Solving time: 25:05 This felt like the toughest puzzle for a few weeks – maybe since a very tough Saturday puzzle. Only 7 clues fell at all easily – 9, 10, 11, 4, 5, 8, … Read more “Times 24278”
Month: July 2009
Times 24,277 – Funeral in Berlin
Solving time – 25:50 .. I’m off the sub’s bench again, this time for Jimbo. He’s taking a week at the Ashram in Maharashtra. Shame really, as I think Jimbo would have enjoyed this one. … Read more “Times 24,277 – Funeral in Berlin”
Times 24276: there’s a vulgarrank growing in my garden!
Solving time: 18 minutes Music: Prokofiev, Symphony #5, Martinon/PCO A very moderate puzzle, but my time was not as good as it should have been, owing to a few unwarranted assumptions. I looked at 1 … Read more “Times 24276: there’s a vulgarrank growing in my garden!”
ST 4336 (Sun 5 Jul) – Ashes to Ashes
Solving time: 5:16 Like England’s bowling, this was not too challenging with lots of easy ones to get you going and nothing likely to catch you out. The clues were generally good though. * = … Read more “ST 4336 (Sun 5 Jul) – Ashes to Ashes”
Mephisto 2549 – Tim Moorey – repeated answers stunt repeated
This puzzle used a stunt which we’ve seen before – four different clues to the same answer. After periodic attempts to remember the last time, it’s emerged from some corner of my memory just in … Read more “Mephisto 2549 – Tim Moorey – repeated answers stunt repeated”
Times Jumbo 822 (Sat Jun 27th)
The usual Jumbo rubric: as the solution is available alongside (or indeed before) the blog, comment is confined only to references that might remain obscure to overseas / inexperienced solvers even with the answer visible, … Read more “Times Jumbo 822 (Sat Jun 27th)”
Saturday Times 24269 (4th July)
Solving time 26:03. This was a game of two halves for sure, with some really intricate wordplay and unfamiliar definitions of familiar words sprinkled in among some fairly easy and straightforward clues. The NE corner … Read more “Saturday Times 24269 (4th July)”
Times Crossword 24274
Solving time: 13.20 I probably cost myself 3 or 4 minutes by initially writing in a wrong answer at 1 ac, which meant I was staring in puzzlement at the NW corner long after the … Read more “Times Crossword 24274”
Times 24,273
Solving time: 12:34 Lots of fun in this one, along with a lot of chewy words. Egeria, sennight, and nilgai are all a bit obscure. And ISA, LMS and Ryde may not be very well … Read more “Times 24,273”
Times 24,272 – Dangerous, a Smooth Criminal… not Bad
19:10 .. This one seemed to get trickier as it went along, difficulty stemming from some intricate wordplay and a couple of answers that I had to check after solving. I’m a little uncertain of … Read more “Times 24,272 – Dangerous, a Smooth Criminal… not Bad”