Does Skylark herald the start of ladies’ month?
Preamble: From each of thirty-six clues, a letter must be removed before solving, giving items from a thematic group. From each of five other clues, a surplus word must be removed before solving. After inspecting the completed grid, solvers must enter absences below it.
Inquisitor
Inquisitor 1910: Dead-letter Drop by Kruger
Kruger provides us with the last IQ challenge of May.
Inquisitor 1909: Find the Title by Phi
Phi is a prolific setter of Independent and Inquisitor puzzles. He also sets for the Guardian using the pseudonym Pangakupu.
Inquisitor 1908: Labor Works by Twin
Twin, new to the Inquisitor.
Preamble: The puzzle features a thematic property. The wordplay in each clue leads to the answer plus a letter not entered in the grid. These letters, referring to the clues themselves, lead to a required entry method and the source for a superlative word that must be highlighted in the grid.
Inquisitor 1907: 16 Words by Nathan Panning
16 Words by Nathan Panning
Inquisitor 1906: Missing in Action by Serpent
Serpent sets the IQ challenge this week.
Inquisitor 1905: Rounders by Ifor
Ifor specialises in setting barred crosswords. Fifteensquared has blogs about his crosswords in all of the Inquisitor, Enigmatic Variations and Listener series. Today’s puzzle is his 52nd Inquisitor crossword since his debut in January 2011.
Inquisitor 1904: Hotpot by Tack
A warm welcome to Tack. (That may of course get warmer or cooler as the puzzle progresses.)
Preamble: Solutions are to be entered jigsaw fashion, wherever they will go. A word of at least three letters must be removed from clues before solving. Omitted words hint at a series of successful plays first performed in the theatre in 1983, forming a pattern which the clue order must follow. Otherwise, clues are ordered alphabetically by their solutions.
Inquisitor 1903: Lines by Pandiculator
Lines by Pandiculator
In the completed grid, solvers must replace two cells’ contents with digits and draw two thematic lines, each joining two grid edges. Each answer whose entry crosses the shorter line must be thematically treated to form its entry, while each clue whose entry crosses the longer line contains a misprint representative of the change resulting from the crossing.
All other clues contain an extra word which must be removed before solving. The first letters of these spell: (i) an abbreviated form of a third line that had a property notably associated with the first two; and (ii) three things that must be highlighted (30 cells) to form a diagram of a notable claimed occurrence. Ignoring digits, real words are maintained throughout.
Enumerations refer to entry length.
Inquisitor 1902: Solar by Karla
Karla brings us this week’s IQ challenge.
Meet the setter – Henri
The latest Inquisitor blog is for no. 1901 by Henri. This YouTube video is an interview with Henri. I am particularly chuffed with a minute or so from about 12:30.
Inquisitor 1901: What’s My Line? by Henri
We have a puzzle from a new Inquisitor setter this week. The only previous puzzle by Henri that I can find on fifteensquared is one submitted to the York Sloggers & Betters meeting last October.
Important maintenance notice
Important maintenance notice
Inquisitor 1900: Nine in One Hundred by PINK
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.