Only Marty’s eighth Quicky offering by my reckoning, and I found this one quite tricky – though part of that was because I managed to put in a wrong answer for 10A that made my … Read more “Quick Cryptic 575 by Marty”
Month: May 2016
JUMBO 1206
I didn’t find this one particularly difficult but there did seem to be a lot of unusual words and several examples of the dreaded long single word answer. When we played hangman at school if … Read more “JUMBO 1206”
Sunday Times 4694 by Jeff Pearce
13:06. A reasonably gentle puzzle from Jeff this week. There were a couple of unknowns for me (GYRFALCON, WINGDING), an unusual abbreviation for a rather obscure unit of length, and one slightly questionable definition, but … Read more “Sunday Times 4694 by Jeff Pearce”
Mephisto 2907 – Don Manley
Fun breezy offering this week, I thought. Contains one of my favorite words to misspell at 1 down (always forget the second A), and every barred-grid solver’s favorite rock at 10 across. My only real … Read more “Mephisto 2907 – Don Manley”
Saturday Times 26412 (14th May)
Much tougher than the previous week – solved on paper in about 20 mins. Looked like it was going to be a pangram as I was solving it, but there was no Y or Z. … Read more “Saturday Times 26412 (14th May)”
Times 26,417: Sir Topham The Morning To You
Smarting from ulaca‘s quip that, based on my performances earlier this week, I am the John Aldridge of crosswords (with my limited knowledge of sports I’m not sure who that is, to be honest – … Read more “Times 26,417: Sir Topham The Morning To You”
Quick Crossword 574 by Orpheus
An enjoyable crossword and clear clues. Nougettes sounded like a possibility for 11a – misled into thinking nutty was an anagram indicator, and yes, I know, that still doesn’t work! – but everything else went … Read more “Quick Crossword 574 by Orpheus”
TLS Crossword 1123 by Broteas – April 29, 2016
Back to plain vanilla here after Verlaine’s lavishly illustrated tales from Shakespeare last week. It was a relief to learn from the Club Forum that others found this tough. It was a whiplash-inducing mix of … Read more “TLS Crossword 1123 by Broteas – April 29, 2016”
Quick cryptic No 573 by Teazel
This took me 13 minutes, three more than my target, for no easily accountable reason. There are a couple of pieces of Brit-centric general knowledge (10 and 23 across, 20 down) and more than the … Read more “Quick cryptic No 573 by Teazel”
Times 26416. When is an orange not a paper-pusher?
Solving time : 8:23, so either this one was on the beginner’s slopes, or I was really on the setter’s wavelength, or both. It didn’t hurt that I’d seen almost the exact same clue that … Read more “Times 26416. When is an orange not a paper-pusher?”