Solving time: 7:42 If I’d been a bit braver with 1ac I would have done somewhat better with this. As it was, I had a pretty slow start before getting going. 20ac caused me a … Read more “ST 4211 – Lured down a cul-de-sac and quietly strangled”
Month: February 2007
Mephisto 2424/Chris Feetenby – An excuse for an old (bad) gag
Solving time: 37:04 I found this a lot tougher than normal for a Chris Feetenby Mephisto. After 23 minutes I noted that I had only entered 16 answers along with a few parts of wordplay … Read more “Mephisto 2424/Chris Feetenby – An excuse for an old (bad) gag”
Times Saturday 23521
Solving time 17:37 I found this quite hard to get into, and quite hard to finish off – there were a few unusual words but none I didn’t already know. And some very good clues. … Read more “Times Saturday 23521”
23,526 – Maybe together the total group can advance afar
Solving time : 7m15s – At first I thought this was really hard – but then a minute later one or two answers came and I calmed down, and proceeded OK. I think it may … Read more “23,526 – Maybe together the total group can advance afar”
Times 23525 – Not too hard
Enjoyable puzzle, with some good misdirection. Easy to break into, but tricky enough to finish, especially the NE quadrant. Solving time: 29 mins (about average for me for the Times) * = anagram ACROSS5 ERE … Read more “Times 23525 – Not too hard”
23,524 – nothing on St Valentine’s day
Solving time 4:49 Probably the easiest puzzle I’ve written about since we changed to a team blog. Got 1A and 4 straight off and never really looked back except for a silly initial guess at … Read more “23,524 – nothing on St Valentine’s day”
Times 23523/not opera again
Solving time: 55’ Made pretty good time on this at first since I guessed the long anagram at 10A quickly but really slowed down at the end: struggled with 1D, 13A, 20A, 27A (still not … Read more “Times 23523/not opera again”
23522 – Obs and Sols
Solving time : about 90 minutes – in three sittings Some nice symmetry with the first and last answers being Indian cities – one that I’ve seen before in crosswords and one that I haven’t. … Read more “23522 – Obs and Sols”
ST 4210 (Feb 4) – Parrot Fashion
Solving time: About 6 minutes for all but 8dn [corrected from 6dn], 23ac and 24dn, none of which I managed to get correctly in a further 10 minutes or so. Ilan and I have swapped … Read more “ST 4210 (Feb 4) – Parrot Fashion”
Mephisto 2423/Tim Moorey – Solved like an amateur!!
Last weekend, my efforts at solving were really poor. I didn’t complete the Times, took ages over the Indie, and let’s not even go there with Inquisitor, which I have to blog later this week. … Read more “Mephisto 2423/Tim Moorey – Solved like an amateur!!”