I’m hopeless at remembering birthdays so while I remember, the team version of Times for the Times is one year old next Wednesday. A chance to pause and take stock. I’ll ask the same questions … Read more “We’re nearly one / Jumbo 722 delayed”
Month: October 2007
23,742 – slow starter
Good, fair puzzle today with some excellent surfaces, I thought. Took me a while to get started, but the whole thing was complete in less than 11 minutes, OSAGE being the last light to go … Read more “23,742 – slow starter”
23,741 – lean and fit
Solving time: 13:34 Although there are some very clever and tricky constructions here, most of the clues are very economical with few padding or link words, meaning that the structure tends to be easy to … Read more “23,741 – lean and fit”
Mephisto 2459 – Tim Moorey
Solving time: about 90 mins I guess one of the advantages of egg-head crosswords is that because there are fewer solvers to shock, you can get away with some fairly ripe language. This puzzle takes … Read more “Mephisto 2459 – Tim Moorey”
23,740 – Championship Prelim 1, Puzzle 3
Solving time: 7-9 mins on the day There’s just a hint of a theme here – two symmetrically placed nervy answers at 11 and 21. There are a few snippets of literature and music, but … Read more “23,740 – Championship Prelim 1, Puzzle 3”
Times 23739 – Ian Eddy
My last two clues were 16D/21A — and I still wonder about the latter. Had to guess that ORATORIAN was yet another priest (after yesterday’s flamen somewhere). Not sure about PERON’s wordplay yet either. Peter … Read more “Times 23739 – Ian Eddy”
23738 – Ancient Rome
Solving time: 50:24 A few unfamiliar words to ponder over. Some anagrams that came pretty quickly. Although I wrote in NEATEN and HANDICAP quite quickly, it took me a while to decipher the wordplay for … Read more “23738 – Ancient Rome”
ST 4246 (Sun 14 Oct) – Plenary session
Solving time: 15:10 After a quick start in the top left and the two long anagrams I struggled with this one, especially in the bottom left and on the two central down answers, both of … Read more “ST 4246 (Sun 14 Oct) – Plenary session”
Times Saturday 23731
Solving time 16:33 Solved out of the paper for a change, while sitting in a pub over a pint of real ale and using my mobile phone as a stopwatch. I’ll have to do that … Read more “Times Saturday 23731”
Times Saturday 23725 (Oct 6) – delayed
Solving time 22:29 At least 5 minutes of which was spent on 12ac at the end. Looking through it again now, I can’t remember anything else holding me up much. I see they’re not publishing … Read more “Times Saturday 23725 (Oct 6) – delayed”