A fine puzzle, and what a neat grid, with two little knots of four letters cross-referenced both ways! That may have made this one of Dean’s easier ones, though it’s hard for me to say, … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic No 4879, 1 XII 2019, by Dean Mayer — Whelp,…”
Month: December 2019
Times Cryptic No 27522 – Saturday, 30 November 2019. Playing with Fire.
A straightforward Saturday puzzle. I didn’t need vinyl to hear the raw voice of Mick Jagger after I cracked 19dn. My clue of the day was 6dn. Well done them in the World Cup! Thanks … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27522 – Saturday, 30 November 2019. Playing with Fire.”
Times Cryptic Jumbo 1411 – two detective inspectors and two able-bodied seamen walk into a crossword
For reasons I won’t go into this blog will be brief. Normal “service” will be resumed next time. Also I’ll be at the Championships on Saturday so won’t be able to field comments efficiently. Under … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1411 – two detective inspectors and two able-bodied seamen walk into a crossword”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1499 by Rongo – I love to go a vandering….
A neat and entertaining Quick Crossword to end the week from Rongo with a cheeky cryptic device that had me chuckling, although some may consider it groan-worthy. Elsewhere some fine surfaces and, I think, generally … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1499 by Rongo – I love to go a vandering….”
Times 27,527: Jiminy Cricket
I didn’t think this was super hard for a Friday, hitting the submit button at 6m14. A fairly gentle week to soften us up in time for Saturday, perhaps? This was mostly solvable with just … Read more “Times 27,527: Jiminy Cricket”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1498 by Oink
On the gentle side today from Oink. A fairly straight solve, although a shoddy bit of spelling at 6d returned the Unlucky! sign a bit after the six minute mark. That’s about as quick as … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1498 by Oink”
27526 Thursday, 5 December 2019 Play up, play up, and play the game
A pleasant ramble over 18 minutesand some, for once spotting the typo before submitting. I promise you 9ac is in the dictionary, though you may never have the need to use it. 17 reminded me … Read more “27526 Thursday, 5 December 2019 Play up, play up, and play the game”
Times 27525 – No shuttlecocks required for this.
A feast of word insertion and assembly clues making this one a bit repetitive I thought, pleasant enough but not remarkable. In fact I’m struggling to find remarks to make about it. A MER at … Read more “Times 27525 – No shuttlecocks required for this.”
Times Quick Cryptic 1497 by Pedro
I finished this in an average time, but only by leaving some of the clues unparsed until the end. There are some lovely neat clues amongst a few rather clunky ones, and my COD goes … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1497 by Pedro”
Times Cryptic 27524
Solving time: 47 miniutes. It’s a pangram. As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. I usually omit … Read more “Times Cryptic 27524”