I’ve been shockingly busy with Real Life since my last blog, hence not even managing to find time to solve most of the intervening puzzles, let alone comment, so I hoped it wouldn’t be too … Read more “Times 25,073 – messing about in boats”
Month: January 2012
Times 25072 – I thought it was a cucumber, your Honour
Solving Time: 30 minutes After a flying start, solving both 1ac & 28 at first sight, I slowed to a more genteel pace and fell over the lign (sic) thankful it hadn’t turned into a … Read more “Times 25072 – I thought it was a cucumber, your Honour”
Mephisto 2682 by Don Manley
I really enjoyed this puzzle which I felt was of a good level of difficulty with some nicely constructed clues. No queries or problems. Across 1 NARK – (s)NARK; reference Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of … Read more “Mephisto 2682 by Don Manley”
Sunday Times 4469 (22 Jan 2012)
Solving time: About 20 minutes offline. Still on jury duty this week so, again, I printed this off to do while waiting to be assigned to a jury. Very straightforward this week. The easiest for … Read more “Sunday Times 4469 (22 Jan 2012)”
Saturday Times 25065 (21st Jan)
24:03 for this tricky little beast. I didn’t know 18D and had to get it from the wordplay, but the one that totally threw me for a while was 23A – E?G??E?N?O just doesn’t look … Read more “Saturday Times 25065 (21st Jan)”
Club Monthly 20136 January 2012
Solving Time: well, definitely something over an hour; I tend to do a bit and then leave it and come back later, so hard to say for certain, but it felt somewhat longer than usual. … Read more “Club Monthly 20136 January 2012”
Times 25070 – Bang on the nail!
Time taken to solve – 42 minutes, but it seemed longer because apart from the four 3-letter words that went in immediately I took a while to get properly under way. After that the LH … Read more “Times 25070 – Bang on the nail!”
Jumbo 961 – Picnicking with Rudesheimer – a monologue in three parts!
Quite liked this one as there were a few nice clues along the way. Big tick for 47D for cluing the wordplay and definition entirely with cricketing “terms”. A few non standard anagrams, with constructed … Read more “Jumbo 961 – Picnicking with Rudesheimer – a monologue in three parts!”
Times 25069 – Endearing Blunder
This is a very fair, challenging as well as entertaining piece of work with concise clues, few wasted words and some lovely surfaces. Alas, I was undone for many minutes when I wrongly equated an … Read more “Times 25069 – Endearing Blunder”
Times Crossword 25,068 – tricky!
Solving Time: A long time, 39 minutes. I suspect that those of us who like to have a moan will find plenty of material here – apart from a single clue, this crossword is relentlessly … Read more “Times Crossword 25,068 – tricky!”