I fairly rattled through this one on the rattler, finishing and all parsed well inside 10 minutes, which is good for me. Nothing particularly noteworthy about this solve, but a pleasant enough test for beginners, … Read more “Quick cryptic No 783 by Oran”
Month: March 2017
Times 26668 – quelque choise?
Solving time : 8:35 – I suspect I will be more on the wavelength of the setter than some today, with a few bits of French that I remember from school days, a mathematical anagram … Read more “Times 26668 – quelque choise?”
Times 26667 – finding the birthplaces of Zeus
I really enjoyed this one, a tad trickier than my recent blogging challenges but not unreasonably difficult; about half an hour to finish, parse and check a couple of ‘must be’ answers. It seems to … Read more “Times 26667 – finding the birthplaces of Zeus”
Quick Cryptic 782 by Howzat
I found this quite a tricky puzzle from Howzat – I believe only the second time he or she has set a QC – and a good work out. Nothing obscure (although 23ac is probably … Read more “Quick Cryptic 782 by Howzat”
JUMBO 1251
Hi everyone, Would you believe it’s now just over a year since my inug inagu ingurial first blog? I expect the cake from Vinyl1 has been held up at customs or something. Another puzzle of … Read more “JUMBO 1251”
Quick Cryptic 781 by Orpheus
This one is not to be undertaken lightly and any tendency to biff should be fully restrained. At first sight it looks like the 4×13 letter clues may cause problems (and certainly 5dn did) but … Read more “Quick Cryptic 781 by Orpheus”
Times 26666
For some reason I had major problems with some of this and my solving time went off the scale. Having now written the blog I really can’t account for my difficulties. There are a couple … Read more “Times 26666”
Times 26,665 – I’ll Take the Fifth
The latest in a run of pretty straightforward Monday puzzles, this crossword is distinguished for me more by its quirkiness in cluing rather than anything else. A swift 16 minutes for me – the Usain … Read more “Times 26,665 – I’ll Take the Fifth”
Times Quick Cryptic 780 by Teazel
I struggled a little with this and required 15 minutes to complete it, so only just avoided going into extra time. There were a couple of words I didn’t quite know the meaning of, and … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 780 by Teazel”
Mephisto 2948 by Tim Moorey
Nothing too difficult here but stars our first oblique reference to Donald Trump. I wonder how he would have got along with Quintin Hogg who I recall for his savage attack on John Profumo in … Read more “Mephisto 2948 by Tim Moorey”