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But I'm sure it was gosh-darned clever in Eclogue's head.

I'll still be buying the paper: it's one of the few things my boyfriend and I can budget for in the cost of living crisis, but still brings me a great deal of joy for a few days.

I think as someone who enjoyed ciphers as a kid, maybe I'm biased, but I will say I'm disappointed that people are so put off by a crossword that isn't a GWIT.

Personally, I love having a crossword that expands my horizons, just a little. Even if it is a little tough to understand, I'm richer for it week on week.

Yes I'll still get a paper too. I don't want these puzzles to disappear. Why would you? There has to be a mix of themes and gimmicks, otherwise it would be very boring. Thanks for the puzzle Eclogue. Good one. :)

I enjoyed it, especially as we won (again) !
Pity nothing more became of all the misprints/corrections, which I carefully noted down.
I have always found mathematics to be more precise than the English language, maybe because I cannot spell too gud.

Cruciluci, what makes you think people would want a GWIT puzzle? I think most regular solvers, and those on this Forum, are definitely not fans of those!

I too enjoy puzzles that expand my horizons, but this one didn't do that - the thematic stuff bored me to tears!

I came to this forum because, like laertes, I couldn't make sense of 'the letter shown'. Thanks, Cruciluci, for the clarification.
But I find it very sad at the overreaction of some members to a cleverly constructed puzzle. I can't see that counting forward or back x letters is beyond most people's mathematical skills. I guess we all find puzzles whose theme or construction are less appealing but I, for one, appreciate the Inquisitor precisely because of the surprising range of both. Please maintain the variety.

Yes, Notnil, I'm sure many of us appreciate a variety of themes and constructions. There will always be puzzles which please some more than others. I don't mind too much that I found yesterday's Inquisitor tiresome (in quite a few respects) as next week's puzzle might suit me more, give me more satisfaction and so on.

I think the complaint stems from the fact that the preamble could have just read 'Some clues contain misprints'. If it had done, I wouldn't have wasted half-an-hour trying to find out what modulo 26 was, only to realise that it made no difference at all to completing the crossword.

This is also the first crossword I have ever done where the misprints count for nothing. Normally they reveal a message that adds to the theme, but what's the point of these ones?

Took a careful look at the preamble, decided to sort out my various toolboxes instead. 😄

There's been a great run of Inquisitors in recent weeks but this sort of thing doesn't float my boat at all and the previous comments helped me decide it was time to sort my general/electrical/plumbing potpourri. (Which may well prove just as confusing!)

suzannahj, yes - in a nutshell, that is what irks me about the puzzle. And I wasted time on the maths element of another very recent inquisitor puzzle too. Twice in quick succession is enough for me, I stopped submitting Listener solutions long ago after a similar run of interruptions in the word puzzles (there are 4 maths puzzles every year - and they were well established before I started solving Listeners, so fair enough... but no more). EV had a similar moment when a new editor took over. I even contributed to the Magpie start-up (they asked for a financial commitment in advance) but when I found out that it would include several maths puzzles, I cried off. I said they could still cash my cheque - but I wouldn't do that now.
In all this time I've seen maths/science eclipse the arts and humanities. I've seen this encouraged by editors (Listener) when seeking new puzzles/setters, and by setters themselves trying to swell their ranks (as if the awful stuff R Forman churned out himself wasn't bad enough). I will not contribute financially to what I consider to be a downward spiral.