Month: October 2008

Solving time: 7.45 I found this pleasant enough to solve, but there was nothing in it that held me up for long. The SW corner was the last to be finished – mainly because I … Read more “Times Crossword 24059”

Solving time: 9:47 I enjoyed this. Good constructions and excellent surfaces. Nothing that seemed particulalry obscure to me, though if you didn’t know Tarsus was “no mean city” it might be a hold-up. Across 1 … Read more “Times 24,058”

Solving time on the day: about 8 minutes. This puzzle is probably just as easy as last week’s (the literary/artistic references are are gentle), but I found it a bit tougher as neither of the … Read more “25,057 – 2008 Champs Prelim 1, Puzzle 2”

Solving time : 26 minutes, so slower than a normal Tuesday. On the other hand I have the dreaded Man Flu, and am far from my sharpest, so I suspect this is a lot more … Read more “Times 24,056 – Meat and Drink”

Solving time: 24 minutes That was good fun – lots of good clues and nothing too tricky. A few words I didn’t know, but the wordplay was always very helpful.I don’t expect many complaints about … Read more “24055”

A bit of an overload of cryptic definitions, of varying quality, but otherwise some good bits this week. I have a question mark by 20ac, and I’m not at all sure MOLE is the right … Read more “ST 4299 (Sun 18 Oct) – A mountain marathon out of a mole-hill”

My time taken to solve was off the specially extended scale! I knew I’d get one like this today after the run of quite easy ones recently. Many of the clues were difficult yet fair, … Read more “24053 – Apparently so…..”

Solving time : 8 minutes, which is good, things have been rushed lately, and so will be this report. One little quibble, a lot of straightforward clues, but some very concise wordplay. Good puzzle to … Read more “Times 24052 – blogging on a budget”