Solving time: 10:49 This should have been under 10, but I was held up at the end by 3D, struggling to find the necessary non-plural word to match both “characteristic” and “buildings”. Last in before … Read more “24499”
Month: March 2010
Times 24,498 –
16 mins, so very middle of the road in terms of difficulty. That doesn’t mean I was familiar with all the vocabulary or knowledge required, but the wordplay on each occasion left me in little … Read more “Times 24,498 –”
Diaries out: championship date for 2010
Just received my invitation to compete in this. It’s on 10 October, so a number of 10’s line up for me – a championship on 10/10/10, ten years since my first win, and with a … Read more “Diaries out: championship date for 2010”
24497 – A straightforward start to the week.
Solving time: 35 minutes. A steady solve with a minimum of specialist knowledge required. Particularly in 20 & 24a. I admit I had to look up the reference in 20, but the Manhattan Project was … Read more “24497 – A straightforward start to the week.”
ST 4373 (Sun 21 Mar) – Trouble garage
Solving time: 6 mins The schedule suggested we were due a good one and sure enough this was excellent. I don’t understand 18dn (WAYSIDE), though. * = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’. Across 4 … Read more “ST 4373 (Sun 21 Mar) – Trouble garage”
Mephisto 2586 by Paul McKenna (the ESP puzzle)
Regular readers will know that a while back a number of us were criticising The Times for dumbing down this puzzle. Happily over recent weeks we have seen a return to normal standards. The Times, … Read more “Mephisto 2586 by Paul McKenna (the ESP puzzle)”
Jumbo 862
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 “Jumbo 862”
Saturday Times 24490 (March 20th)
Solving time 16:45, about average, although the online copy I solved was made harder by missing out the clue to 12ac (although I guessed it when I had 4 crossing letters in place). The other … Read more “Saturday Times 24490 (March 20th)”
TLS 823 (March 5th) – cracked it!
Solving time – approx 16 minutes, without aids! Quite a bit of guesswork was involved though, and I’m not 100% certain of 11ac even after subsequent research. A first for me, although I suspect Tony … Read more “TLS 823 (March 5th) – cracked it!”
Club Monthly 20114 – March 2010
Solving time: 1hr 40m – so quite hard, especially the last few clues.. Another high class offering that I can’t find anything to quibble about, though I do have two clues I am not clever … Read more “Club Monthly 20114 – March 2010”