Time: 41 minutesMusic: Stan Getz, Sweet Rain Well, I thought this was going to be a quick one. I started off at a gallop so to speak, and put in the whole NW corner with … Read more “Times 26983 – “Trains it down on the quarter past…..”
Month: March 2018
Mephisto 3001 – Don Manley
I did most of this in one fairly short sitting, but the top left was largely empty. Took quite a bit of poking and prodding to get the last few into place. Near the end … Read more “Mephisto 3001 – Don Manley”
Sunday Times 4788 by Dean Mayer – ça va pas, non?
59:50. Well that was an absolute stinker, the hardest Times or Sunday Times puzzle for a very long time, for me at least. I came close to giving up, but the fact I was due … Read more “Sunday Times 4788 by Dean Mayer – ça va pas, non?”
Times Cryptic No 26976 – Saturday, 03 March 2018. Happiness is a hard crossword.
Setter, take a bow … what a delight! At first pass, I could barely see how to pass a single clue, far less see any answers. All up it took me over two hours – … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26976 – Saturday, 03 March 2018. Happiness is a hard crossword.”
Jumbo 1310
A puzzle of perhaps average difficulty, though my mind went a complete blank on 2D and 34D until I had pretty much all the checkers in place. Nothing particularly obscure in the vocab, with words … Read more “Jumbo 1310”
Times 26,981: Priests and Cannibals, Prehistoric Animals
I’m going to say this *wasn’t* the long-awaited pure stinker, but looking at the current state of the leaderboard, it does appear to have met the requisite level of difficulty for a Friday, and the … Read more “Times 26,981: Priests and Cannibals, Prehistoric Animals”
Quick Cryptic 1044 by Mara
I’m writing this in a French hotel with the most pathetically slow internet connection, which feels like I’m sending every word by carrier pigeon. Nothing to scare the horses here, I think. It started very … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1044 by Mara”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1043 by Joker
I must be getting better at these things, as this is another QC solved well inside my 15 minute target (10 minutes and small change). I may have to adjust my target down by a … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1043 by Joker”
Times 26980 – but do they speak 13 in 3 (or 17 or 23)
Solving time: 17:17. I struggled mightily with this one, but it was all because I was unfamiliar with much of the general knowledge – the other other three times that are in so far are … Read more “Times 26980 – but do they speak 13 in 3 (or 17 or 23)”
Times 26979 – stuff I didn’t know I knew but did …
I found this a serious work-out, more on the way to Club Monthly stlye than a standard weekday romp, with quite a few answers being obscure words known only to cryptic crossword regulars and pub … Read more “Times 26979 – stuff I didn’t know I knew but did …”