The ride in aid of Helen and Douglas House took place yesterday – full details here.
Month: August 2009
Times Crossword 24298
Solving time: 11.29. I had this whole thing done in about 6 minutes apart from a cluster of 5 clues in the SW corner (22A, 25A, 15D, 21D and 22D), and thought I was heading … Read more “Times Crossword 24298”
Times Jumbo 826 (Sat 25 July 2009)
Found this quite easy at first but the last few answers were quite difficult, solving time, 61 mins. * = anagram < = reversed ACROSS1 P (A PER CH) AINS Very tricky with excellent misdirection. … Read more “Times Jumbo 826 (Sat 25 July 2009)”
Times 24,297
Solving time: 10:03 Sorry. Slightly later than planned today as the Times site wouldn’t let me log in. I had to go out and buy a paper. Nothing wrong with the Crossword, though. At least … Read more “Times 24,297”
Times 24296
Solving time: 9:19 This seemed a good representative of current Times puzzles – not that difficult, but with enough exotic vocabulary and original wordplay to keep experienced solvers thinking for a while, aided by a … Read more “Times 24296”
Times 24,295 – Old and New
21 minutes today, a time which on the surface suggests a puzzle of merely average difficulty; however, it was actually a combination of some pretty straightforward clueing (including some very hoary old wordplay amongst the … Read more “Times 24,295 – Old and New”
Times 24294 – Ich bin ein Schüler
Solving time: 1 hour I found this difficult to get any purchase on. First in was the unlikely Leicester and last Berliner. I all but completed the left half before making any head way on … Read more “Times 24294 – Ich bin ein Schüler”
Mephisto 2552 Tim Moorey
Overall, a slightly harder than usual puzzle that was always fair (if you turn a blind eye to the padding at 34A) and maintained interest. When writing the blog more than doing the puzzle I … Read more “Mephisto 2552 Tim Moorey”
ST 4339 (Sun 26 Jul) – Proper noun?
Solving time: 4:16 I solved this online, though I’m never sure whether this makes it faster or slower; possibly faster to enter the answers but slower to solve the anagrams because you can’t just cross … Read more “ST 4339 (Sun 26 Jul) – Proper noun?”
Jumbo 825 (18th July)
No time noted, but I remember solving it one weekday on the train, probably about 40 minutes or so. Some tricky wordplay in places, but generally straightforward. Across 1 TEMPLAR – MP in (later)*. Templar … Read more “Jumbo 825 (18th July)”