Inquisitor

The preamble told us that single extra letters indicated by wordplay in 25 clues spell out part of a quotation whose missing ingredients are exemplified in the 10 thematic answers.  In the prevailing … Read more >>

After the relatively gentle strolls (or canters) of the last few weeks, this puzzle proved rather a stiffer challenge (or maybe I just wasn’t really in the mood).  Two of the first clues … Read more >>

Probably my quickest Inquisitor ever, I had it done-and-dusted in less than an hour. Every clue contained an extra word, I must admit that I usually find those types of clues a tad … Read more >>

For me, the theme of this puzzle was very easy to guess. I knew already that Raich was mad enough about football to make regular journeys from Ireland to support Sunderland, and take … Read more >>

I found this pretty challenging (=difficult), though really interesting, and certainly would not have finished it without computer aids! (My favourite is a little program I’ve had for many years called “Puzzlex”.) We had … Read more >>

I usually enjoy Phi’s offerings and this was no exception. The preamble was fairly complex as there was a lot to be done before clues could be solved.  We were told that all … Read more >>

My fastest Inquisitor ever. About an hour to solve all the clues. Quick shufti in Google to find the quotation attribution. Short pause to mow the lawn, then search for “directions”. Find them, … Read more >>

Pretty easy going at first. I had the grid (with the exception of the four thematics) filled in about an hour. The thematics, however, proved a little troublesome until the penny dropped. The … Read more >>

Solving time: about 1 hour In this puzzle, which “depicts an historic event”, the gimmick is that “When the clue answers have been entered, some squares will be empty. In the final grid … Read more >>

As Hihoba is on holiday for a few weeks, I’m blogging this one, and he’ll do mine later in May.  A frustratingly slow start on this one …   … but with about … Read more >>

Raich is a setter with an increasing output.  To my knowledge, he has set Independent blocked crosswords, Listeners, Inquisitors and has a blocked crossword in the latest Magpie.  I have acted as a … Read more >>

Not that tough a crossword – many normal clues could be solved cold on the first pass through, and the theme yielded fairly quickly. But enjoyable for all that. (Was the puzzle number … Read more >>

Well, this one put up a fight but I won through in the end. I guess it must have taken me about 5 hours over about 4 days. The title and preamble didn’t … Read more >>

This was a pretty straightforward puzzle except for locating the last piece of thematic material to highlight in the grid – I’d guess that two thirds of the clues could be solved quite … Read more >>

I found this difficult to start, but easy to finish (the opposite of my last blog!). I spent hours finding my first three down answers and was feeling pretty despondent until I found that … Read more >>