24:06 for this, ending in failure at 27ac, which contains a usage I have never encountered before. Judging by comments on the club forum I am not alone in this. There were a number of … Read more “Sunday Times 4636 by Tim Moorey”
Month: April 2015
Mephisto 2849 – Paul McKenna
Despite a generous grid (look at those fully-checked three letter lights and all the six-letter lights with only one unchecked letter), I made a real mess of this one and it took a lot of … Read more “Mephisto 2849 – Paul McKenna”
Jumbo 1140
I found this one slightly harder than average, finishing in 21m 5s. There was only one answer for which I had to rely entirely on the wordplay, suggesting that it was the difficulty of the … Read more “Jumbo 1140”
Saturday Times 26064 (April 4)
Excellent one. One clue – 20a – gave me all kinds of trouble (but fortunately couldn’t be anything else) thanks to a giant lacuna in my knowledge of venerable pop culture. This puzzle took me … Read more “Saturday Times 26064 (April 4)”
Times 26,069: The Monotreme With No Name
What a good week it’s been for Times crosswords – five for five that I’ve really enjoyed, and naturally it didn’t hurt that my time on this one ended up at 10 and a half … Read more “Times 26,069: The Monotreme With No Name”
Quick Cryptic No 284 by Vista – Teds remembered
“No need to wash, it’s likely to rain, just bring your cosh or bicycle chain. Today’s the day the teddy-boys have their picnic.”Sorry, I couldn’t resist it, seeing 15a and in my day leaning towards … Read more “Quick Cryptic No 284 by Vista – Teds remembered”
Quick Crytpic No 283 by Flamande
Best wishes to macavity123 who is indisposed today – I’m a late stand in and am just about to head off down a motorway (M). Fortunately the crossword only took 8 minutes – many going … Read more “Quick Crytpic No 283 by Flamande”
Times 26068 – anger, animals and the elderly
Solving time : 11:02 on the club timer and holy moley there’s someone with a 5-minuter already, so I am in second! I guess this confirms my suspicion that it’s on the easier side and … Read more “Times 26068 – anger, animals and the elderly”
Tmes Quick Cryptic 282 by Des
Must admit I’ve pretty much given up on trying to predict the degree of difficulty of the Quickies, having been proven to have been out of step with the consensus view on many occasions of … Read more “Tmes Quick Cryptic 282 by Des”
Times 26067 – top quality meat
On blog days I often feel that the pleasure of solving a fine puzzle is outweighed by the fear – well, the slight worry, perhaps – of not being able to manage it and having … Read more “Times 26067 – top quality meat”