This mildly themed puzzle commemorates the 60th anniversary of the Mephisto puzzle. It was compiled by our three regular setters plus Chris Feetenby, a retired setter.The Observer had been running bar crosswords since the 1920’s … Read more “Mephisto 2938 – Sixty Years Of Cunning Clues”
Month: December 2016
Saturday Times 26604 (Christmas Eve)
I had a pretty much crossword-free Christmas for various reasons, and didn’t get around to this one until Thursday evening. The brain must have been quite fresh though, because after a very slow start (only … Read more “Saturday Times 26604 (Christmas Eve)”
Jumbo 1240
A puzzle with an interesting mix of vocab and of about average difficulty – apart from 8D, which is a cross-your-fingers-and-hope clue if you’ve never heard of the answer. Thanks to all the Jumbo setters, bloggers … Read more “Jumbo 1240”
Club Monthly 20195 December 2016
Solving Time: Well I don’t remember it being difficult .. at the time of writing there are 47 correct entries, which seems a trifle on the low side.. but 14 with one error, including a … Read more “Club Monthly 20195 December 2016”
Times 26,609: Memory of a Free City
A straightforwardish (but entirely solid) puzzle to mark the last Friday of 2016. I did it on a train on the way to a Highgate pub crawl and stopped the timer at 8 minutes 50; … Read more “Times 26,609: Memory of a Free City”
Times Quick Cryptic No 734 by Hurley
Friday, 30 December 2016 Do you know your A from your E? By my reckoning this is the last QC of 2016, and it’s a privilege to blog it. This is a very fine offering … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 734 by Hurley”
TLS Crossword 1154 by Myrtilus – December 9, 2016 2016 Survivors Edition
Another very convincing guide to the art of writing proper crossword clues, even when you know the temptation for the solver, with the long ones, is to let the wordplay go hang. Very smooth and … Read more “TLS Crossword 1154 by Myrtilus – December 9, 2016 2016 Survivors Edition”
Quick cryptic No 733 by Teazel
I don’t think I remember a QC as difficult as this, taking me a full 31 minutes – I definitely wasn’t 23a 8a, and the answers failed to 4d for what felt like an eternity. … Read more “Quick cryptic No 733 by Teazel”
Times 26608 – in which I am forced to eat my old hat
Welcome to a blogger’s nightmare. I thought I had gone through this quite nicely in 9:22, then submitted and find out that I have one incorrect answer (there are two correct solutions in). I’ve spent … Read more “Times 26608 – in which I am forced to eat my old hat”
Times 26607 – last of the best Sellers
The third of the Championship Grand Final set; I see, as was also the case last week, 12 of you 24 wizards had it complete and correct; I thought it was slightly easier than the … Read more “Times 26607 – last of the best Sellers”