Inquisitor

eXternal – equally good when solo or doubled up with Serpent.   Preamble: In 14 Across clues a word must be removed before solving, identifying members of an organisation. In each Down answer, … Read more >>

How it started: How it’s going: The final grid pattern has 180-degree symmetry, but clue answers will leave three symmetrically placed blocks of cells on three rows empty. The blocks are the same … Read more >>

Charybdis is a setter who appears irregularly in the Inquisitor series. He also features as Crosophile in the Independent series.       We had a fairly short preamble for puzzle which stated: … Read more >>

This week’s puzzle from the prolific Inquisitor setter Ifor.  His first puzzle appeared in 2011, so we see a challenge from him about every 3 months.  Challenge is the right word for Ifor … Read more >>

Mirror Image V by Serpent The grid has 90° rotational symmetry but no numbers or additional bars should be added at this stage. Five clues contain an extra word, to be removed before … Read more >>

After what has been a pretty wild summer with the young guns on the Inquisitor scene showing off their talents, Kruger demonstrates that there’s life in the old-timers yet. The preamble is what … Read more >>

Shark first appeared as an Inquisitor setter in September 2011, and has featured once or twice a year since then.       Today’s preamble was fairly short and told us that the … Read more >>

Here is the last in the sequence of 5 debutants: Soup’s first puzzle for the Inquisitor though he has set puzzles for The Guardian.   Preamble: Rows and columns represent streets, with arrows … Read more >>

Watch Your Step by Elpenor All clues are normal. Within each row or column, any occurrences of a certain letter in clued answers must be removed before entry into the grid; the removed … Read more >>

Tailors by Kirsanov Fourteen clues contain a consecutive pair of extra letters, which must be removed before solving, always leaving real words. In clue order, these letters spell the name of an author … Read more >>

We have a new Inquisitor setter this week, so welcome to Arcadia       I don’t know whether Arcadia has started with the longest ever preamble for a puzzle, but he/she must … Read more >>

As I said in the main blog, Impressi◍n is Inkling’s only puzzle for the Inquisitor – I had read elsewhere on this site and others that Chris Dunn (Inkling) died last July, but … Read more >>

Inkling’s only puzzle for the Inquisitor –   Preamble: In nineteen down clues, wordplay leads to the answer with an extra letter. In clue order, these letters provide definitions to the two unclued … Read more >>