Another cracker from Dean, awash with wit, some terrific clues, amusing surfaces and a splash of sauce. Particular standouts for me were the excellent clue at 17dn, the tricky 1ac, the ingenious definition at 26ac … Read more “Sunday Times 4641 by Dean Mayer – Adult Themes, Occasional Nudity”
Month: May 2015
Saturday Times 26094 (9th May)
Solving time 10:53, but would have been about 3 minutes quicker but for the pesky 15D and 25A! So, a very easy solve for a Saturday, and I noticed some pretty fast times on the … Read more “Saturday Times 26094 (9th May)”
Times 26,099: A Bad Wordsman Blames His Tooth
I’ve been feeling a bit sluggish on the solving times lately, possibly because of an aching jaw since one of my fillings orchestrated a daring escape from its cell a week ago; so I was … Read more “Times 26,099: A Bad Wordsman Blames His Tooth”
Quick Cryptic No 309 by Izetti
I found this a curious mixture of easy clues and trickier ones, two of which needed some general knowledge or guesswork from checking letters if you didn’t know the people concerned. Oh, and a smattering … Read more “Quick Cryptic No 309 by Izetti”
Times Quick Cryptic No 308 by Hurley
Solving time: Fair to middling. Hi everyone. Hurley is here today and he (for I think it is a he and not Liz) is certainly at home in these slots with nice accessible puzzles that … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 308 by Hurley”
26098 Of the Church of England in exile, and cut price warships.
A rather jolly grid, this one, which I completed in 15.19. I’d like to think the setter intended the somewhat surreal pairings scattered across the grid, two of which I’ve alluded to in today’s headline. … Read more “26098 Of the Church of England in exile, and cut price warships.”
Times 26097 – middle of the road
A 20 minute gentle solve over early tea and toast, for some reason starting from the bottom up as 25a was my FOI. No obscurities, I’d even heard of the writer. Across 1 HERETICAL – … Read more “Times 26097 – middle of the road”
Quick Cryptic Number 307 by Mara
I was slow to get into the SE corner having been held up slightly by 6dn and 13ac. Overall, a puzzle of average difficulty, I thought. For a favourite, it was difficult to choose between … Read more “Quick Cryptic Number 307 by Mara”
Times Cryptic 26096
Blogger’s nerves set in as soon as I noticed that yet again I had landed a grid with no 3- or 4-letter words, so I took a moment or two to get started. My first … Read more “Times Cryptic 26096”
Quick Cryptic No 306 by Dazzler
This seemed medium to hard but with a medium time of 14 minutes. I have had a question over the clue in 8ac so any comments appreciated. LOI 11dn, 16ac and 13ac caused most problems … Read more “Quick Cryptic No 306 by Dazzler”