Time taken: 10:22 but with one very careless error as I was so convinced 1 across had a double L that I forced it in without thinking about where the I needed to go. So … Read more “Times 27436 – a shell game?”
Month: August 2019
Times 27435 – Latin, Greek, Turkish, Zulu and the billabong song.
Another fine Wednesday puzzle, not a ‘love-it-or-hate-it was last week’s, but very enjoyable. Quite a mix of easy clues, BIFFable clues and ones requiring a modicum of GK to satisfy the judges without guesswork. The … Read more “Times 27435 – Latin, Greek, Turkish, Zulu and the billabong song.”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1422 by Wurm
Introduction Perhaps I’m out of practice, or perhaps I’m tired from organizing a one-year-old’s birthday party this weekend, or perhaps I was groggy from the nap I’d just woken up from, but this one gave … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1422 by Wurm”
Times Cryptic 27434
I needed 55 minutes for a technical DNF. I found this a mixture of the very easy and the quite tricky plus two unknowns (at 5dn and 6dn) which I eventually gave up on and resorted to … Read more “Times Cryptic 27434”
Times Quick Cryptic 1421 by Jalna
You wait ages for a new setter to arrive then two come along at once. Welcome Jalna. A quick search reveals that Jalna is a 16 book series of novels by the Canadian writer Mazo … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1421 by Jalna”
Times 27433 – Sting in the scale?
A tricky fishlet, which required the solver to have some knowledge of the Cheshire/Lancashire boundary that was, or to rely on a lucky punt (or, indeed, to actually know the finned youngster), provides the only … Read more “Times 27433 – Sting in the scale?”
Times Quick Cryptic 1420 by Trelawney
Solving time: 9 minutes. Welcome to Trelawney, a new setter today! Wiki advises his is “a habitational surname of Cornish origin, meaning a person from a town with a church”. Above all I associate … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1420 by Trelawney”
Mephisto 3076 – by Don Manley
Unless you’re very experienced you are unlikely to solve a Mephisto without using Chambers. The idea is that you use the precise wordplay to derive an answer that you then verify in the dictionary. 11A … Read more “Mephisto 3076 – by Don Manley”
Sunday Times Cryptic 4863, Aug. 10 ’19, by Robert Price — “I can do that time standing on my head!”
This was very enjoyable, and maybe a bit harder than the last one by Bob that I blogged. My COD is 5, can you see why? My title is a (loose) reference to the clue … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic 4863, Aug. 10 ’19, by Robert Price — “I can do that time standing on my head!””
Times Cryptic Jumbo 1394: Mental Callixenics
This blog is late and I am unable to confirm or deny rumours that it’s because I’ve taken all this time trying to parse 24dn. But what a clue! One for the hall of fame, … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1394: Mental Callixenics”