Times Cryptic No 26874 – Saturday, 04 November 2017. Slowed to a crawl. While, we hoped, the stars of the troupe were tripping and twirling their way through a series of competition puzzles, this one … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26874 – Saturday, 04 November 2017. Slowed to a crawl.”
Month: November 2017
Times 26,879: One 20ac Blogged By Another
In an effort to “show, not tell” what happened to me at the championships last weekend, I went down by one measly clue in this puzzle, pondering long and hard over 21dn before unerringly changing … Read more “Times 26,879: One 20ac Blogged By Another”
Times Quick Cryptic No 959 by Izetti – Pretentious? Moi?
Hello fellow Friday QC solvers. I think you will like this. It has a great mix of fairly easy clues and some that need a bit of thought. It is as concise and precise as … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 959 by Izetti – Pretentious? Moi?”
Times Quick Cryptic No 958 by Rongo
A nice gentle one from Rongo today, I think I’m safe in saying, providing a pleasant introduction to the world of cryptic crosswords, with clearly signposted cryptics and definitions. A bit of a biff-fest, then, … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 958 by Rongo”
Times Cryptic No 26878, 9/11/17 Playing for keeps
Not a lot of problems with this one, with a high proportion of crossword standards and a promising, if brief, collection of US states. You are to be congratulated for dedication to duty if you … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26878, 9/11/17 Playing for keeps”
Times 26877 – TCC Qualifier heat 1 – Not the New Testament then.
A cunning puzzle for the Championships, I thought, not too difficult as a first round test but with a couple of places where you can easily get one letter wrong; I see only 30 of … Read more “Times 26877 – TCC Qualifier heat 1 – Not the New Testament then.”
Quick Cryptic 957 by Flamande
Two early unknowns (1ac and 2dn (I was sure it would be Qatar) put me off to begin with, but the rest was straightforward and fair. I liked 6dn for the unlikelihood of medium-sized reversals … Read more “Quick Cryptic 957 by Flamande”
Times Cryptic 26876
This one delayed me for 44 minutes. Much of it was straightforward but I became bogged down over five clues, all on the right-hand side. There were two words unknown to me, one was the answer at … Read more “Times Cryptic 26876”
Times Quick Cryptic 956 by Pedro
The two long anagrams at 14ac and 4dn hold the key to this puzzle – I found them both reasonably easy to get (I particularly enjoyed cod 14ac) and so I had a good time … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 956 by Pedro”
Times 26875 – …there are a lot of blank pages!
Time: 61 minutesMusic: Holst, The Planets, Boult/LSO As you might imagine from my time, I certainly did not find this easy. Several of the clues that I did understand were outstandingly devious, and there are … Read more “Times 26875 – …there are a lot of blank pages!”