Solving time: 43 minutes Music: Elgar, Enigma Variations, Boult/LSO Well, not what I was expecting for a February 29 puzzle, but merely a routine Monday offering with a little sting at the end, mostly due … Read more “Times 26347 – Just another Monday….”
Month: February 2016
Quick Cryptic 515 by Pedro
A happy birthday to all you leaplings. A generally straightforward puzzle from Pedro today with just a couple of clues (e.g. 1A, 8A) requiring a bit of head-scratching/eye-narrowing/lip-pursing. The crossword can be found here if … Read more “Quick Cryptic 515 by Pedro”
Jumbo 1192 February 13, 2016 – Alive
Attempted to solve this at 5am outside a tent in the bush in WA’s south-west. That’s the dedication required to be a TftT blogger apparently. From memory it was tougher than recent Jumbos, but that … Read more “Jumbo 1192 February 13, 2016 – Alive”
Mephisto 2895 – Don Manley
I found this one pretty tough for a few reasons. There were two pieces of geography that were way out of my range of knowledge. I also confidently wrote in a few incorrect answers that … Read more “Mephisto 2895 – Don Manley”
Sunday Times 4682 by Jeff Pearce – Despicable Lee
20m. I got through most of this quickly but then made a bit of a hash of the last few clues. One of these (DESPICABLE) had an arguably rather loose definition, and a couple of … Read more “Sunday Times 4682 by Jeff Pearce – Despicable Lee”
Saturday Times 26340 (20th Feb)
14:40, so about average difficulty for me. Rather more people than usual in the wordplay, and a couple in the grid, so some of it had a TLS-y feel. Nice to see “Our ‘Enery” make … Read more “Saturday Times 26340 (20th Feb)”
Times 26,345: If You Can’t Stand The Beat, Get Out Of The Kitchen
I have an enormous amount of time for this tough Friday puzzle – quite literally really, as it kept me sweating and cogitating for almost the full quarter hour pre-submission, and some time afterwards too … Read more “Times 26,345: If You Can’t Stand The Beat, Get Out Of The Kitchen”
Quick Cryptic 514 by Flamande
This seemed fairly straightforward – once I got going – and I enjoyed the amusing word breaks in 17a and 23a. A hint for new solvers – look out for words which look like linking … Read more “Quick Cryptic 514 by Flamande”
Club Monthly 20185 February 2016 – comment?
Solving Time: As quite often happens I found this easy to start but hard to finish, with several knotty ones, one of which (8dn) is still not satisfactorily parsed. All good stuff but one of … Read more “Club Monthly 20185 February 2016 – comment?”
Jumbo 1191
Sorry this is up later than scheduled. Let’s blame it on “technical issues”. I don’t “do” the Jumbo with any regularity and when I do I don’t time myself so I can’t say with any … Read more “Jumbo 1191”