Solving time: 1 hour 9 minutes An enjoyable puzzle. I did most fairly quickly, but there were quite a few words I was pretty sure I didn’t know where I had to unravel the wordplay.Quite … Read more “23797 – Foggyweb’s thimble”
Month: December 2007
ST Jumbo 4256 (Sun 23 Dec) – Wild goose chase
Solving time: 20 mins, one mistake (30ac) A bit of a Christmas theme running through this puzzle (available here), but the grid is horrible, with (e.g.) several six-letter words with just two checked letters. There … Read more “ST Jumbo 4256 (Sun 23 Dec) – Wild goose chase”
Sunday Times 4356…
…will not be blogged tomorrow, as it seems to be unavailable from the online Times Crossword Club. Perhaps this is because there wasn’t a crossword last Sunday? If there was, please feel free to comment.
Saturday Times 23791 (Dec 22)
Solving time 12:15 Quite a lot of Brit references in this one that may have had overseas solvers scratching their heads, e.g. ISA, TA, D = old money, “Smoke’s part”. Across 4 BI(PART,ISA)N – ISA … Read more “Saturday Times 23791 (Dec 22)”
Jumbo 731 (Sat Dec 15) – Neva mind
Solving time: 34 mins, one mistake (51dn) This was a brilliant puzzle with some fantastic clues and brilliantly-worded definitions. It took me about twice as long as an ‘average’ Jumbo, but I thought I’d got … Read more “Jumbo 731 (Sat Dec 15) – Neva mind”
23,795
Solving time: 14:38 A mistake at 20d held me up for a while and I’m glad I knew the literary reference at 14d and was able to guess 17a without knowing much about the opera … Read more “23,795”
Times 23,794
Solving time: 20:02 I found this tough, though all entirely fair. Lots of interestingly constructed clues and witty surfaces. For COD, I’d probably go for the long hidden at 17A. I finished the right hand … Read more “Times 23,794”
23793 Oooh R!
Solving time : About 40 minutes. An enjoyable puzzle that didn’t make too many demands on this addled brain when tackled in the early hours before bedtime. Several nice clues, in particular 9, 24 and … Read more “23793 Oooh R!”
Chambers going cheap
For some reason, a thumb-indexed version of the current Chambers is on Amazon UK for the absurdly low price of £5.39 plus p & p. Although it’s not an official dictionary for the Times puzzle, … Read more “Chambers going cheap”
23792 – My heart aches…
Solving time: 41 minutes Mostly ok – it took me a while to get going but then the answers came pretty steadily. I had to think hard to get the wordplay for a few of … Read more “23792 – My heart aches…”