I think it was widely accepted that this was a difficult puzzle. I can’t give my own time, or even a very good estimate, as besides not timing the individual puzzles, I chopped and changed … Read more “2010 Championship Grand Final – Puzzle 1”
Month: October 2010
Times 24667 – Championship Preliminary Round 1, Puzzle 1
This was the first puzzle I solved in this year’s championship, and I’m pretty sure it was the easiest – my guess is that it took about 7 minutes of the 27 or so that … Read more “Times 24667 – Championship Preliminary Round 1, Puzzle 1”
Times 24,666
19:55 according to the new Crossword Club’s built-in timer, which has not met with universal approbation among Club members, but is extremely handy for bloggers here. Back from the travails of Cheltenham, in which I … Read more “Times 24,666”
Times 24665 – What does a 500lb canary eat?
Solving Time: 55 minutes Not much to say for myself except I was waylaid by a 32 page tome and a 500lb canary loose in Slough. Apart from that, the appearance of some old favourites … Read more “Times 24665 – What does a 500lb canary eat?”
Times Championship 2010
Final update (Monday evening, Tuesday morning): I can now report that I beat Mark Goodliffe at something on Sunday – providing a definitive image of a solver in mental agony. See the new picture (with … Read more “Times Championship 2010”
ST 4401 (Sun 3 Oct) – Withal due respect
Solving time: 5:09 [edit: one mistake (9ac)] I felt sluggish over this, despite it seeming fairly easy, which is in keeping with most of my solving recently and doesn’t bode well for today at Cheltenham. … Read more “ST 4401 (Sun 3 Oct) – Withal due respect”
Mephisto 2614 by Mike Laws
There is very little to say about this puzzle. It is the easiest Mephisto for weeks and I suspect one of the easiest ever published. Many of the clues would be regarded as simple in … Read more “Mephisto 2614 by Mike Laws”
Saturday Times 24658 (October 2nd)
Solving time 18:28. There was a bit of chat last week about this puzzle, and that it contained The Clue of the Century. I assume this referred to 11ac, which made me chuckle a bit … Read more “Saturday Times 24658 (October 2nd)”
Times 24663 – Bird strike!
This took me 75 minutes of hard graft which I did not much enjoy and I was not helped by a very tough 1ac which after an hour had passed I decided to look up. … Read more “Times 24663 – Bird strike!”
24662 – a pre-emptive strike
Placeholder post – I got a last-minute gig tonight and may not be able to blog the crossword until the morning. If anyone can get in through the new system and complete the crossword, feel … Read more “24662 – a pre-emptive strike”