More mention of underwear than typical, I thought. Never mind, if we break out the rum, I’m sure the thought will go away! I liked the artful construction of 1ac, and the devious definition of … Read more “Times Cryptic No 28104 – Saturday, 9 October 2021. Is the sun over the yardarm?”
Month: October 2021
Times Cryptic Jumbo 1520 – 2nd October 2021. Initially Identical Iterations
Hello, and Happy Caturday. This was a DNF for me, thanks to CUT CAPERS, but I was very pleased to get the rest without aids. After a good start I ground to a crawl for … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1520 – 2nd October 2021. Initially Identical Iterations”
Quick Cryptic 1984 by Wurm
Sorry – bit late this morning but thankfully a gentle offering from Wurm which took me about 5 minutes. I did quite a lot of biffing. I stared longest at 22a, which was my LOI. … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1984 by Wurm”
Times Cryptic 28,109. A Friday Classic.
Here I am pinch-hitting in the baseball play-off season, soon to be the “World Series” (sometimes known as the Fall Classic) while Verlaine is in transit back to the UK. This was a Christmas pudding … Read more “Times Cryptic 28,109. A Friday Classic.”
Times 28108 – mood
Time taken: 8:42. There’s a few faster times than mine, but it seems of the early crew, most found it a little more difficult than usual. I was mostly held up by two incorrect stabs … Read more “Times 28108 – mood”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1983 by Noel
Noel has set at least twice this year (he usually submits only one puzzle per year), but I blogged him under his other alias (Alfie) back in June (puzzle 1893, whilst this is 1983). He … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1983 by Noel”
Times Quick Cryptic 1982 by Izetti
Introduction My solve is here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1175154969 5:35, a nice time for my “birthday” puzzle. I was born in 1982. Cue snarky comments in 3…2…1… General remarks A brief summary of cryptic crosswords —feel free to skip— … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1982 by Izetti”
Times 28107 – it’s not the TLS, follow the wordplay…
IMO the best Wednesday for a while, not the hardest but quite tricky in places and witty too. Some basic literary knowledge helped, but it isn’t essential if you follow our setter’s instructions. Across 1 … Read more “Times 28107 – it’s not the TLS, follow the wordplay…”
Times Cryptic 28106
Solving time: 33 minutes. This puzzle has a number of very economical clues, some unusual wordplay and occasional flashes of humour. As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly … Read more “Times Cryptic 28106”
Times Quick Cryptic 1981 by Hurley
I was galloping through the top half and then came a purler over some tricksy stuff in the bottom half – with a particular bliinkered spot in the SE. It took me 12 minutes in … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1981 by Hurley”