A sad DNF from me on this one – the entire top row being way too sporty for my blood, I failed to register the full import of “hitting canvas” in 1ac and though TAKENOMA … Read more “Monthly Club Special 20,210: When Irish Clues Are Smiling”
Month: March 2018
Times Cryptic No 26994 – Saturday, 24 March 2018. Are you sitting comfortably beslippered?
This was probably middle of the road in difficulty – easier than last week, for sure. I did it on paper in about an hour. Only one obscure answer, with a clue that left the … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26994 – Saturday, 24 March 2018. Are you sitting comfortably beslippered?”
Jumbo 1313
I don’t recall any particular issues apart from 51A which I had to look up. However, overall I think this was a fair challenge. I liked 53A with the French language from a Francophone country … Read more “Jumbo 1313”
Times 26,999: Je suis venu, calme orphelin
Well, I thought this was a wonderful puzzle, best of the year so far etc etc, but then it’s just possible I might be biased. Certainly I don’t think I can recall a Times crossword … Read more “Times 26,999: Je suis venu, calme orphelin”
Times Quick Crossword No 1059 by Flamande
Hello all you happy crossword solving Easter bunnies (and others). Not a chocolate egg in sight, but a nicely balanced puzzle from Flamande. I’m sure there’s a story to tell from the answers, but that … Read more “Times Quick Crossword No 1059 by Flamande”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1058 by Rongo
A tough one today from Rongo, providing a good bridge to the 15×15 crossword (although perhaps less so this week). I came in a bit shy of 17 minutes, twice the time of Tuesday’s QC … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1058 by Rongo”
Times Cryptic No 26998 Thursday, 29 March 2018 Forget Oxfam, feed Twiggy
My experience this week is that the crosswords have been getting steadily easier, with this one requiring 15’ 15”. However, I am very aware that there are entries here that may not be in everyone’s … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26998 Thursday, 29 March 2018 Forget Oxfam, feed Twiggy”
Times 26997 – on a different wavelength
I struggled with this one. Even when I had all the answers in and thought they were correct, I still found it a stretch in some cases to reconcile the definition with the answer or … Read more “Times 26997 – on a different wavelength”
Quick Cryptic 1057 by Izetti
A good challenge for which I wasn’t quite on the right wavelength, so found difficult. I was saved to some extent by a number of short double definitions which put a few checkers scattered around … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1057 by Izetti”
Times Cryptic 26996
I needed 44 minutes to crack this one although I don’t think there was anything particularly difficult about it. As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal … Read more “Times Cryptic 26996”