Happy Leap Year! I’m glad last month had an extra day, as I needed some time to catch up… What struck me about this puzzle was that among the generally quite straightforward and succinct definitions … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic No 4891, 23 II 2020, by David McLean — It’s apposite day!”
Month: February 2020
Monthly Club Special 20,233: By The Wordpower of Greyskull!
The usual abundance of cluing splendour, but to be honest this puzzle is all about the amazing Homeric-onomatopoeic word for the noise of the sea at 15ac – clue of the (~8th) century (BCE), my … Read more “Monthly Club Special 20,233: By The Wordpower of Greyskull!”
Times Cryptic No 27594 – Saturday, 22 February 2020. More food for thought.
I’m sorry this is a half hour late. I’m not sure why. Some weird time zone problem, I suspect. Anyway, the puzzle was not as easy to finish over lunch as last week’s, but was … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27594 – Saturday, 22 February 2020. More food for thought.”
Times Cryptic Jumbo No 1425 – 15th February. Around (about) now
Hello all. How do you eat a jumbo? One bite at a time. Once again I solved this in bitesize chunks and so don’t have a time. From what I recall it slipped down ok … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo No 1425 – 15th February. Around (about) now”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1559 by Des – Ménage à trois?
I got off to a flying start with this, with the first 3 across clues, but then I discovered it was no picnic. I was pleased to get 3 of the 4 words around the … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1559 by Des – Ménage à trois?”
Times 27,599: Doctor Doctor
Yes, of course I’m upset that I didn’t get to blog yesterday’s brawny colossus, but this was a perfectly good middleweight puzzle, with a few chuckles to be had: I especially liked 21ac’s “fighter in … Read more “Times 27,599: Doctor Doctor”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1558 by Joker
On the gentle side from Joker, giving my first sub-6 minute blog in… quite some time. All but three of the acrosses went in on a first read through (1, 22 and 23 being the … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1558 by Joker”
27598 Thursday, 27 February 2020 Ĉu ni ne amuzas nin!
Well. That was exciting! There are some Mephisto-ish words around, mostly workoutable from the wordplay, and quite a few places where the setter tries to bamboozle you into thinking you need some specialist knowledge to … Read more “27598 Thursday, 27 February 2020 Ĉu ni ne amuzas nin!”
Times 27597 – second TCC semi-final puzzle
I’m surprised 42 of 80 got this all right, I struggled with some of it for quite a while, taking well over my permitted 20 minutes, and the parsing was tricky. Maybe people had more … Read more “Times 27597 – second TCC semi-final puzzle”
Times Quick Cryptic 1557 by Hurley
A couple of unknown meanings for me at 1ac, 14dn and 18dn meant I had to wait for a few checkers there, but otherwise a nice, workaday puzzle. Definiitons underlined. Across 1 Former pupil, retainer, … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1557 by Hurley”