Inquisitor 1654: Spot the Difference by Artix

17 comments on “Inquisitor 1654: Spot the Difference by Artix”

1. The number of the clue is the number on the football player’s shirt. Bravo = Goalkeeper = 1. Sterling plays in a number 7 shirt…

2. Definitely a lot of work if like me you know nothing about the game. Of the themed entries I got the Royal Mail ones first, then the football (with a little help from Google – Jesus and Sterling is a pretty good search), and finally the cabinet post. Regarding the latter I was expecting the old incumbent to be of a similar period to Consignia / Maine Road, as they both seemed to have changed about the same time (early 2000’s?), but that’s me misconstruing what Artix was trying to do I guess.

3. Thanks Hihoba

   With regard to 11dn, I took the ‘hint’ to be the clue number itself, which is football related.

4. As soon as I understaood enough of the instructions to make a start I set about solving the clues, which I found moderately tough, two of them proving particularly stubborn: SANT and KIDDLE.

   I had two routes into the endgame: the five ‘hints’ from the clues and the checked letters in the silvered cells, of which the latter was more promising. After experimenting with various letter combinations for all three pairs of theme words I found just one name I recognised from the letters I had: RISHI SUNAK, our Chancellor. There were fewer possibilities now for its partner in the other grid, and although I wasn’t expecting it I could easily see the possibility of SAJID JAVID, Rishi’s predecessor.

   Remembering the editorial note, I was now certain of the basis of the theme and that the pairs would not necessarily relate to each other. This was where I was helped by the five names and by the one-word clues. As one who occasionally watches only edited highlights of English football I was very fortunate to know enough about a particular English Premier League club, some of its players (but not their shirt numbers!) and even their home ground. Was this fair? Without that bit of knowledge I think this puzzle would have been too tough to complete.

   I admired the way that ‘then and now’ names on three very different subjects were brought together in a theme neatly linked by three words in italics, all of which go together with ‘post’.

   I never understood the meaning of ‘(Brown?)’ in the clue to 26a. Thanks Hihoba for mentioning that and indeed for your interesting blog, especially concerning your way into the theme, which was different from mine. And thanks to Artix for the challenge.

5. I had a problem with the first row and the “S” answer SAJID. I had assumed that as both the answers in that row had  R in that position – last letter in DECIDER, first in  REMBLE, that both answers to 5d must start with R. I eventually found SAJID JAVID and assumed he must be the answer, and on rereading the preamble it doesn’t actually say that DECIDER and REMBLE have to go in different grids, but I didn’t like it! Did anyone else think the same?

   The whole thing was hard for me as I’m not British and have no interest in Soccer.

   And I think you’ve the name of RISHI wrong – isn’t be SUNAK, not SUMAK?

6. Louise #5 He is indeed SUNAK I’ll make the amendment.

7. As a long time City fan I got a little bit of a head start on the theme but it was still an enjoyable challenge. You won’t get me complaining (in public) when themes are a touch more highbrow. It should be noted that Sane left the club between 30 June and publication, so editor’s note was essential! I’ve only just noticed the thematic relevance of 11 Down(ing Street). Finally, thanks to setter and blogger

8. I am tempted to say that the blog represents Sterling work, for which many thanks.  Sterling was indeed my way into the theme, followed by Bravo, although I didn’t spot the significance of the clue numbers.  At first I thought the whole theme was going to be football-related, Liverpool, Leicester and Manchester all having 9 or 10 letters.  I can’t find a hint in 11 down – “hard” seems too tenuous to link to football (and shouldn’t it be to Manchester City specifically, rather than to football generally?).

   There’s a small typo in the introduction to the blog: it’s Sajid Javid, not Javed (it’s correct in the grid).

9. Firstly, I am not a football fan or know a lot about the game, but I still enjoyed this.

   One of the joys of the Inquisitor is the way we usually have to research random topics (sometimes false leads) to solve the puzzle – Japanese Yakuza gangs one week, Manchester City players the next..it makes a change from the lesser known poets that often appear.

   The Editor gave the biggest clue in the preamble, in my opinion. Just from looking at the clues the names of Chancellors of the Exchequer jumped out, which together with “cabinet” led me to hazard the two most recent ones…which both have 10 letters. RAGWEED and RAGWEEK seemed to confirm this.

   Football seemed to be another theme and given that Liverpool (9 letters) had been in the news recently, I was half expecting this to appear – the long awaited result confirmation would have given the setter enough time to include this. This lead to many false leads – Golden boot winners, different managers… It was lucky that there were the links with Manchester City (previous title holders/rivals and the recent drubbing) as it was the news reports that inspired THE ETIHAD. I knew it to be one of the “newer” football ground names and I had to look up the previous name.

   As I’ve said, I don’t follow football. The names of the players were familiar, but I couldn’t say what they looked like, what position they played or even which team. Research into this lead to the revelation about shirt numbers in the crossword clues. A nice touch!

   All in all, a nice and enjoyable solve – I found it one of the easier puzzles so far in 2020, once you realised what was going on.

   I didn’t know that there was a former Chancellor called (Sir) Julius Caesar before this crossword came out. It’s not only new words that you learn!

   Thanks to Artix and Hi.

    

10. Thank you Bridgesong #8, error corrected. I like Phil K’s suggestion at #7 of 11 Down(ing Street) being Chancellor-related.

11. I spent ages trying to understand how the solutions to both grids could be identical (as mentioned in the preamble) when the entries to the two grids were obviously different. Eventually the fog in my brain cleared, and once I realised that POST was the link word it wasn’t too much of a leap to get the two chancellors from the crossing letters. I recalled CONSIGNIA (and the scorn poured upon it) but had to look up THE ETIHAD. I had no idea that Manchester City had moved to another stadium,  but then I know next to nothing about modern football.

    This was a series of logical deductive steps, which is what these puzzles are all about. I found it damned hard but well worth the time spent. Nice one Artix.

12. I solved the majority of the clues easily enough, and got the Manchester City theme from the redundant words JESUS, STERLING, and MANE. Then I got RISHI SUNAK from Cabinet having the U and the K in place. This gave me POST and then ROYAL MAIL. Game over.
    I didn’t bother trying to pick out all the hints, or spot the relevant positions of the players.

13. Many thanks to blogger and all contributors for your comments. Very interesting to read about solving experiences and feedback much appreciated. A few more explanations seem to be needed. First: SPOT the difference was intended to be a hint that the theme word was POST, an anagram of SPOT! Each clue did have some “hint” but the most difficult to “spot” (or perhaps the most tenuous, you decide) were perhaps the ones relating to the Post Office (& philately): stamp, Telegraph, first class, address, delivered, second class, unhinged, answer, letter….  And one final note: the trilby used to be almost exclusively brown in colour and was often referred to as the “brown hat” or “brown trilby” … (I have a friend, the wife of a trainer, who sports a pink trilby at race meetings these days, so trilbies (trilbys?) definitely can be other colours nowadays …) Thanks again.

14. Being a Manchester City fan, and using a commenting name inspired by one of the stands at Maine Road, this puzzle was always going to earn bonus points from me 🙂

    I’m slightly ashamed to say that despite noticing Sane with a tinge of sadness (very sorry to see him leave), it was the set of Chancellors that I identified first. I was delighted with the PDM for the City theme. For ages I could only see four of the City players, completely missing Bravo (there is a joke to be made there about his frequent invisibility in goal). I don’t think that anyone has mentioned it above, but while there is certainly speculation that Stones will be moving on I’m not aware of that being confirmed.

    However…if it wasn’t for City I’m afraid that I would be less favourable. Very neat construction for the three thematic columns, but I found the link rather tenuous and there was almost too much going on here. I also found the blurb about the across clues very confusing.

    Thanks to Artix for a memorable solve and explaining some of the loose ends.

15. In 18a I had “use spurs to go” as the def.

16. Unlike many of the others, I found this one of the two most difficult puzzles so far this year. I solved all the clues but then had a gap. (And I felt that “(Brown?)” was the translation of the Belgian “De Bruyne”.) Then I got RISHI SUNAK & SAJIV JAVID and another gap. Later the other two pairs of down entries. Then yet another gap! Before I finally twigged POST (& realised it was an anagram of SPOT).

    Obviously losing my touch. (Or spending too much time on work-related tasks …)

17. I should have added: a really impressive grid construction!

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