What a few days it has been! While things unravel in Eastern Europe, the New York Times attends to really serious matters by imposing sanctions on the popular word game WORDLE, which it recently bought … Read more “Times 28225 – Hateable speech”
Month: February 2022
Times Quick Cryptic 2080 by Breadman
Solving time: 12 minutes, missing my target by 2. I found this tough getting started and there were a few tricky things along the way. With J and Z appearing early I was half-expecting a … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 2080 by Breadman”
Mephisto 3208 – When will my road be paved?
Don Manley puzzles are always completely logical and fair, and not too difficult. I made good progress with this one at first, only to get stuck at the end. A combination of alphabet trawls and … Read more “Mephisto 3208 – When will my road be paved?”
Sunday Times Cryptic 4995, by Robert Price — Turn that frown upside down!
Maybe it’s because Bob is one of our fellow commenters on this blog (regularly providing an erudite and apt literary citation) that his puzzles rarely, if ever, occasion any MERs, let alone controversy over definitions, … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic 4995, by Robert Price — Turn that frown upside down!”
Times Cryptic No 28218 – Saturday, 19 February 2022. Eclectic but not eccentric.
The answers here seem to come from a vast array of subject matter areas, but none of them beyond the solver’s ken, I hope. I found the north-west corner much the hardest. Thanks to the … Read more “Times Cryptic No 28218 – Saturday, 19 February 2022. Eclectic but not eccentric.”
Times Cryptic Jumbo 1541 – Was he only a drunken f**t on his birthday, and can he do the fandango?
One for wordplay fans this with only one CD and nary a DD, unless I’ve miscounted. There’s some neat stuff too. Not too easy, not too hard. First in was SAFFRON WALDEN and last was … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1541 – Was he only a drunken f**t on his birthday, and can he do the fandango?”
Times Quick Cryptic No 2079 by Alconiere
Now here’s a rarity – a Quick Crossword from the setter Alconiere, only his 11th, although he started in 2014, and his first since this one in May 2019. That crossword had a Nina so … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 2079 by Alconiere”
Times 28,223: Cored Almighty
I thought this was going to be pretty quick work until the SW corner, where I got well bogged down by the cricketing parlance at 13dn and the unknown word at 15dn… where I had … Read more “Times 28,223: Cored Almighty”
Times Quick Cryptic No 2078 by Mara
Another gentle enough QC: all done and dusted in 6:41, about a minute quicker than yesterday, and about as quick as I get. A welcome change of pace after a couple of DNFs in the … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 2078 by Mara”
28222 Thursday, 24 February 2022 Apparently not my scene
Something of a breeze in just under 21 minutes (takes me that bit longer when I have half an eye on how I’m going to explain it all to my eager readers). But a sting … Read more “28222 Thursday, 24 February 2022 Apparently not my scene”