I romped away with this one to start with, but was brought to heel by the setter with half a dozen clues to polish off; a bird I didn’t know, an animal I’d heard of … Read more “Times 26835 – carnival of the animals”
Month: September 2017
Quick Cryptic 922 by Des
I thought this was a fairly gentle offering from Des, although for some reason it took me quite a while to spot the frequent traveller in 9d. 19d brings into play a rather unusual usage, … Read more “Quick Cryptic 922 by Des”
Times Cryptic 26834
I needed 10 minutes over the hour for this one and still ended up with a wrong answer having transposed two letters of anagrist in an unknown word. It was fortunate that the wordplay elsewhere was … Read more “Times Cryptic 26834”
Times Quick Cryptic 921 by Mara
Looking through jackkt’s excellent difficulty scale, Mara’s ‘last time’ (6.5) seems to indicate a generally medium difficultly level when compared to the other setters. This proved to be the case today as I found this … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 921 by Mara”
Times 26833 – Prélude de l’après-midi d’un Python?
A very Mondayesque outing this, with not much to frighten the palaminos, even if a couple of the literals (1d and 9a) were a little opaque and the cryptic definitions a little, well, cryptic definitiony. … Read more “Times 26833 – Prélude de l’après-midi d’un Python?”
Times Quick Cryptic 920 by Orpheus
I needed 8 minutes for this one which contains a couple of slightly unusual words and meanings along with an unusual clue or two. I was a bit late last week in adding my latest … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 920 by Orpheus”
Mephisto 2976 – Paul McKenna – The Big Combo
Much like 2975 the previous week a sterner test than some recent puzzles. This one needed some application to solve it with a smattering of very good clues. I liked the reference to film noir, … Read more “Mephisto 2976 – Paul McKenna – The Big Combo”
Sunday Times 4763 by Jeff Pearce
I found this quite tricky at the time, although having now written up the blog it seems a fairly gentle puzzle in hindsight. No obscurities, although the drink at 3d may be off the radar … Read more “Sunday Times 4763 by Jeff Pearce”
Times Cryptic No 26826, 09 September 2017. When in Rome (or New York)
Verlaine thought the puzzle on the day before was easy for a Friday. The trend continued into Saturday. I flew through this (by my standards) even while watching Nadal play the semi-final in New York. … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26826, 09 September 2017. When in Rome (or New York)”
Jumbo 1283
Again I cannot be absolutely sure at the time of compiling this blog that all are correct, but I can justify every entry. Nothing to complain about – unless you are put off by the … Read more “Jumbo 1283”