I think you’ll have to forgive me for an abbreviated blog today – I succumbed and subscribed to the Magpie puzzle magazine after its annual bash last week, little realising that this would leave me … Read more “Times 26,945: Folly To Be Wise”
Month: January 2018
Quick Cryptic 1014 by Tracy
I Thundered through this until I came inexplicably unstuck at 16d. Took 8 minutes in the end. Quite a few write-ins, but the odd trickier one, and a couple of compound anagrams to keep us honest. … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1014 by Tracy”
Times 26944 – for want of a queue
Solving time: 10:00 – however I had a very silly typo that I should have picked up on in a readthrough, so I am sitting nearly at the bottom of the leaderboard. After finding a … Read more “Times 26944 – for want of a queue”
Quick cryptic No 1013 by Teazel
Fairly straightforward in terms of difficulty I thought, but with some lovely precise and succinct clueing from Teazel. There are some novel ANAGRINDS (anagram indicators), plenty of double definitions, charades, containers, initialisms, deletions and combinations. … Read more “Quick cryptic No 1013 by Teazel”
Times 26943 – I was nearly the King of poets
All you could wish for in a puzzle, today, not too easy but not too hard, not very biffable, no very obscure words, not a plant or antelope to be seen. Only one poet, of … Read more “Times 26943 – I was nearly the King of poets”
Quick Cryptic 1012 by Orpheus
A pleasant, gentle puzzle from Orpheus which I suspect will be eminently accessible to newcomers and which should be meat and drink to more experienced players, with no obscure vocabulary and minimal general knowledge required. … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1012 by Orpheus”
Times Cryptic 26942
Solving time: 51 minutes held up by miswriting MAIOW at 11ac whilst knowing perfectly well how it should be spelt. Another very enjoyable offering with quite a lot of chewy stuff and tricky wordplay to … Read more “Times Cryptic 26942”
Times Quick Cryptic 1011 by Izetti
Another quick time for me today – all the more surprising for being an Izetti. Maybe I picked the wavelength – it certainly helped to have spent time in Vancouver where there are references to … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1011 by Izetti”
Times 26941 – Bolt in the Tail?
I thought this was a fine specimen of the Monday puzzle, with a particular resonance for me, as 23 across are the very words used to describe my sporting endeavours as a callow six-year-old by … Read more “Times 26941 – Bolt in the Tail?”
Times Quick Cryptic 1010 by Hurley
After the devious delights of QC 1000, the subject of my last QC blog, this is a more straightforward offering from Hurley but nonetheless enjoyable for that. I needed 8 minutes to complete it with … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1010 by Hurley”