Rather tougher than the usual Flamande, I think, with a fair dollop of general knowledge required, including a couple of actors whose peak was arguably in the 1940s/1950s. I do like some general knowledge in … Read more “Quick Cryptic 925 by Flamande”
Month: September 2017
Times 26839 – Bird-watching statistics?
Time: 46 minutesMusic: Prokofiev, Symphony #2/Lt Kije, Leinsdorf/BSO This was a rather odd puzzle, where both the literals and the clues required a lot of stretching. I limped home in the end, but I … Read more “Times 26839 – Bird-watching statistics?”
Mephisto 2977 – Don Manley
I had some troubles with my LiveJournal account and was frozen out yesterday so didn’t manage to get this typed up. I’m going to have to work on it during quick breaks today, but it … Read more “Mephisto 2977 – Don Manley”
Sunday Times 4764 by Dean Mayer – a monkey without a spatula
12:29. A relatively gentle offering from Dean this week, but still of the usual high quality. Nothing very obscure, although the insect noise at 6dn was new to me, and perhaps PICAROON isn’t quite an … Read more “Sunday Times 4764 by Dean Mayer – a monkey without a spatula”
Times Cryptic Jumbo #1284: Number Crunching
Dear friends, I know you all miss those halcyon Fridays when to visit times_xwd_times was to have to scroll through a solid wall of verlaine posts for at least five minutes, and in that spirit … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo #1284: Number Crunching”
Times Cryptic No 26832 – Saturday, 16 September 2017. All quiet on the Western Front.
Times Cryptic No 26832 – Saturday, 16 September 2017. All quiet on the Western Front. Happy days! I actually did the whole puzzle on the new club site without any hiccups to report. I even … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26832 – Saturday, 16 September 2017. All quiet on the Western Front.”
Times 26,837: Anagram Amnesty
I was having a debate with one of the Telegraph Toughie bloggers earlier this year about how many anagrams were allowed in a single Times 15×15 – I thought it was probably 4, he was … Read more “Times 26,837: Anagram Amnesty”
Quick Cryptic 924 by Tracy
Right. Hmmm. Difficulty: high, I would say. Took me 11min. Some distinctly postgraduate wordplay mixed in with some very obvious write-ins, like the setter wanted to compensate for the harder clues. 19dn has given long … Read more “Quick Cryptic 924 by Tracy”
Quick cryptic No 923 by Joker
I know that we bloggers say this a lot, but there really are some elegant surfaces here if you look for them. In the across clues, 8, 16, 17 and 23, and in the down … Read more “Quick cryptic No 923 by Joker”
Times 26836 – you can’t fool me, Times Crossword Club!
Solving time : 12:34, though you can attribute about 30 seconds of that to hitting submit, and getting a message “Warning, your puzzle is only 99% complete”. So I went back to check it – … Read more “Times 26836 – you can’t fool me, Times Crossword Club!”