Solving Time: Normally I wouldn’t give a time. This is the first Times National Crossword Championship Qualifying puzzle of 2013. By tradition we don’t discuss solving times for these here, and also by tradition the … Read more “Times Crossword 25,451 – First Championship Qualifier (or not!)”
Month: April 2013
Times 25,456
14:20 suggests mid-range difficulty; decent, if not madly exciting puzzle, though there were at least a couple of occasions where I raised a metaphorical eyebrow. Across 1 KELVIN – Large in KEVIN. 4 SKEWBALD – … Read more “Times 25,456”
Times 25455 – Wish I could say it was a typo
22 minutes, but with one wrong. Nice, gentle start to the ‘daily’ week. I’m adopting the ‘Leave none behind’ protocol from now on, so every answer will be given (hopefully, the right ones). Across 1 … Read more “Times 25455 – Wish I could say it was a typo”
Mephisto 2746 by Tim Moorey
I had an easy week both with this puzzle and my Tuesday blog. Ran through this in double quick time virtually without looking in Chambers. No idea how well known the KP abreviation used here … Read more “Mephisto 2746 by Tim Moorey”
Sunday Times 4533 (14 Apr 2013) by Dean Mayer
Solving time: About 45 minutes offline. It’s another supremely witty offering from Dean, and a lot of fun to solve. So many good clues that it’s very difficult to pick a COD. Actually, that’s not … Read more “Sunday Times 4533 (14 Apr 2013) by Dean Mayer”
Daily 25448 – Saturday 13th – more vocab deficiency issues – first Nudnik, now Gneiss ….
Decent Saturday offering, no gimmes, and a steady solve with some head scratching along the way. Technically this was a DNF for me as after about 25 minutes (of which 5 were spent staring at … Read more “Daily 25448 – Saturday 13th – more vocab deficiency issues – first Nudnik, now Gneiss ….”
Times Jumbo 1030 (6 Apr 2013)
Solving time: About two and a half hours offline, but with one wrong. I actually had two wrong, but one of those was just a typo when I filled it in online – I had … Read more “Times Jumbo 1030 (6 Apr 2013)”
Times 25453 – In decline
I found it very hard to work up any momentum on this and having struggled to get started I battled through most of it at snail pace with only occasional bursts of energy to restore … Read more “Times 25453 – In decline”
Times 25452 – Life of Brian
Quite an entertaining puzzle today with a good variety of devices. ACROSS 1 PICKINGS Cha of PIC (picture, snap) KINGS (playing cards) 5 STATIC Ins of TA (Territorial Army, volunteers) in STICK (stand) minus K … Read more “Times 25452 – Life of Brian”
Today’s puzzle
As I’m currently on admin duty for linxit, I thought it best to reiterate here what Jerry said a few days ago, in case anyone missed it.Today’s puzzle (25451) is the first Qualifier for the … Read more “Today’s puzzle”