Vismut sets one or two Inquisitors a year.
Preamble: In the filled grid, solvers must draw two connected red lines and two black circles through the names of 18, a 14 on a 11, their name for which completes 1ac.
Vanilla clues this week, and it seems rather a lot of short words, probably to with the drawing to be done at the end. Answers came in their own good time and in passing I did note the occurrence of Funky Gibbon in one clue but not its significance. 
With about half the grid filled, I started to look for possible circles to draw and landed in the bottom left section – and there was BROOKE-TAYLOR. This chimed with Funky Gibbon and I could see that THE GOODIES fitted with the letters I had in the unclued 18a. (Thoughtful of the setter to number the unclued entries – it makes them much easier to refer to.) I quickly picked out GRAEME GARDEN in a mirror-image circle on the right, with BILL ODDIE connecting them tangentially.
I never really enjoyed the program when it was on TV – too silly for my liking – but I do recall the rather irritating refrain “Goodies! Goody goody yum-yum!” from which the puzzle’s title. The second, connected, red line had to be TIM to complete TB-T’s name, but whether the spike represents the saddle of the TRANDEM (rather uncomfortable) or the handlebars (somewhat unsteerable) is an open question. And it’s got only two wheels anyway, but I think we can allow the setter a little licence. {My mistake, see comment #1. Sorry Vismut.}
Not much more to say really. I had a problem with the last two wordplays but a friend helped me out: 12d ZOOPHAGA and 10d IRIS – alternative spellings and a number of different ways of getting to betel. Thanks, Vismut. I’ve given quite a few of your previous puzzles points in the voting at the end of the year and enjoyed many of them more, but not this one – maybe the subject matter had something to do with it.
PS There was the appearance of Kitten Kong too, somewhere.
| No. | Clue | Answer | Wordplay |
| Across | |||
| 1 | See preamble (7) | TRANDEM | – |
| 6 | Left two of curry dinners on vacation – they’re brought back and chewed again (4) | CUDS | CU(rry) D(inner)S |
| 13 | Adapt garden seat for dogs (10, 2 words) | GREAT DANES | [GARDEN SEAT]* |
| 14 | See preamble (4) | TRIO | – |
| 15 | More than one fine Earl has easy chairs (7) | ERIACHS | E(arl) [CHAIRS]* |
| 16 | Smart old South American’s colouring … (5) | CHICO | CHIC (smart) O(old) |
| 18 | See preamble (10, 2 words) | THE GOODIES | – |
| 19 | … former currency in printing (4) | INTI | (pr)INTI(ng) |
| 20 | Fly Stateside, possibly quicker leaving second island (6) | ZIPPER | ZIPPIER (quicker) ¬ I(sland) |
| 21 | Without regime, Marlene perhaps is wealthy (4) | RICH | DIETRICH (Marlene perhaps) ¬ DIET (regime) |
| 22 | Bill’s jailers block section following afternoon (5) | ADAMS | DAM (block) S(ection) after A(fternoon) |
| 24 | Novice nipper (5) | CHELA | double definition |
| 26 | Musical movement for Hindu has origins in jazz, opera and reggae (3) | JOR | J(azz) O(pera) R(eggae) |
| 28 | Sick individual initially 50/50 (3) | ILL | I(ndividual) L,L (50/50) |
| 29 | Funky Gibbon’s fifth part starts to dazzle disco (3) | ODD | (Gibb)O(n) D(azzle) D(isco) |
| 30 | Old halfpenny money for example (3) | MEG | M(oney) EG (for example) |
| 31 | Tennyson’s decoration of bloomers amazingly large and silver inside (10) | GARLANDAGE | [LARGE]* around AND AG (silver) |
| 34 | Bits of set removed from framework put around square part of ship (6) | KELSON | SKELETON (framework) ¬ [SET]* around S(quare) |
| 35 | One transmitting warning from allies worried about Kitten Kong finally coming back close to river (9 | SIGNALLER | [ALLIES]* sround (Kitte)N+(Kon)G rev. (rive)R |
| 36 | Isolates damsels in Edinburgh retrospective shows (7) | ENISLES | (dam)SELS IN E(dinburgh) rev. |
| 37 | Number picked up twisted stick as support (7) | FORELEG | FORE (homophone: FOUR, number) GEL< (stick) |
| 38 | Hesitant speech ignoring Frenchmen hosting Yankee visitor (6) | STAYER | STAMMER (hesitant speech) ¬ MM (Messieurs, Fr) around Y(ankee) |
| 39 | Climbing animal’s home with slight protection (8) | SCANDENT | DEN (animal’s home) in SCANT (slight) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Some mammals from clipped flock inhabiting island to the north (6) | THERIA | HER(d) (flock) in AIT< (island) |
| 2 | Bristly process put curved character into Japanese porcelain (6) | ARISTA | S (curved character) in ARITA (Japanese porcelain) |
| 3 | Tidy number tense crossing Channel locally (4) | NEAT | N(umber) T(ense) around EA (channel, dialect) |
| 4 | Oil city with lakes hidden by Chinese country houses (6) | DACHAS | DALLAS (oil city) with CH(inese) replacing L+L (lakes) |
| 5 | The “terrible” clue ultimately “easy”, Ed wrote (4) | ETHE | [THE]* (clu)E |
| 6 | Firm in California fakes rackets (11) | CACOPHONIES | CO (company, firm) in CA(lifornia) PHONIES (fakes) |
| 7 | Free of restraint, work filling under complex (7) | UNROPED | OP (opus, work) in [UNDER]* |
| 8 | Stopped pipe soundproofed except for final echo (7, 2 words) | DEAD-END | DEADENED (soundproofed) ¬ E(cho) |
| 9 | Remaining book dropped from bustle (5) | OTHER | BOTHER (bustle) ¬ B(ook) |
| 10 | Flag pawn’s set up (4) | IRIS | SIRI< (pawn, betel) |
| 11 | See preamble (7) | BICYCLE | – |
| 12 | Zulu range includes all but a thousand SA carnivores (8) | ZOOPHAGA | Z(ulu) AGA (range) around OOMPH (SA, sex appeal) ¬ M (thousand) |
| 17 | Lazy batting, finish fast (8) | INDOLENT | IN (batting) DO (finish) LENT (fast) |
| 20 | German physicist tricked Rishi out of new Herr’s zillion (7) | ZÖLLNER | [HERRS ZILLION]* ¬ [RISHI]* |
| 23 | Posh girl overwriting it in Exeter perhaps (6) | CLASSY | LASS (girl) replacing IT in CITY Exeter perhaps |
| 24 | What’s Craig lit? (5) | CIGAR | [CRAIG]* &lit. |
| 25 | Followed and listened to Democrat turning to Liberal (6) | HEELED | HEEDED (listened) with D(emocrat) changed to L(iberal) |
| 26 | Gags US soldiers besieging Cambodia (5) | JOKES | JOES (US soldiers) around K (Kampuchea, Cambodia) |
| 27 | Somewhat low black donkey on yard (5) | BASSY | B(lack) ASS (donkey) Y(ard) |
| 30 | Parisienne grand maître’s now 28 at heart (5) | MILLE | M(aîtr)E with ILL (28 down) in the middle |
| 32 | First bit of ark boat-builder contracted for buffalo (4) | ANOA | A(rk) NOA(h) (boat-builder) |
| 33 | Noticed main broadcast note (4) | SEEN | SEE (homophone: SEA, main) N(umber) |
The Goodies’ trandem had three seats but only two wheels, so the machine in the grid is well portrayed, and I feel pretty confident it is heading left, with a handlebar to which the three of them are clinging. I found this a very neat puzzle, though not enough to send me back to watch the programmes again. Thanks to Vismut and HG.
The clues were fine and the thematic elements came together quite well – but the theme itself held absolutely no interest for me! It might have been one of the nation’s favourites however many decades ago, but encountering it again in 2026 reminded me only of how little I’d liked it then. Sorry, Vismut!
No objections here. Many thanks to Vismut and HG. Nothing really to add, except that the horizontal BILL ODDIE leapt out at me long before I started thinking about, possible circles, and connected immediately with the Kitten Kong hint to reveal the theme and the unclued lights.
The ZOOPHAGA wordplay was a struggle. Otherwise, a fairly gentle trandem ride and none the worse for that. I’d forgotten the Yum Yum bit.
I had highlighted Tim as a bent line (using the T from INTI), which seems to me a better representation of a handlebar but arguably is not “a line” as it goes around the corner. I never saw the T of THE however so it didn’t occur to me to use it!
I concur with the general sentiment around the puzzle – well set and with a nice endgame but perhaps not the most interesting topic.
It would generally be nice to have more cultural references from the 1990s/2000s/2010s rather than the 1970s/1980s but I would guess that reflects the general demographic of setters and solvers 🙂
Thanks Vismut and HG
What a humourless lot we have above! The programme was very silly but good fun, I thought.
I too found 10d a sticking point – thank goodness for Chambers, but when I cracked it, together with a punt at BICYCLE for 11d, all was revealed. I cannot believe I had not spotted Mr Oddie forming the cross-bar.
Thanks to Vismut for a light-hearted but entertaining and clever puzzle and to HG for the blog – sorry you did not enjoy it.
Thanks for the blog Holy Ghost. I’m sorry the puzzle wasn’t your cup of tea. This seems to be a sentiment shared by others here and on another forum too. All I’ll say is that after 8 years of setting and 70 puzzles down the line it is of course harder to find topics of interest to everyone and even harder to come up with interesting ways of hinting at the theme. I have no idea how Chalacea and Ifor keep doing it, kudos to them. My personal circumstances mean fewer puzzles from now on anyway. As ever it’s always easier to focus on the negative feedback, many thanks to those who have said they enjoyed it.
I’m another in the positive camp. I have never watched the show (before my time and I haven’t sought it out) but that didn’t remotely detract from a fun puzzle that was considerably more entertaining than the FA Cup final that I was watching while solving.
I did know the names of the members, however, so as soon as the shaded cells became clear I knew what to look for. Like Dave W @6, I was surprised that I hadn’t spotted BILL ODDIE in such plain sight.
Thanks Vismut 🙂
Vismut, even though the theme was definitely not my cup of tea, I’m a pretty realistic solver – I accept that some themes won’t suit me (and some themes I’ll positively dislike) and I just take what I’m given. I don’t think I’ve done an earlier Vismut where the theme was totally wasted on me!
One of the things I liked about this puzzle was the fact that the theme did not materialise too quickly. With the grid complete except for the NE corner and the unclued lights, I had ideas of The Mikado (from the title Yum Yum) or Aladdin (TWANKEY being a good fit for 1 across). However, after solving 9d OTHER, THE GOODIES seemed a good fit for 18 across, and on looking up BICYCLE (11 down) in that context I found TRANDEM, enabling me to complete the theme.
The clues were excellent. One of my last to solve was the brilliant ZOOPHAGA, making unexpected use of ‘range’ and ‘SA’ in the wordplay. It was impressive also that almost a third of the grid was taken up with thematic content.
Many thanks to Vismut, and to HolyGhost for the blog.
Well I certainly enjoyed it! I like it when the construction is so satisfying I actually feel a bit proud of discovering it. I think Vismut must have taken care not to make this too difficult (with the circles and lines described in the preamble etc.) but I still found it quite hard, trying to make it fit “Three Men on the Bummel” for a time. (I haven’t read it, but I remember The Goodies.)
The theme was very much my cup of tea, and for me not too tricky to spot – partly because of my age 😁 and partly because Soup in the Guardian did a similar theme not all that long ago (for Graeme Garden’s birthday if memory serves).
Vismut, I’m a setter too (Henri) and I know very well from experience that not every theme will be everyone’s cup of tea…! As long as we enjoy making the puzzles, some people (usually the majority, I think/hope) will enjoy solving them!