The middle of the three for difficulty – my (estimated) time was 14 minutes. The third cracking puzzle of three – I often manage to enjoy at least some of the clues while trying to … Read more “Times Crossword Championship 2009 – Grand Final Puzzle No. 3”
Month: October 2009
Times Crossword Championship 2009 – Grand Final Puzzle No. 2
The hardest of the three – my (estimated) time was 18 minutes in two roughly equal bursts – halfway through, I gave up to try puzzle 3 instead. I can’t remember much about which answers … Read more “Times Crossword Championship 2009 – Grand Final Puzzle No. 2”
Times Crossword Championship 2009 – Grand Final Puzzle No. 1
The easiest of the three, I think – which isn’t saying much. My (estimated) time was 11 minutes. Unlike the other two grand finals puzzles I have no idea who wrote this but it’s just … Read more “Times Crossword Championship 2009 – Grand Final Puzzle No. 1”
Times 24,355 – A Puzzle of Two Halves
A very unevenly divided 17 minutes today, the first two-thirds falling very quickly indeed, before some more substantial thinking was required, especially in the NE corner, to finish it off. One new word which I … Read more “Times 24,355 – A Puzzle of Two Halves”
Times 24354 – Wooden Blinds
Solving time: 40mins A curious mix of the easy, the should have been easy and the impossible; much like life itself. Whilst checking up on Horus, a theme began to emerge. I’ve no idea what … Read more “Times 24354 – Wooden Blinds”
Times Championship 2009 – Magoo joins the greats
A short report which I’ll expand later today or possibly tomorrow. * indicates a former champion. Mark Goodliffe* confirmed his position as the leading current solver by winning today’s final by a distance from a … Read more “Times Championship 2009 – Magoo joins the greats”
Mephisto 2562 – Paul McKenna
Not too difficult – finished in 43:25, with Chambers used for about the last dozen answers, which I think were – 1A, 21, 10, 14, 6, 29, 23, 22, 27, 24, 32 (correcting the last … Read more “Mephisto 2562 – Paul McKenna”
ST 4349 (Sun 4 Oct) – Status report
Solving time: 4:28 A distinct improvement this week, with no mistakes that I noticed and some very good clues. This, plus some speculative schedule analysis, suggests that this may have been written by Tim Moorey. … Read more “ST 4349 (Sun 4 Oct) – Status report”
Saturday Times 24347 (3rd Oct)
Solving time 10:07. I found this pretty straightforward, although very good nevertheless. I know others struggled with it from comments on last week’s blog, so maybe I was just “in the zone” for a change. … Read more “Saturday Times 24347 (3rd Oct)”
Late night Sunday Post
Posts about last week’s Sunday Times and Mephisto puzzles will be up fairly late on Sunday after your reporters have returned from Cheltenham. There should also be at least some kind of report about the … Read more “Late night Sunday Post”