Inquisitor

Phi is one of the more prolific setters with his puzzles appearing in a wide range of publications.  There is always something different about his puzzles and this was no exception. We were … Read more >>

Extra letters in the wordplay lead to part of a quotation and its author, from which the (eleven) unclued entries can be deduced. There are ten thematic examples, one of which corresponds to … Read more >>

What a struggle. Firstly there was no magazine in The Independent in my local shop and none to be had in the nearest big city. A quick SOS email to my bellow floggers … Read more >>

Solving time: very roughly 6 hours, with LOTS of cheating I foolishly left this for a few days before starting to solve for this report. It turned out to be really tough and … Read more >>

After two weeks of fiendish Inquisitors, we were due an easy one. Happily for my blogging this was it! Very egotistical – every clue began with “I” and eight of the answers had … Read more >>

I think this was Ikela’s second Inquisitor (update: I gather it his third).  I blogged a previous one just under 6 months ago.  That one, entitled Fatal Attraction,  was based on Bonnie and … Read more >>

Four unclued entries, two clued entries and one hidden name are thematically linked, and these last three have to be highlighted (16 cells). Then we have to swap two letters in the grid, … Read more >>

What a bad start, I thought. I looked at 1 across and got the answer straight away.  Usually when that happens, I’m doomed to failure. But, as it happens, it wasn’t an omen, I … Read more >>

It was quite difficult to make progress at first, but the “extra letters in wordplay” phrase started to emerge from CIANS suggesting “politicians”, and QUISLING as a possible unclued answer. Looking up “politicians” … Read more >>

Superb stuff from Phi as usual. Impeccable clues and a nice theme with a bit of work needed to fill in the middle five rows. I thought it was quite dificult enough without the … Read more >>

Schadenfreude is one of the most regular Inquisitor setters.  I have blogged a number of his puzzles in the past and all have proved challenging.  This one was no exception.  It took me … Read more >>

Samuel’s first puzzle as an Inquisitor, but he’s a setter familiar to Listener solvers, notably with #3975 and more recently with #4038.  Twelve thematic clues are of the “Definition & Letter-Mixture” sort. In … Read more >>

This wasn’t a particularly entertaining puzzle for a non-cricketing, non-English person.  Though I have to admit that I, unwittingly, asked an Australian friend for assistance with the dénouement.  Or should I say ex-friend?  … Read more >>

As indicated by the need to post a placeholder, I found this puzzle tough. We were told that: seven down answers needed processing in accordance with instructions from a Letters Latent quotation providing … Read more >>

Viking is a new Inquisitor setter for me, but a bit of research indicates that there is a Viking who plays a major part in crosswords in another place, so the pedigree looked … Read more >>