A Trivial Pursuit
Another year of superb puzzles passes, time again to look back …
When planning each bunch of five puzzles, it’s my aim to include a variety of topics while maintaining roughly the same average difficulty level. It’s easy sometimes to lose sight of the topics that have gone before, so when doing a review at the end of the year, I try to categorise the puzzles, Trivial Pursuit-style, to weigh up ratios. With a handful of puzzles falling into more than one of the fairly arbitrary categories, here’s my 2018-9 list:
Science (6) & Nature (3): 9;
Geography, including London (6) & History, including Legend/Folklore (5): 11;
Literature (8) & Quotations (5): 13;
Human Endeavour (3) & Politics (2): 5;
TV/Film: 7;
Art/Music 5;
Lifestyle/Sport/Games: 5.
Is there perhaps a message here for compilers nursing ideas for forthcoming puzzles? Not so much London, maybe (four puzzles)? More puzzles on Sport or Art (only one of each)? More quotations, perhaps? Any requests from solvers?
Statistically…
The 2019 Inquisitor calendar year featured 4 puzzles from each of Ifor, Kruger and Phi, 3 each from Chalicea and Eclogue, 2 from Dysart, eXtent, Gila, Harribobs, Serpent, Vismut and Schadenfreude, and a single contribution from 20 others – a total of 32 contributors. This was five up on last year – on paper at least – and there were: (i) welcome IQ debuts for Hedge-Sparrow, Apt, Hob, Skylark and (half of) Stuball; (ii) returns for Dysart, Wan, SPINK, MynoT, Encota and (the Wickball half of) Stuball; and (iii) notable absences (from 2018) of Pointer, Nudd, Nitsy, Xanthippe, Poat and Ploy. Statistics do mislead, of course: the waters get muddied because of collaborations. While Eclogue have only ever published Inquisitors as a team, eXtent (eXternal & Serpent), SPINK (Schadenfreude, Phi, Ifor, Nimrod and Kruger), (half of) Stuball and others appear regularly in their individual guises. For me, the toughest puzzle of the year was again set by Harribobs (Escape to the Country), the easiest – just as enjoyable – a toss-up between Apt’s Rag-tag Group and Opsimath’s Eleutherian.
Ups and Downs
Talking of Harribobs, it was an honour to be permitted to present Peter Harris with his second consecutive award for Inquisitor Puzzle of the Year at – no less! – the annual Listener Setters’ Dinner in York in March. This was the first such event it had fallen to my wife Jane and me to organise. After the speeches and the prize-giving, we enjoyed socialising with setters and solvers, so many of whom are shared by Listener and Inquisitor puzzles. I can confirm rumours that, as the event progressed into the night and into the early hours, the crossword world was put well and truly to rights.
One of the more sobering parts of the annual Dinner, however, is the reading of tributes to Listener setters and solvers lost to us each year, memorably prominent among them in 2019 the tribute to Dave Crosland (Dac), a huge loss to the Independent team as well as to the Listener. At next year’s event, I shall have the difficult task of speaking about the prodigious compiler John Harrington (Schadenfreude) who died in February, leaving as great a void in the Inquisitor team as in the Listener and (as Oxymoron) in Enigmatic Variations. For as long as I can remember, John set six Inquisitor puzzles a year on an eclectic array of subjects, all scrupulously fair, all brilliantly executed and all requiring minimal editorial intervention. A man of few words and latterly very reclusive, his emailed submissions are much missed, with the title of the puzzle in the subject line and the simple message “I attach details of the above for your consideration. Yours, John”. Four as-yet-unpublished Schadenfreude puzzles remain in my keeping – to be used, I hope, when the legal beagles give a long overdue go-ahead.
Voting’s open
I invite you all to register your favourite puzzles of 2019. As usual, a handy list (and bracketed memory jogs) follows, with the team’s average difficulty ratings appended as asterisks in each bunch of five. Of course, each puzzle has a full blog on Fifteensquared.
| . | END OF 2018 PUZZLES | . | ||
| 22/12/18:1574 | Doctor’s Orders [Fee-fi-fo-fum] | eXtent** | ||
| 29/12/18:1575 | The Gas Man Cometh [Avogadro] | Ifor** | ||
| 2019 PUZZLES | ||||
| 05/01/19:1576 | YNTHFYHFTTF HTTL [Twelfth Night] | Schadenfreude** | ||
| 12/01/19:1577 | Hearst [Earth & Sun] | Kruger** | ||
| 19/01/19:1578 | Taking Liberties [Independence] | Dysart** | ||
| 26/01/19:1579 | Lemon Aid [Sloane Square] | Triton** | ||
| 02/02/19: 1580 | Blank Face [Alex Honnold] | Gila** | ||
| 09/02/19:1581 | Almost Surely [Infinite Monkeys] | Hedge-sparrow** | ||
| 16/02/19:1582 | Missing Flight Bag [Lo! Staircase] | Ifor*** | ||
| 23/02/19:1583 | Partial Survival [The Magnificent Seven] | Schadenfreude** | ||
| 02/03/19:1584 | I Give You… [The Windmill Girls] | Jetdoc** | ||
| 09/03/19:1585 | To Come [Linkletter’s 4 Stages] | Chalicea* | ||
| 16/03/19:1586 | Carte Blanche [Pandora’s Box] | Eclogue** | ||
| 23/03/19:1587 | A Growing Population [“One cat just…”] | Phi** | ||
| 30/03/19:1588 | Odd One Out [Brexit] | eXtent** | ||
| 06/04/19:1589 | Pitch Black Desert Area [Steven Spielberg] | Wiglaf** | ||
| 13/04/19:1590 | My Pet Project [This old man…] | Kruger** | ||
| 20/04/19:1591 | Rag-tag Group [Food colour-codes] | Apt* | ||
| 27/04/19:1592 | Clue Two IV [Pacman] | eXternal*** | ||
| 04/05/19:1593 | Mirror Image II [Onement VI] | Serpent** | ||
| 11/05/19:1594 | Milpar [Prime of Miss Jean Brodie] | Ifor** | ||
| 18/05/19:1595 | Invalid Care {Feed a cold…] | Phi** | ||
| 25/05/19:1596 | Double Act [”Good Cop, Bad Cop”] | Lato** | ||
| 01/06/19:1597 | To the Four Corners … [Friendly Floatees] | Wan*** | ||
| 08/06/19:1598 | Eleutherian [Abraham Lincoln] | Opsimath* | ||
| 15/06/19:1599 | A Little Rough Justice [Happy Quotation] | Penumbra** | ||
| 22/06/19:1600 | 4G Network [Forty Squared] | SPINK** | ||
| 29/06/19:1601 | Terse [Platypus Telegram] | Chalicea** | ||
| 06/07/19:1602 | Mystery Man [Dick Francis] | Vismut** | ||
| 13/07/19:1603 | Partition [L Sign] | Eclogue** | ||
| 20/07/19:1604 | Day Trip From Columbia [Moon landing] | Kruger** | ||
| 27/07/19:1605 | Eyes [Ruskin; lamps] | Shark** | ||
| 03/08/19:1606 | Posthum(or)ous [Schnitke’s epitaph] | Phi** | ||
| 10/08/19:1607 | If Only, If Only [Double or Quits] | Ifor** | ||
| 17/08/19:1608 | Advice to Solvers [Use a pencil] | Serpent** | ||
| 24/08/19:1609 | Shifts in Character [Prince of Tyre] | MynoT* | ||
| 31/08/19:1610 | Escape to the Country [Colditz] | Harribobs*** | ||
| 07/09/19:1611 | Keep Recycling [Muswell Hill] | Hob** | ||
| 14/09/19:1612 | High-ups [Sopranos] | Gila** | ||
| 21/09/19:1613 | Class Action [Birds] | Stuball ** | ||
| 28/09/19:1614 | Here’s Something [Abbey Road] | Skylark** | ||
| 05/10/19:1615 | Corpsing [Monty Python] | Encota** | ||
| 12/10/19:1616 | Change [50p coin] | eXtent** | ||
| 19/10/19:1617 | Head Back [Capital cities] | Radler** | ||
| 26/10/19:1618 | Missing Piece of the Jigsaw [Elgar/Cello] | Nimrod** | ||
| 02/11/19:1619 | Duckegg [Bilko] | Kruger** | ||
| 09/11/19:1620 | The Last Resort [Stealth] | Ifor** | ||
| 16/11/19:1621 | Stone the Crows [Collective nouns] | The Ace of Hearts*** | ||
| 23/11/19:1622 | [Invisible Ink by] | Phi** | ||
| 30/11/19:1623 | Myth [Billy the Kid] | Dysart** | ||
| 07/12/19:1624 | Insults [Churchill quote] | Chalicea* | ||
| 14/12/19:1625 | Rush [The Call of the Wild] | Vismut** | ||
.
The rules, as ever:
1 You have six points to distribute to a minimum of three puzzles from 2019, including the end-of-2018 puzzles Doctor’s Orders by eXtent (1574) and The Gas Man Cometh by Ifor (1575), but excluding the “live” Civil Engineering by Eclogue (1626) and Tourist Information by Harribobs (1627).
2 You may allocate no more than three points to your top puzzle. If you are unable to decide between two or more puzzles, you may use half points (but no other fractions, please!).
3 Please register your vote in any of the following ways: on the thread below; by emailing me at nimrod1@jetdoc.co.uk; or via Direct Message on Twitter to @enigmatistelgar.
4 Compilers may not vote for their own puzzles or puzzles which they have jointly compiled.
5 Example, using my own vote:
3 pts (1594): Milpar by Ifor
2 pts (1592): Clue Two IV by eXternal
1 pt (1597): To the Four Corners … by Wan
6 Deadline for votes: midnight on January 7th, the closing date for entries to Tourist Information. As usual, it’s a very difficult task so best of luck!. It took me quite a while to arrive at a short-list of eight, so special mentions (in no particular order) for Lemon Aid by Triton, Missing Flight Bag by Ifor, [Invisible Ink] by Phi, Mystery Man by Vismut and Corpsing by Encota.
In closing…
As usual, I have thoroughly enjoyed doing a job that I initially stepped in to do while the Independent found a replacement as editor for my friend Mike Laws. That was back in 2011, which is a measure of how much I have warmed to the task. I count myself as very fortunate that my job is also my hobby, but it would all be so very, very different without the unwavering support of my solving team (Jane, Helen, David and Richard) and that of Mike Hutchinson (Independent and i Crossword Editor, also the person responsible for your weekly Jumbo GK puzzle) and Stuart Price (Production Editor at the i, the man who puts the weekly page together). I “inherited” the four regular Fifteensquared bloggers (Godfrey, Ken, Duncan and George) and supremo Gaufrid (Geoff), all of whose fantastic efforts often go unappreciated by others. To them, and to you, dear solvers, I wish a happy, healthy and prosperous 2020.
John
Many thanks to John and the fantastic Inquisitor team. Having looked back over the notes I kept over the year, my votes are as follows:
3 points = 1592 Clue Two IV. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of the Clue Two series and this puzzle was the standout IQ of the year for me.
I could have easily included more here but decided to give 1 point each to:
1593 Mirror Image II
1615 Corpsing
1613 Class Action
Best wishes all for 2020!
[Not a vote — just started regularly solving in September] is the difficulty rating on a scale of 1 to 3 basically? or Magpie-style 1 to 5?
Thank you for this opportunity, John.
I missed 13 puzzles (1574-1577, 1582, 1601-1607 and 1620), mostly because of time spent abroad, but I’m happy to make my selection from the 39 that I did attempt.
I kept a log during the year, marking those puzzles that I rated particularly highly on the basis of:
(1) my enjoyment in solving the crossword and resolving the theme and
(2) my appreciation of the thematic design and the quality of the clues.
From my shortlist of seven I made a final list of five. Points are as follows:
2 pt: 1613 Stuball ‘Class Act’ (birds)
1 pt: 1581 Hedge-sparrow ‘Almost Surely’ (infinity)
1 pt: 1584 Jetdoc ‘I Give You…’ (Windmill)
1 pt: 1596 Lato ‘Double Act’ (cops)
1 pt: 1618 Nimrod ‘The Missing Piece of the Jigsaw’ (Elgar)
with a special mention for the remaining two on my shortlist: 1586 Carte Blanche by Eclogue (Hope) and 1588 Odd One Out by eXtent (EU/Brexit).
I would like to thank the setters of these and all the other 32 puzzles that I attempted for producing quality puzzles throughout the year. Thanks and best wishes for 2020 to the editor and his team and to all the bloggers.
Over the course of the year, I noted those Inquisitors that I found especially pleasurable / stimulating.
2pt: 1580 Blank Face by Gila
and 1 point apiece to:
1588 Odd One Out by eXtent
1595 Invalid Care by Phi
1602 Mystery Man by Vismut
1622 Invisible Ink by Phi
Enormous thanks to all the setters, bloggers and the editor for a bumper year.
As ever, many, many thanks to all the setters and the Editor for some wonderful puzzles. There were many I’d have liked to allocate points to, but in the end I’ve given one point to each of my top favourites for the year. In order of publication date, they are:
1574 The Gasman Cometh by Ifor
1593 Mirror Image II by Serpent
1595 Milpar by Ifor
1600 4G Network by SPINK
1613 Class Action by Stuball
1618 Missing Piece of the Jigsaw by Nimrod
2:1597: To the four corners: Wan
2:1615: Corpsing: Encota
1:1619: Duckegg: Krüger
1:1610: Escape to the country: Harribobs
Many thanks to John and all setters for some excellent entertainment last year. After a bit of a barren spell, I was lucky enough to be picked prize winner twice in 2019.
As a long time lurker I’d also like to say a big thanks to all concerned for another great year of puzzles. The top 3 for me are –
– 1597 – ‘To the Four Corners…’ By Wan – 3 points
– 1584 – ‘I Give You…’ By Jetdoc – 2 points
– 1602 – ‘Mystery Man’ By Vismut – 1 point.
Another stunning year, my sincere thanks to everyone involved in John’s IQ HQ and here at fifteen squared.
It’s always tough to pare down the puzzles, and this year was no different. Here are my points:
My POTY of the year is Milpar absolute genius from Ifor.
1594 Milpar by Ifor – 2 points
1592 Clue Two IV by eXternal – 1 point
1600 4G Network by SPINK – 1 point
1610 Escape to the Country by Harribobs – 1 point
1576 YNTHFYHFTTF HTTL by Schadenfreude – 1point
Happy New Year to all the IQ community.
Hi John,
Herewith my votes. A difficult choice but I used the same criteria as Alan B, with particular emphasis on enjoyment and without too much need for internet searching.
One point, please, for each of the following:
1575 The Gas Man Cometh by Ifor
1576 YNTH.. by Schadenfreude (RIP)
1615 Corpsing by Encota
1618 The Missing Piece… by Nimrod
1622 by Phi
1623 Myth by Dysart
By chance, these are skewed towards the end of the year but I assure you that I have scrutinised them all.
Many thanks to you, your team and the setters for an entertaining year.
I’ve done 46 of these I think, great fun and enjoyment all year, thanks to all setters.
My points would be for
2 – Clue Two IV -wonderful!
1 – YNTH etc
1- I give you
1- Advice to solvers
What a mixed bunch we are! Some of my favourites are listed by others, but some of their choices were among puzzles I enjoyed rather less than others. Here’s what I came up with:
2pts:
1575 Ifor The Gas Man Cometh
1pt each:
1592 eXternal Clue Two IV
1594 Ifor Milpar
1623 Dysart Myth
0.5pt each:
1607 Ifor If Only, If Only …
1618 Nimrod The Missing Piece of the Jigsaw
Thanks to John & his team, setters & solvers who proffer comments and to fellow bloggers – we all wish Hihoba a speedy return to solving & blogging.
Another fantastic year. So many good puzzles. One stands above the rest for me so a firm 3 points for the super impressive PACMAN:
3pts: 1592 eXternal Clue Two IV
2pts: 1618 Nimrod The missing piece of the jigsaw.
1pt: 1600 SPINK 4G network
This year has been a particularly strong one in my opinion which has made whittling the puzzles down harder than ever.
My points are as follows:
2 pts – Clue Two IV by eXternal
1pt – Mirror Image II by Seprent
2pts – The Missing Piece… by Nimrod
1pt – If Only…by Ifor
Thanks as ever to all setters and bloggers for a brilliant year of puzzles and long may they continue
I usually have a standout puzzle to which I award three points, but this year I found many to be of a similar (very high) standard and could easily have given one point to each of twelve. I have narrowed it down to these six, which all appeared in the first eight months of the year:
1575 The Gas Man Cometh
1576 YNTH….
1584 I Give You…
1594 Milpar
1602 Mystery Man
1607 If Only, If Only
Many thanks to everyone involved with Inquisitor. Long may it continue!
2 points each to
The Gas Man Cometh by Ifor
The Missing Piece of the Jigsaw by Nimrod
I Give You by JetDoc
I don’t suggest these are the best puzzles because that would require some sort of independent criteria to judge them by. The are so many well-crafted puzzles in the IQ that could qualify for a best puzzle it just boils down to what criteria one chooses to judge them by. Any one could be a winner as for as I am concerned.
I have picked the three that got my attention by being different from the usual IQ fodder in some way. The Gas Man had intriguing instructions that grabbed my complete attention before I had read a single clue. The Missing Piece had two alphabetical jigsaws in one puzzle. I Give You had interesting clues that were different and felt like a breath of fresh air. The typical IQ style is very precise but doesn’t vary much from puzzle to puzzle. It can feel like every setter is trying to produce the same perfect clue, and they can end up feeling, well… the same.
Thanks to everyone at the IQ for another fabulous year.
Another excellent year of puzzles. Many thanks to John and team, all bloggers, commenters and lurkers. Here’s to 2020.
I’ve distributed my points equally based on 3 criteria which I think sum up why the IQ is so good: i) a bonkers, awe-inspiring grid construction/endgame; ii) simplicity of execution and short preamble, ie the opposite of i)!; 3) a good, fun theme.
So, in that order, 2 points a pop for:
Clue Two IV by eXternal
Terse by Chalicea
Corpsing by Encota
Ali/Gila
John
This is the first year that I have responded to your request and I have found it difficult! My New Year’s resolution is to keep a record this year.
1575 The Gas Man Cometh by Ifor – 2 points
1608 Advice to Solvers by Serpent – 1 point
1610 Escape to the Country by Harribobs – 1 point
1611 Keep Recycling by Hob – 1 point
1622 Invisible Ink by Phi – 1 point
Let’s hope the change of ownership of the i doesn’t lead to any lowering of standards in the Inquisitor – although a return to the more generous prizes that were offered a few years ago would be welcome!
I had forgotten about Invisible Ink – if I had remembered I would have given that points too for the ingenuity of having no instructions at all.
I still had 49 print-outs, the other 3 puzzles being attempted on squared paper when on holiday without access to a printer.
I’ve looked through them all, firstly reducing them to 18, then selected 6 from this short list. I’ve decided to go no further, and just allocate 1 point to each of them.
In numerical order,
1577 Hearst by Kruger
1594 Milpar by Ifor
1597 To the Four Corners … by Wan
1600 4G Network by SPINK
1607 If Only, If Only … by Ifor
1618 Missing Piece of the Jigsaw by Nimrod
Many thanks to everyone involved in providing me with hours and hours of enjoyment.
A very difficult choice but I have finally decided on the following:
1575 The Gas Man cometh Ifor 1 point
1576 YNTHFYHFTTF HTTL [Twelfth Night]. Schadenfreude1 point
1593 Mirror Image Serpent 2 points
1600 4G Network SPINK 1 point
1607 If Only, If Only Ifor 1 point
Joyce – Bert will choose his own!
I am not going to award my full 6 points this year — a sudden increase in work busy-ness meant that, since August, when I test-solved 10 Inquisitors (some as yet unpublished) during a rain-affected test match, I have had almost no time for solving any kind of puzzle at all. (And, BTW, I did not set ‘I Give You’.) So it wouldn’t be fair, as I may have missed puzzles I would otherwise vote for.
However, it’s difficult to imagine that I would have enjoyed any puzzle more than I did The Gas Man Cometh by Ifor; I also gave his Milpar a high rating. Others that I marked were Doctor’s Orders by eXtent and 4G Network by Spink.
So:
2 points to 1575, The Gasman Cometh
1 point to 1600, 4G Network
I’m confused. If jetdoc @21 says that she did not set ‘I Give You’, then who is the Jetdoc that did?
@17 – you never know, they might start offering a bottle of olive oil again…
I started doing the IQ in January 2018…that year, I solved 2/52.
Last year (2019), that increased to 6.
There were around 10 where I worked out what the theme was and nearly finished. There were also about 20 that were left almost blank as the preamble/clues were too complex.
It seems fair to give each of the solved six one point:
1601 Terse (Chalicea?)
1604 Day Trip from Columbia (Kruger)
1609 Shifts in character (MynoT)
1611 Keep recycling (Hob)
1615 Corpsing (Encota)
1616 Change (eXtent)
I make no apologies for choosing easier puzzles (I think 1611 was by far the easiest)…and one by Kruger(still on the naughty chair).
All solvers have to start somewhere, which give them the confidence to tackle others.
Ylo @24
I was pleased to see your list, as mine (@3) looked more and more unconventional with each succeeding post! I too liked 1611, 1615 and 1616 very much, but my shortlist was already settled.
This is Bert’s choice – as usual very difficult decisions – almost all the year’s puzzles deserve praise!
1.5pt: 1575: The Gas Man Cometh – Ifor
1.5pt: 1594: Milpar – Ifor
1.5pt: 1610: Escape to the Country – Harribobs
0.5pt: 1582: Missing Flight Bag – Ifor
0.5pt: 1600: 4G Network – SPINK
0.5pt: 1607: If Only, If Only – Ifor
Voting is now CLOSED.
By routes both public and private, it looks as though there are around 30 votes to sift. Watch for an announcement this weekend. It looks very close…
Thanks to everyone who voted.
John
John
You asked “Any requests from solvers?” in the context of subjects that setters choose and use for their themes.
I am happy to see themes on almost any subject that a setter chooses. Even if it’s a subject I have little interest in I’ll still enjoy trying to resolve the theme to completion. I draw the line only at horse racing, TV soaps and celebs, and I’ll put a good puzzle down rather than pursue any of those themes or any theme in bad taste.
I also baulk at the idea of trying to find an unknown theme through wild or speculative online searches in the absence of a proper (cryptic) key or pointer, but that is a comment on an aspect of thematic design and not on the specific point of your question.
HolyGhost#22: It was set in my name because of the theme (though I do not go by the name of Mrs Henderson) by Mr of that ilk. I knew nothing about it until I got it to test-solve.
Alan B @28: whilst I agree about “TV soaps and celebs” (and I’m not a fan of horse racing either, or darts for that matter), you’d have missed a couple of quite reasonable puzzles based on Derby winners – #1284 & #1545 (both by Schadenfreude as it happens).
jetdoc @29: I will immediately amend my blog from last March to make it clear that you were not the setter of #1584. (Would that “Mr” be John H, Paul H, …?)
HolyGhost @30
Good point! #1284 was way before my time. In fact #1545 was my fifth Inquisitor, and I commented at the time that by coming to a stop after solving about two-thirds of the clues I was able to say: “The one relief for me was that by stopping when I did I didn’t have to look up anything to do with horse-racing, in which I have no interest at all.” I hoped that was taken in the light-hearted way it was meant, but it’s true that I enjoyed looking up (for example) the individual names of Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ more than I would have enjoyed looking up the names of horses!