9 minutes for this pleasant puzzle that seems fairly mainstream to me but there may be hidden difficulties that haven’t occurred to me and I look forward to reading others’ comment. Here’s my blog… As … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 640 by Mara”
Month: August 2016
Mephisto 2920 by Tim Moorey
Standard middle of the road puzzle with no queries or hold-ups or (amazingly) Scottish words Across 1 CHAMB – CH-A-MB; check=CH (chess); abbreviation of Chamberlain; 5 FI,DONC – FI-DON-C; cocaine=C; Latin tag for “shame”; 11 … Read more “Mephisto 2920 by Tim Moorey”
Sunday Times 4707 by Dean Mayer
Another super puzzle from Dean this week, showcasing the trademark economy of cluing, witty oddball definitions and sheer inventiveness of our tormentor. Several top notch clues, with 3A, 20A, 25A and 14D all outstanding in … Read more “Sunday Times 4707 by Dean Mayer”
Saturday Times 26490 (13th August)
Solving time 12:06, which I was quite pleased with as this looked pretty tricky in places – a trap for the unwary at 15D, a few obscure words here and there, a bit of GK … Read more “Saturday Times 26490 (13th August)”
Jumbo 1220
I found this one a little bit harder than average at the time, though looking over the vocab there was nothing completely unknown. I much prefer difficulty caused by wordplay rather than heaps of obscurities, … Read more “Jumbo 1220”
Times 26,495: William Blake’s 7
Very decent puzzle to round out the week I thought; once again not the hardest of the week, and I didn’t have much trouble getting it done inside my 10 minute target, but there were … Read more “Times 26,495: William Blake’s 7”
Quick Cryptic 639 by Teazel
Morning all, hope you enjoyed this Quickie, which I think was of average difficulty. I usually rely on anagrams to get a foothold, and there are only two in this puzzle. On the other hand … Read more “Quick Cryptic 639 by Teazel”
TLS Crossword 1136 by – erm – let me think about it – ah yes, Talos – July 29, 2016
40 minutes for this one, a pleasant piece of work with the happy knack of making you believe you actually knew stuff by providing accessible wordplay to answers on the fringe of memory. The crossword … Read more “TLS Crossword 1136 by – erm – let me think about it – ah yes, Talos – July 29, 2016”
Times Quick Cryptic No 638 by Flamande
A really enjoyable puzzle from Flamande. I came in around 15 mins, so maybe a bit harder than average. I came a bit of a cropper at 21ac, happily bunging in “resort” for “reorganise religious … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 638 by Flamande”
Times Cryptic 26494 – August 18, 2016 So that’s what it means.
You need to know some stuff for this one at a level almost consistent with a TLS. Past brushes with Greek, Italian/music, Arabic, classic literature, various religious texts and French anti tech practices might come … Read more “Times Cryptic 26494 – August 18, 2016 So that’s what it means.”