This particular puzzle detained me for over an hour but I’m not sure if that’s because it was a toughie, or I was having a slow day, or was more distracted by Six Nations rugby … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1426 – Rebel without a clue”
Month: March 2020
Quick Cryptic 1564 by Wurm
Not sure what to make of this. A bit chewy in places because of some slightly stretched definitions. Can’t belive I didn’t get 20d immediately. Reasonably enjoyable overall, just over 8 minutes for me Across … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1564 by Wurm”
Times 27,605: A Surfeit of Typos
9.5 minute, but with a dumb typo of FORTNIGHTIY at 8d – I was so concerned about spelling TIDDLYWINKS right, and not as TIDDLIWINKS as I somehow managed on its last outing, that I failed … Read more “Times 27,605: A Surfeit of Typos”
Times 27604 – let’s get retro!
Solving time : 12:40. Struggled a little here especially near the end where I was trawling the alphabet for likely candidates for the last few entries. For the past few years I have been using … Read more “Times 27604 – let’s get retro!”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1563 by Mara
I expect to see some very fast times quoted here, as I completed this in a PB of 6 minutes, which I think is a record by a long way. My last blog was also … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1563 by Mara”
Times 27603 – third TCC semi-final puzzle. Extra fruity?
Well, the first semi-final puzzle I blogged was easy enough, last week’s was a stinker, and this one I thought was just a bit peculiar. As if set by someone not on our usual radar, … Read more “Times 27603 – third TCC semi-final puzzle. Extra fruity?”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1562 by Oink
Introduction Super distracted with the kids, but no major difficulties here. There were a lot of head-scratchers on first pass, but I was always able to get some crossing letters and figure everything out. Solutions … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1562 by Oink”
Times Cryptic 27602
At 30 minutes I found this reasonably straightforward. How did you do? As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in … Read more “Times Cryptic 27602”
Times Quick Cryptic 1561 by Tracy
I really struggled getting going in this one. My problems stemmed from the NW where LOIs were 2dn, 3dn, 1dn and finally 8ac. 10ac didn’t help matters either so I ended up at 16 minutes. … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1561 by Tracy”
Times 27601 – No ludicrous clues
With an old (and therefore not known to all), but brilliant, book fairly clued (i.e. not as an anagram), this setter shows how to handle such things in an equitable way. Well done, sir! Or … Read more “Times 27601 – No ludicrous clues”