An offering of average difficulty from this setter, with a few gimmes (e.g. 21A) and the lesser known words (e.g. 11A) all with clear wordplay. A pleasant start to the week – thanks Orpheus. The … Read more “Quick Cryptic 505 by Orpheus”
Month: February 2016
Sunday Times 4680 by Dean Mayer – awe and loathing
33m. Unusually for a Dean Mayer puzzle I didn’t enjoy this one much at the time: I found it hard, and a bit of a slog. Looking at it now it doesn’t seem that difficult, … Read more “Sunday Times 4680 by Dean Mayer – awe and loathing”
Mephisto 2893 – Tim Moorey
I managed to get about half of this done while doodling at the pub, so I don’t think it was on the difficult side. A couple of pieces of tricky wordplay, and as opposed to … Read more “Mephisto 2893 – Tim Moorey”
Saturday Times 26328 (6th Feb)
Tough puzzle, lots of GK required. Finished everything apart from 1ac and 2dn in about 15 mins, but then my mind had a temporary seizure and I couldn’t think of either of them. In the … Read more “Saturday Times 26328 (6th Feb)”
Jumbo 1190
A gentle offering this week, with the unknowns (for me) clued with little ambiguity. Solving time: 14m 49s * = anagram, {} = omission Across 1 WITH-PROFITS – PROF (Top academic) in WIT (intelligence) + … Read more “Jumbo 1190”
Times 26,333: Il faut imaginer solveurs heureux
Didn’t last long once the mighty Magoo and Jason strolled onto the scene, of course, but at the time I submitted this crossword I was topping the TCC leaderboards for both the Concise and the … Read more “Times 26,333: Il faut imaginer solveurs heureux”
Quick Crossword 504 by Teazel
Some nice images conjured up in the story-telling type clues at 23a and 7d, and that ever-popular crossword meal at 22a. Checked 20a afterwards in Chambers, as I’d always thought this was ‘amend’, but turns … Read more “Quick Crossword 504 by Teazel”
Times 26332 – I guess it’s easier than dancing to hardcore
Solving time : 24:20 on the club timer, which is my slowest time in a very very long time. This is a bit of a beast, and I can’t quite put my finger on what … Read more “Times 26332 – I guess it’s easier than dancing to hardcore”
Quick Cryptic 503 By Tracy
A highly entertaining puzzle with excellent surfaces that made for some enjoyably surreal associations of ideas and images. I’d put this squarely on the harder end of the scale – around 10 for me. A … Read more “Quick Cryptic 503 By Tracy”
Times 26331 – anyone for French cricket?
Another one of those puzzles, for me, which was slow to come into bud but then quickly came into full bloom. I had quite a few possibles in faint pencil, helping me to get a … Read more “Times 26331 – anyone for French cricket?”