Another great MCS with a fine smorgasbord of unusual words clued with equally rare wit and verve. I loved the devices at 26ac, 4dn, 5dn, 16dn: these puzzles are such a great breeding ground for … Read more “Monthly Club Special 20,241: As Easy As 12ac?”
Month: October 2020
Times Cryptic No 27804 – Saturday, 24 October 2020. Summer’s almost gone.
Well the clocks went back in the UK overnight, and this was a good puzzle to signal the end of summer on that side of the world. Nothing too testing. A nice bit of tiffin … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27804 – Saturday, 24 October 2020. Summer’s almost gone.”
Times Cryptic Jumbo 1464: Hit The North
Old Trafford, Leeds, Bootle, Redditch, Scafell Pike? Stop, you’re making me homesick! A nicely crafted puzzle of only moderate difficulty but great entertainment value. I particularly liked 10dn and 28dn for general ingenuity married to … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1464: Hit The North”
Quick Cryptic 1734 by Tracy
I found this relatively straightforward. Rather a lot of multi-word double definitions. I enjoyed 3d and 5d, and got tripped up by 2d. I came in at c. 8 min. Across 1 Take foolish risks … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1734 by Tracy”
15ac 17ac with Frank Bough…
…who I guess is fair game for inclusion in Times puzzles now, having passed away last week. RIP! FOI 13ac, LOI 10ac. Very hard indeed I thought, and fatigue must have set in as I … Read more “15ac 17ac with Frank Bough…”
Times 27808 – brush up your Shakespeare
Time taken: 11:59. That’s a bit slower than my usual, and I was surprised to see that there were a few solvers with much better times already, so maybe I was making a meal of … Read more “Times 27808 – brush up your Shakespeare”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1733 by Wurm
An interesting challenge from Wurm that took nearly all of my 15-minute target to complete. I came across a full mix of clue types, with some novel devices and anagram indicators. My Clue of the … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1733 by Wurm”
Times 27807 – It’s all Greek to me, but tant pis.
I’m expecting to see a sub-100 snitch for this one, as it took me somewhere near a PB to complete. The word play was so exact that even the more obscure words like 10a, 11a, … Read more “Times 27807 – It’s all Greek to me, but tant pis.”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1732 by Joker
Introduction 8:01, with several minutes spent on 16 Across. Newer solvers are invited to browse the glossary presented after the solutions. Solutions Across 1 Dish: take hearts of some eels, feta and stew (8) OMELETTE … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1732 by Joker”
Times Cryptic 27806
Solving time: 45 minutes. I found this hard but mostly fair as one way or another I arived at all the correct answers despite ther being a couple of words and meanings previously unknown to … Read more “Times Cryptic 27806”