Solving Time: 25 minutes, about average for one of my blogging crosswords, but it felt fairly hard to me, with some quite tricky clues. Also one or two chestnuts, but overall a fair test, I … Read more “Times Crossword 25,236 – Zen in the Art of Trainspotting”
Month: August 2012
Times 25,235 – Alastair, Sandy and Reggy Remembered
Solving time 20 minutes Another reasonable quality, fairly typical Times puzzle. I can’t see too many real talking points or obscurities. The somewhat parochial TV reference may be difficult for overseas solvers but the checkers … Read more “Times 25,235 – Alastair, Sandy and Reggy Remembered”
Sloggers & Betters (Manchester), Saturday 8th September 2012.
Actually this is what you might call Sloggers & Betters Plus, as it coincides with the 50th birthday celebrations of Anax/Loroso/Elkamere and will consist of two events. Basic detailsThe daytime venue, from 12 noon, is … Read more “Sloggers & Betters (Manchester), Saturday 8th September 2012.”
Times 25234 – Dinka or Luo, anyone?
Solving time: 65 Minutes Music: None, golf on TV I found this one rather difficult. There are a few unusual words, and in some cases the wordplay is not particularly helpful. I had to make … Read more “Times 25234 – Dinka or Luo, anyone?”
Sunday Times 4496 (29 Jul 2012) by Jeff Pearce – An Olympian standard
Solving time: DNF. I only got round to starting this on Friday night, spent some more time on it on Saturday evening, but still couldn’t finish much more than two-thirds of it. I would’ve quite … Read more “Sunday Times 4496 (29 Jul 2012) by Jeff Pearce – An Olympian standard”
Mephisto 2709 – Don Manley
I was out of town last weekend, so didn’t have my usual dictionary access, and mostly did this in doodle time between presentations (or if I was tuned out, during presentations). I found this one … Read more “Mephisto 2709 – Don Manley”
Jumbo 989
This took me longer than usual – around 35 minutes, though I had several interruptions so I can’t give an accurate estimate. I’m not sure whether the timing reflects the difficulty of the puzzle, or … Read more “Jumbo 989”
Saturday Times 25227 (28th July)
Another really tricky puzzle, solved in just over the half-hour (30:13 to be precise), although the last 10 minutes or so was spent on trying to figure out 10ac, with three possible candidates to consider. … Read more “Saturday Times 25227 (28th July)”
Times 25232
Solving time: 49:58 I probably could have done this quicker had I done it during the day, rather than the middle of the night. As it was I had to abandon the actual writing of … Read more “Times 25232”
Times 25231 – ignore that placeholder!
Solving time : 9:52 – on the crossword club it’s showing I’ve got two mistakes which turned out to be a clumsy typo at the intersection of 7 across and 10 down. I put up … Read more “Times 25231 – ignore that placeholder!”