HolyGhost

Started on cryptic crosswords as a late teenager and completed the Times daily until the Independent started. (Didn't do the crossword - just stopped reading the Times.) Often tackled the Independent weekend magazine crossword in the early and late 1990s (spent mid-90s in Bruxelles), and then most of them since moving out of London in summer 2000. I must say that my forays into the Listener used to prove more satisfying (except the number ones) - estimate 98% successful - but usually don't have enough discretionary time for both. Now that the Listener and the Inquisitor seem pretty level I rarely stray from tackling only the latter.

Inquisitor 1900: Nine in One Hundred by PINK

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PINK – what other combo would we expect for a centenary puzzle?
 
Preamble: Clues are in normal order. Solvers must temporarily insert the same letter into each of the barred-off cells such that it could be plugged correctly into the circumscribing 8-letter words; a phrase describing the outcome (6, 9) must be written under the grid.

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Inquisitor 1896: Alphabets by Phi

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Phi now tops the count of Inquisitor puzzles, and seems destined to extend his lead in the coming months and years. (And yes, I know there were puzzles of his & others before the name change around the beginning of 2007.)
 
Preamble: The puzzle celebrates a creator of multiple alphabet books, covering three such titles.

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Inquisitor 1892: Woodcuts by Dysart

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Dysart, sadly his last puzzle here, as he died last July.
 
Preamble: The unclued entry is the title of a work (minus its definite article). 12 clues contain a misprint in the definition; correct letters give the name of its author. Six answers are shorter than their allotted space, and will leave empty cells.

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Inquisitor 1888: Pictures at an Exhibition by Harribobs

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Harribobs takes us through into the new year …

Preamble: Wordplay in 45 clues leads to the answer plus an extra letter, not entered in the grid. In clue order, extra letters give two instructions. Eighteen artists (three using given names as well as surnames), are represented in the exhibition. Each artist’s piece is square or rectangular and marked in its top right corner by ‘*’ (or ‘A’ for a key piece). The solver must frame all pieces. The website WikiArt.org is recommended.

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Inquisitor 1884: Odds & Evens by Kruger

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Kruger, notching up his sixty-second puzzle in the Inquisitor sequence.

Preamble: Every clue contains a definition and wordplay. Odd-numbered across clues consist of definition/wordplay for another odd-numbered across entry and wordplay/definition for an even-numbered down entry. Likewise, even-numbered down clues consist of definition/wordplay for another even-numbered down entry and wordplay/definition for an odd-numbered across entry.

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