Much of this seemed straightforward but there were one or two tricky bits that needed careful thought e.g. the second ‘unch’ (unchecked letter) at 22ac where one has to decide whether it’s the first or … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 630 by Joker”
Month: August 2016
Mephisto 2918 – Paul McKenna
An interesting puzzle of about average difficulty slightly marred by lights 3D,4D,5D and 16D showing format of two word solutions. With 40 clues in total it is also slightly larger than usual. I’m not wholly … Read more “Mephisto 2918 – Paul McKenna”
Sunday Times 4705 by David McLean – The Entertainer
Must admit I’ve come to expect a bit of a “slug-fest” with Harry’s puzzles, but this one was a lot lighter in tone and a barrel of laughs whilst still offering a tricky challenge. Some … Read more “Sunday Times 4705 by David McLean – The Entertainer”
Saturday Times 26478 (July 30th)
Solving time 16:36, so I found it fairly tricky. It was a pangram too, and they generally are harder than average. Having said that, I can’t remember what held me up now, as there was … Read more “Saturday Times 26478 (July 30th)”
Jumbo 1218
Typed up quickly this morning as last week was busy and I forgot my responsibility. I don’t remember anything holding me up on this one. Apologies for any typos – I’m not the best at … Read more “Jumbo 1218”
Donald Yerrill
from today’s Times Literary Supplement: Donald Yerrill, known to our solvers as “Tantalus”, died on July 22, 2016, at the age of ninety-two. Don set the vast majority of the TLS crosswords, and was still … Read more “Donald Yerrill”
Times 26,483: Bang! Shake-Shake-Shake The Slang
It might be that I’d recently finished blogging an inevitably more evocative TLS puzzle – just scroll down a bit if you want to check that out – but I found this a little bland … Read more “Times 26,483: Bang! Shake-Shake-Shake The Slang”
Quick Cryptic 629 by Pedro
Morning everyone. My first turn at blogging the Quickie, so please be gentle with me. Let me start with a shout-out to Jackkt for lending me his time machine which enables these blogs to be … Read more “Quick Cryptic 629 by Pedro”
TLS Crossword 1134 by Myrtilus (July 15, 2016): Dunkin’ Donuts
If anyone’s not doing the TLS Crossword because it’s too onerous compared to the regular cryptic… this fine puzzle from Myrtilus is just the kind of offering to prove they’ve gotten the wrong end of … Read more “TLS Crossword 1134 by Myrtilus (July 15, 2016): Dunkin’ Donuts”
Times Cryptic Crossword Book 19 – Puzzle Index
Once again Andy Burch in Australia has kindly compiled a Puzzle Index cross-checked with the latest in the Times Crossword Book series. These puzzles were originally published in 2011. This page will also be saved … Read more “Times Cryptic Crossword Book 19 – Puzzle Index”