10 comments on “Inquisitor 1751: Picnic by Kruger”

1. A jigsaw grid this week, with clues listed in alphabetic order of answers, with an endgame requiring that the clues be presented in the more usual order of across followed by down and ultimately also needing to be numbered in order to allow the resulting message to be deciphered – phew! Two extra (i.e. non-clued) entries, one of six letters, the other of ten – the theme was pretty clear once the central ten letter across entry had been partly populated, the neighbouring six letter down entry acted as a useful indicator that I was on the right track. Endgame was nicely done I thought, leaving real words behind after all of the modifications – a lovely end to a very entertaining puzzle.

   Thanks to Kruger for a fun and engaging puzzle, to kenmac for the blog and to fellow commenters for sharing their thoughts.

2. I thought this was fun too. Lots of thank to Kruger and kenmac. The jigsaw approach usually makes me nervous but the alphabetical order and a scattering of reasonably gentle clues eventually got me to the point where I had three ten-letter answers and (guessing the middle one would be thematic) felt there were enough confirming down answers to justify REMARRIAGE in the top row. Leading before long to a plausibly filled-in upper half and a great void below. Calm down and start again….

   It was particularly pleasing that both the required grid change (giving SPIDER) and the implied one (exit MISS MUFFET) left real words throughout as tacit confirmation that one had done the right thing.

3. I’m really not a fan of jigsaws (because you end up staring at the same clues over and over), but found this one ok because I got most of the 10s and 7s relatively quickly, which allowed me to pencil in an option that ended up being the correct one.

   One request for next time – would it make sense to add the number of clues by number of letters? Surely that’s the first everyone does is to count the entries vs the clues, so it just saves an admin task. Or is that part of the fun?

   A reasonably straightforward solve once I got going with the grid, though keeping the extra letters in the correct order was hard work, especially as I’d forgotten that “clue order” for the down entries does not mean “from left to right by column” as it does on the across ones. Doh!

   And then came a fun endgame; I wasn’t entirely sure whether rubbing out Miss Muffet was the only thing to do, but as the remaining words were real, I figured it was and that I was done. Good fun and a lovely animation in the blog, too.

   Many thanks to all.

4. I enjoy word jigsaws when the jigsaw phase can be made as easy as possible by the solver’s own efforts, assisted by a good and fair set of clues. With that introduction (!), I can justly say that this was a well-pitched puzzle with an excellent set of clues and a well-executed theme – and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

   As usual, I tried first to solve all the clues. I got temporarily stuck when I had five left to solve, but on noticing that the remaining clues all had 6-letter answers I decided it was a good time to attempt the jigsaw. I noted that the two unclued lights were of 10 and 6 letters.

   Using the 10’s and 7’s as starters, the jigsaw was readily solved. Putting the letters of the message in order took a while, but the message was clear, and PRISED obviously had to change to SPIDER. The last part of the theme was delightful: MISS MUFFET could be made to disappear, leaving real words in the grid, leaving SPIDER and TUFFET in their appropriate places. Very neat.

   Thanks to Kruger and kenmac.

5. Not noticing at first the middle, unclued 10 letter entry in the grid certainly helped, but this was still fairly gentle for a jigsaw type puzzle. The theme was fun, together with an enjoyable grid-fill making this one to remember.

6. Thanks for the alternative verse!
   Very enjoyable.

7. Surprisingly straightforward solve and fill in, and a lighthearted theme. I doubt anyone would sit for very long on a tuffet of that shape, spider or no spider.

8. Engaging, entertaining, & enjoyable. Not too hard, but not a doddle either.
   Thanks to Kruger & kenmac.

9. My attempts to solve this were interrupted by a stay in Trieste, but finished it quickly on my return, and really enjoyed it. Many thanks to Kruger and kenmac for the alternative versions!

10. I pretty well agree with most of the above. An intimidating preamble which turned out to be OK once I had started solving the clues and sorting the out the message. A great finish which, as a welcome change, did not require any staring at a screen. I wonder if some of our younger solvers are no longer aware of these old nursery rhymes?
    Thanks to Kruger for a most entertaining puzzle and to Kemac and daughter for the blog.

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