A late start this morning, owing to staying up in the wee small hours watching the farce and triumphs of the Olympic cycling. Some velo-chaps after a good liquid lunch must have sat down and … Read more “Times 26493 – Hamish, ye’ll have had yer tea?”
Month: August 2016
Quick Cryptic Number 637 by Hurley
After getting off to a flying start at the top of the grid, I ended up thinking this was quite a difficult quickie. There’s certainly some reference to general knowledge that one might not need … Read more “Quick Cryptic Number 637 by Hurley”
QC 636 by Grumpy
I seem to have had many hard QCs to blog of late so it was refreshing when this one seemed simple – but then 9ac and 10ac had me in knots. 12 minutes in the … Read more “QC 636 by Grumpy”
Times Cryptic 26492
My solving time for this one was off the scale. There were five answers, two of them intersecting, that were beyond my ken, and another two I needed aids to come up with, so technically … Read more “Times Cryptic 26492”
Times 26491 – Almost a lip-out on a two-footer
Solving time: 24 minutes Music: Old Blind Dogs, The World’s Room I finished my catch-up solving yesterday, doing about seven daily puzzles and Mephisto in two days. I found some of them quite difficult, although … Read more “Times 26491 – Almost a lip-out on a two-footer”
Quick Cryptic 635 by Izetti
I found this on the whole at the easier end of the difficulty spectrum, with 5D I imagine being the likeliest unknown for solvers (though the wordplay isn’t unhelpful). Based on my previous experiences of … Read more “Quick Cryptic 635 by Izetti”
Sunday Times 4706 by Jeff Pearce
9:36, but with one stupid error: I put CASES at 24dn. It sort of works, if you’ve an eye to finishing in under 10 minutes, and make a connection between ‘requests’ and CASES in a … Read more “Sunday Times 4706 by Jeff Pearce”
Mephisto 2919 – Don Manley
I thought this was a step up in difficulty from the last few Don Manley Mephisto puzzles, and found the top half of the grid came together far more slowly than the bottom half. Botany … Read more “Mephisto 2919 – Don Manley”
Times Jumbo 1219
Not too challenging, I thought, though it introduced me to a new word (the ancient people at 54ac) and a phrase (51ac) that I’d never encountered before with that particular meaning. As always, * indicates … Read more “Times Jumbo 1219”
Saturday Times 26484 (6th Aug)
16:29 for this fairly challenging puzzle (although it would have been a bit quicker if I hadn’t bunged in THUMB STITCH at 13D). Not sure where I got that from – it doesn’t even exist. … Read more “Saturday Times 26484 (6th Aug)”