A most enjoyable puzzle from Hurley today. I blogged a Hurley puzzle a couple of months ago when I was suffering from a self-inflicted sore head, and I was correspondingly jaded in my assessment of … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 973 by Hurley”
Month: November 2017
Times 26896 – 19 your booty (or 19 your 19).
Solving time : 8:39 – and I thought it looked more tricky than usual, so I was surprised to find my time at 5th out of the first 15 solvers. There’s a wide range of … Read more “Times 26896 – 19 your booty (or 19 your 19).”
Times 26895 – TCC heat 2 puzzle 1. Planting an idea or two.
I had fun with this one, IMO the easiest yet of the four Heats puzzles so far published. I’d have finished it in well under the par of 20 minutes were it not for the … Read more “Times 26895 – TCC heat 2 puzzle 1. Planting an idea or two.”
Quick Cryptic 972 by Orpheus
I found this to be one of those puzzles which feels quite tricky at the time, but then when you write up the blog you wonder why you made comparatively heavy weather of it. Nothing … Read more “Quick Cryptic 972 by Orpheus”
Times Cryptic 26894
I found this one quite hard work and needed 55 minutes to complete it, but thankfully without resort to aids as there were no difficult words or references. As usual definitions are underlined in bold … Read more “Times Cryptic 26894”
Times Quick Cryptic 971 by Flamande
This grid was defined, to me, by the four 11 letter clues. I enjoyed 17ac and cod 5dn and struggled with the (part) anagrams in 9dn and loi 11ac. Add these to some African warriors … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 971 by Flamande”
Times 26893 – One for horryd
A pleasant Mondayesque journey through Crosswordland, with a bit of Classics in the SE for me, and a garment on the distaff side, which immediately had me in mind of horryd and his goat. I’ve … Read more “Times 26893 – One for horryd”
Times Quick Cryptic 970 by Mara
This one took me 2 minutes over my target 10 because I had a complete blank on my last one in, 13ac, which on reflection now seems quite inexplicable. I thought this was mostly straightforward … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 970 by Mara”
Mephisto 2986 – by Don Manley
A straightforward solve of average difficulty In the blog, the definition in the clue is underlined and followed by the answer; the parsing; any comments ACROSS1 Infection restricting any number, bringing growls once (5)SNARS; S(N)ARS; … Read more “Mephisto 2986 – by Don Manley”
Sunday Times 4773 by Dean Mayer
The recent run of (relatively speaking) gentle ST puzzles continued with this enjoyable offering from Dean. The trademark concise and elegant cluing was there as always, but for once your ‘umble blogger was able to … Read more “Sunday Times 4773 by Dean Mayer”