Solving time: about 45 minutes, with a break in the middle to wake myself up a bit. It’s too late at night for me to go into any great detail about how I found it, … Read more “Times 24980”
Month: October 2011
Times 24979 – Light & Easy
Another pleasant stroll on a Thursday morning when preparing the blog took more than double the time to solve the puzzle. Quite entertaining. ACROSS1 PROPOSES Ins of OP (opus or work) in PROSE (writing) + … Read more “Times 24979 – Light & Easy”
Times 24978: Tie me polo down sport
Solving time: 43 minutes. Fine, fine, fine. Across 1 STRA(WBER)RY. Anagram of BREW inside STRAY inc R (river). 6 S,PEW. 9 DEC{k}LINE. ‘Go through cases’ as in grammar. 10 MARENGO. MARE (horse), N, GO. A … Read more “Times 24978: Tie me polo down sport”
Times 24,977
Timed at 33:25, and tricky, to say the least (apart from the SW corner, which I found really tricky). In fact, very much the sort of puzzle which you always worry will arrive on your … Read more “Times 24,977”
Times 24976 – Not able was I
Solving Time: Forgot to stop the clock, but under the hour. Some tricky vocabulary, which ultimately led (sic) to my downfall, as I rejected the only plausible answer at 4, thinking it was a double … Read more “Times 24976 – Not able was I”
Mephisto 2666 by Paul McKenna
This is all very straightforward and on the easier side of the spectrum. Across 1 PRISSIER – PR-IS-S(I)ER; present=PR; series=SER; 7 IDLE – (s)IDLE; 10 CHALCEDONY – CH-(done)* in (clay)*; check=CH (chess); a mineral; 11 … Read more “Mephisto 2666 by Paul McKenna”
Sunday Times 4453 (2 Oct 2011)
Solving time: 1hr 13min I really struggled to get on Tim Moorey’s wavelength with this one. I didn’t find it very satisfying, and I seemed to have quibbles about a number of the answers. I … Read more “Sunday Times 4453 (2 Oct 2011)”
Saturday Times 24969 (1st Oct)
Solving time 3:44 (not really – I was interrupted after the first few minutes with maybe half a dozen clues solved and forgot to restart the stopwatch). Around 15 minutes or so as a rough … Read more “Saturday Times 24969 (1st Oct)”
24974
This was much the same old tale for me this week. 30 minutes for most of it but then I came to grief in the NE corner and took another 20 minutes to solve the … Read more “24974”
Jumbo 944 – September 24 2011
58 really easy clues, one book that gave me more trouble than it should have and one single clue so ludicrous it probably belongs in a barred puzzle (or preferably in a dustbin). 17 minutes for … Read more “Jumbo 944 – September 24 2011”