Solving time: 13.09 After a good start, I spent a long time at the end with an otherwise completed grid, gazing at one unyielding clue (see 10 A, below). As I tend not to notice … Read more “Times Crossword 24561”
Month: June 2010
Times 24560 – Nag, Nag & Nag
Another standard Times puzzle that made for a lovely start to the day. Nothing very difficult but yet titillating and entertaining. ACROSS1 DETRACTED Ins of TRACT (pamphlet) in DEED (performance)9 ROUTINE Ins of IN (home) … Read more “Times 24560 – Nag, Nag & Nag”
24559 – Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar
Solving time: 10:52 I started this optimistically, after clocking a better time for the Times 2 Race the Clock than most recent attempts, but got bogged down in the NW corner. I also wasted a … Read more “24559 – Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”
Times 24,558 – mental block
A very unusual solve which suggests I should find my own icon with a dunce’s cap or similar – about 15 minutes for all bar the last one and a half solutions. Then 10 minutes … Read more “Times 24,558 – mental block”
Times 24557 – Heathcliff again
Solving time: 43 minutes Music: Mozart, Sinfonia Concertante, Grumiaux/Davis/LSO First, let me thank my colleague Russel John for filling in last week. I had a most enjoyable trip, but my access to the internet was … Read more “Times 24557 – Heathcliff again”
ST 4383 (Sun 30 May) – Shank’s ‘mare
Solving time: 11 mins, one mistake (17dn) Not my finest hour: a hasty wrong answer at 1ac cost me a lot of time, but this all felt very sluggish. I ended up stuck on 17dn … Read more “ST 4383 (Sun 30 May) – Shank’s ‘mare”
Mephisto 2596 Mike Laws
I found this the easiest Mephisto for some time, the down clues in particular with all but 5D of 1d to 9D read and written straight in.The AZED on the same day was even easier. … Read more “Mephisto 2596 Mike Laws”
Saturday Times 24550 (May 29th)
Another one with no time written down, as I had to snatch the odd 5 minutes here and there to look at it last Saturday. One word was new to me (1D) and there was … Read more “Saturday Times 24550 (May 29th)”
Times Jumbo 872
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 872”
TLS 832 (14 May)
Solving time: 18:42 (1 wrong) I made a slowish start, but then picked up speed a little and had all but four answers filled in by around 10 minutes – and one of those (FEMME) … Read more “TLS 832 (14 May)”