not the research enabling you to do the crossword.

8. An enjoyable puzzle despite absolutely no prior knowledge of the theme (albeit I have heard of Mozart!). Being such a philistine, I spent far too long looking for something thematic with regards to schnitzel, and I still don’t get the joke. Thanks to setter and blogger.

9. Most enjoyable but with a sting in the tail for me. When it’s in a foreign language there is no shortcut to resolving the phrase given by the initial letters of the surplus words, unless, of course, you’re familiar with the language. Having completed the grid I had to spend quite a while winkling out one or two of the surplus words in order to establish Einmusikalischer Spass. But it was worth it because it led to A Musical Joke and thus to justification of the very clever title – Posthum(or)ous.

10. Agree with the sentiments above. A none too taxing puzzle which taught me something about someone and something I didn’t know about, so thanks.

11. Enjoyed — the usual thanks to Phi and Hihoba. Being a another musical ignoramus who’d never heard of Schnittke (Mozart, yes) wasn’t a huge obstacle. The letters from clues were clearly spelling out something in German beginning with EIN MUSIK which would be by MOZART, and Wikipedia (not to mention the crossword title) helped out there.

    Dead end report: for 28A I first pencilled in REAR, which seemed a more or less plausible double-def from ATTACK and NANNY, and on that basis ruled out Schnittke as Y despite his being the only plausible SCHN composer in the little Dictionary of Classical Music that I use as a crib. But getting TOITOI forced a certain amount of rethinking …

12. A late comment as I have been busy working (yes!) as a volunteer at the GBBF (Google it if mystified). So I have only just caught up with IQs.

    I agree with most of the above. I enjoyed the gridfill for both of the last two puzzles but, whereas for 1605 I soon lost the urge to complete the endgame, it was a pleasure to so for this one and I learned a few things in the process.

    Many thanks to Phi and Hihoba.

     

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