A quick look at the completed grid for this one should be enough to tell you if you are going to love or hate the Monthly Club Special: some people just won’t want to painstakingly … Read more “Monthly Club Special 20,240: Pooh Dreams”
Month: September 2020
Times 27783 – Children in Need time again.
At last, this Wednesday’s child is not full of woe; I enjoyed this somewhat more challenging puzzle, with scope for biffing but some tricky parsing afterwards. 11a is timely, as the BBC and Countryfile get … Read more “Times 27783 – Children in Need time again.”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1712 by Breadman
Introduction 8:32, with a full 3 (!) minutes spent on 10 Across, which I’d misparsed. Hopefully that’s not too much of a spoiler. In any case, I’m sure I must have come across the correct … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1712 by Breadman”
Times Cryptic 27782
My solving time was off the scale but somewhere in the region of 80 minutes as I lacked some of the required GK. I expect our aspiring champions will have sailed through it but I … Read more “Times Cryptic 27782”
Times Quick Cryptic 1711 by Orpheus
A fast start to the week for me – yesterday’s and today’s both in 8 minutes. The top half flew in and then I worked just as fast down the right hand side. The left … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1711 by Orpheus”
Times 27781 – St Aubrun, anyone?
A combination of some very easy literals and some very generous cluing (plus a smattering of chestnuts) means that this puzzle will fall into the very easy Monday category for many of us. 14 minutes … Read more “Times 27781 – St Aubrun, anyone?”
Times Quick Cryptic 1710 by Jalna
My solving time was 15 minutes for all but 7dn but I needed another 8 minutes to come up with the missing answer. I discovered later that my problem was a wrong checker supplied by … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1710 by Jalna”
Mephisto 3134 – Citizen Furball
Generally speaking, this was not that difficult a Mephisto. Most of the answers are not obscure, allowing a certain amount of biffing once you get a few crossing letters. But there is a bit of … Read more “Mephisto 3134 – Citizen Furball”
Sunday Times Cryptic No 4921 by David McLean — Oh honest brain disorder it’s not
There was nothing 11 (down) about any of the clues here—indeed, this may be the easiest offering from Harry that I’ve blogged. However, I was spooked by seeing the first word in the first clue: … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic No 4921 by David McLean — Oh honest brain disorder it’s not”
Times Cryptic Jumbo 1459: “When The Moon Is A Ghostly Galleon, Tossed Upon Cloudy Seas…”
I liked the GK-ish aspects of this, such as 9dn, 12dn, 32dn, 37dn, 14ac, and our friend the poet of course, surely the second best Alfred among all poets. Cluing wise I liked 39ac, and … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1459: “When The Moon Is A Ghostly Galleon, Tossed Upon Cloudy Seas…””