A Trivial Pursuit – II
Last year, as an exercise suggested by a solver who emailed to say that he was somewhat disgruntled by the lack of Literature themes, I broke down the Inquisitors of the Year into (quite loosely-defined) categories.
It was an informative procedure, both for me as editor and for the correspondent: Literature (if you counted puzzles based on quotes) accounted for precisely one quarter of 2018-9’s themes. Oddly, I never heard back from him, but it is to be hoped that he would have been relatively happy with this year’s breakdown. It was another good year for Literature (listed below as representing books in general), but you could certainly add some of the puzzles from the Quotation or Film (based on a book) categories:
| END OF 2019 PUZZLES | ||
| 21/12/19:1626 | Civil Engineering [Rolling English Road] | Eclogue** |
| 28/12/19:1627 | Tourist Information [Cycling’s Grand Tour] | Harribobs*** |
| 2020 PUZZLES | ||
| 04/01/20:1628 | Listen [DDT] | Ifor** |
| 11/01/20:1629 | Shortages [Ration stamps] | eXtent** |
| 18/01/20:1630 | Lawgiver [Isaac Asimov] | Nutmeg* |
| 25/01/20:1631 | Enchanted [The Magic Flute] | Chalicea** |
| 01/02/20:1632 | Missing [Mr Men] | Vismut** |
| 08/02/20:1633 | Impersonation [Poirot’s Last Case] | Skylark*** |
| 15/02/20:1634 | Desperation [“I’m Brian and so is my wife”] | Kruger** |
| 22/02/20:1635 | Double Checking [Mad Gardener’s Song] | Phi* |
| 29/02/20:1636 | Visitation [Angel of Death] | Hedge-Sparrow** |
| 07/03/20:1637 | Free TV Licences for the Poor [Painting theft] | Pointer** |
| 14/03/20:1638 | Remedial Action [Drunken Sailor] | eXternal** |
| 21/03/20:1639 | Guard wall ____ prosy exchanges [Bridge of Spies] | Ifor** |
| 28/03/20:1640 | A Spot in the Country [Something nasty…] | Augeas** |
| 04/04/20:1641 | April Fool [Tower Bridge prank] | Ferret** |
| 11/04/20:1642 | Transfer of Power [Apollo 13] | Phi** |
| 18/04/20:1643 | Two’s Company [Self-isolation] | PINK** |
| 25/04/20:1644 | Treatment [Medical deficiencies] | Charybdis** |
| 02/05/20:1645 | Billet-Doux [Le Petit et Le Grand] | Eclogue** |
| 09/05/20:1646 | Pocket Money [Lady with the Lamp] | Shark** |
| 16/05/20:1647 | Unlike the Rest [Omissions not Accidents] | Panther** |
| 23/05/20:1648 | Sniping [One man went to mow] | Ifor*** |
| 30/05/20:1649 | In Bosworth Field [Rainbow] | Chalicea* |
| 06/06/20:1650 | What…! [450 from Paddington] | Nimrod** |
| 13/06/20:1651 | Odd Situations [Cryptic place-names] | Kruger** |
| 20/06/20:1652 | Mirror Image III [III] | Serpent** |
| 27/06/20:1653 | Lemon Time [Japanese kidnap] | Triton** |
| 04/07/20:1654 | Spot the Difference [Before and After] | Artix** |
| 11/07/20:1655 | Write-off (29) [Floccinaucinihilipilification] | Xanthippe** |
| 18/07/20:1656 | Non-PC [Mushy peas and Potatoe] | Nudnix** |
| 25/07/20:1657 | Trivial Pursuit [Consecutive letter triads] | Opsimath* |
| 01/08/20:1658 | More Than One Problem [Divers(’) Problems] | Ifor*** |
| 08/08/20:1659 | Now You See Me [The Lady Vanishes] | Ace of Hearts** |
| 15/08/20:1660 | Caroline [named by Charleses] | Penumbra** |
| 22/08/20:1661 | Line Drawing [9-dot problem] | eXtent** |
| 29/08/20:1662 | The Return Of Ulysses [The Wind in the Willows] | Kruger** |
| 05/09/20:1663 | Equivalency [Laws/bottomless pits] | Eclogue** |
| 12/09/20:1664 | Codenames [Waiting for Godot] | Phi* |
| 19/09/20:1665 | Seize Them All [The Scarlet Pimpernel] | eXternal*** |
| 26/09/20:1666 | It’s an Ill Wind [The Great Fire of London] | Harpy** |
| 03/10/20:1667 | Follow the Leader [Pied Piper] | Serpent** |
| 10/10/20:1668 | Q [Marianne North] | Vismut** |
| 17/10/20:1669 | Glittering Career [Red Rum] | Nimrod** |
| 24/10/20:1670 | Hot and Cold? [Chillis] | Hedge-sparrow** |
| 31/10/20:1671 | Double Take [Cartoon panes] | Encota** |
| 07/11/20:1672 | Collapse [Tacoma Narrows Bridge] | Chalicea* |
| 14/11/20:1673 | Jacks [Zeroes] | Radler** |
| 21/11/20:1674 | Getaway [Withnail and I] | Gila** |
| 28/11/20:1675 | Queen of the North [Cassiopeia] | Phi*** |
| 05/12/20:1676 | Hands Across the Sea [Spanish patience] | Ifor** |
| 12/12/20:1677 | Dead End [Ring-a-Ring-of-Roses] | Kruger** |