Solving time: 48 minutes Music: Vaughn Williams, Symphony #6, Boult/LSO This is the sort of puzzle the blogger fears. After reading all the clues, I had not a single answer in the grid. Seven minutes … Read more “Times 25593 – The devil, you say?”
Month: September 2013
Mephisto 2769 – Don Manley
This is a very good Mephisto for fans of wordplay – I managed to fill in the entire right hand (though with lots of question marks) with unfamiliar words pieced together by wordplay. I was … Read more “Mephisto 2769 – Don Manley”
Sunday Times 4556 (22 Sep 2013) by Jeff Pearce
Solving time: 50:07 (with aids for my LOI) There were a few good clues amongst this lot, but there were also a few weak cryptic defs and quite easy ones. There was a spelling mistake … Read more “Sunday Times 4556 (22 Sep 2013) by Jeff Pearce”
Saturday Times 25586 (21st Sept)
Solving time 19:22, but I wasn’t on great form at the time so it probably wasn’t as hard as that indicates. I didn’t notice it while solving, but there’s an error in 8dn, with the … Read more “Saturday Times 25586 (21st Sept)”
Times 25591
Solving time: 54:10 I found this quite tough, but enjoyable. There was quite a lot of fairly imaginative cluing and some good disguise. 12a just about gets my COD for it’s well-disguised definition, but 1a … Read more “Times 25591”
Times 25590: Hmmmm…
Solving time : Hit submit after 16:44 and was greeted with the “1 incorrect” message. I had a peek through it and I don’t see any typos straight off so I might be missing something. … Read more “Times 25590: Hmmmm…”
Times 25589: Getting “difficult or awkward treatment”
Solving time: 27:52 Happy to have managed this under the 30 today. Thought it was going to take much longer with, as yesterday, lengthy hold ups in the SE. It took the longish 15ac, 13dn … Read more “Times 25589: Getting “difficult or awkward treatment””
Times 25,588
22:40 on the club timer. Some tricky stuff here, among the more obvious elements, but a generally good and entertaining midweek solve. Across 1 COCKATRICE – COCK(=herald of dawn) A TRICE(=a second). A sort of … Read more “Times 25,588”
Times 25587 – One from the Nursery Slopes
Nothing much to hold folk up here, so long as non-sporty types are sufficently clued up on their sweaty types in the scrum. I did this online at home while Typhoon Usagi petered out and … Read more “Times 25587 – One from the Nursery Slopes”
Mephisto 2768 by Paul McKenna
I enjoyed this puzzle which I found about middle of the road in terms of difficulty. I really liked 7A and 22D. Across 1 ARBORETA – AR(BORE)T-A; about=A; 7 POOR – POO(l)-R; nice clue; 10 … Read more “Mephisto 2768 by Paul McKenna”