Maybe it's the beer, but I thought a counter discussion to the difficult pod setters would be interesting and fruitful.
This year, hands down, the easiest pod parent that I had was INDIGO DRAGON. Accepted pollen both from spiders and non-spiders, conversions, toothy parents, you name it. JAMMIN'S MAGNOLIA BELL was another easy setter, along with FANCY LACE.
On the diploid side, I had the best luck with YANKEE PINSTRIPES, EMERALD STARBURST*, and GREEN IMPERIAL PIGEON.
* Interestingly, a lot of pods set, but many of them developed a load of empty seed casings!
