Solving time: 44 minutes Music: John Field, Noctures/Piano Concerto #2 Parts of this one seemed fairly difficult to me. There are a few clues where the literal is quite subtle – or wildly unfair, if … Read more “Times 24467 – Not in my back yard!”
Month: February 2010
Mephisto 2581 – Mike Laws
An easy puzzle, solved in about half an hour in three different bursts. A quick recap suggests that about 19 of the clues are daily paper difficulty. Only the 33/26 crossing needed Chambers for confirmation … Read more “Mephisto 2581 – Mike Laws”
ST 4368 (Sun 14 Feb) – Muscle memory
Solving time: 4:25 Pretty good this week with the anagrams at 21ac and 4dn being my favourite clues. There was some difficult vocabulary, of which I didn’t know or couldn’t remember 29ac (MASSETER, a muscle … Read more “ST 4368 (Sun 14 Feb) – Muscle memory”
Times Literary Supplement – TLS 818
Solving time: a little under 30 minutes (2 mistakes) In fact my solving time might just as well have been “a little under 17 minutes (2 mistakes)” since I made no further progress with my … Read more “Times Literary Supplement – TLS 818”
Saturday Times 24460 (13th Feb)
Solving time – not noted, but I don’t think it was over 20 minutes. One phrase I’d never heard of was PUKKA SAHIB for an Indian gentleman, but I knew what both words meant and … Read more “Saturday Times 24460 (13th Feb)”
Times Jumbo 857
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 857”
Times Crossword 24465
Solving time: 8.10 This seemed like a fairly easy workout, with a handful of long anagrams opening the grid up nicely. My stupidity of the day was a failure to read a multi-word clue word … Read more “Times Crossword 24465”
Times 24,464 – First Cut Is The Deepest
I like it when the first across clue in a puzzle is so solveable as this gives the first letters of so many down clues. So it was today and I quickly breezed through the … Read more “Times 24,464 – First Cut Is The Deepest”
Happy Birthday & Farewell, Roy Dean
Roy Dean, first Times Crossword Champion and current setter, is 83 today – the day when his last puzzle is printed in the Times. I believe the printed version has a note to tell you, … Read more “Happy Birthday & Farewell, Roy Dean”
24463
22:45 for this – the hard one which Jimbo has been waiting for. Tackled late last night so maybe I wasn’t in my sharpest form, but 27 was my first answer, with 13 following swiftly, … Read more “24463”