This was good! I finished it in ~8 minutes, closing out a fairly nippy week, but I felt like I needed to stay on my toes throughout this worthy challenge. My favourite clue was 5dn, … Read more “Times 28,253: Dougal Where’s Your Troosers”
Month: March 2022
Times Quick Cryptic No 2103 by Wurm
Some neat surfaces, nice definitions and more unusual words in this puzzle from Wurm, and a European and Asian geographical feel to it, with several towns and regions included in the answers and clues. My … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 2103 by Wurm”
Times 28252 – check your submissions well!
Time taken: 9:55, but with one error. Own silly fault – I had an entry that I knew was incorrect because I had to change a crossing letter, but didn’t fix it up right away, … Read more “Times 28252 – check your submissions well!”
Times Quick Cryptic 2102 by Teazel
Introduction DNF after 21:26. Did I lack heart, or was this really quite hard? In any case, many minutes were spent staring blankly at the screen, and I confess that I didn’t really enjoy the … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 2102 by Teazel”
Times 28251 – well polished surfaces here.
I thought this was an excellent, but not difficult, puzzle, with some fine surfaces to the clues, such as 29a 6d, 20d, and 27d. It took me 22 minutes, with a ‘must be that’ for … Read more “Times 28251 – well polished surfaces here.”
Times Cryptic 28250
My solving time was 40 minutes with a little help on an unfair clue. I had several misgivings about this puzzle as detailed below. As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions … Read more “Times Cryptic 28250”
Times Quick Cryptic 2101 by Breadman
Started in the NE and worked round clockwise nearly finishing in the NE in 7 minutes. 7ac, 2dn and 3dn had other ideas, though, so after a bit of a late skirmish, I brought things … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 2101 by Breadman”
Times 28249 – Nice and easy does it…one more time
Not much to say about this gentle introduction to the week. I got home in 16:47, so it can’t be that tough… ACROSS 1 Growth of old academic institution, beginning again (5)POLYP – POLY (old … Read more “Times 28249 – Nice and easy does it…one more time”
Times Quick Cryptic 2100 by Joker
Solving time: 8 minutes. I found this straightforward, but what did you make of it? As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 2100 by Joker”
Mephisto 3212 – Don’t sit on my Jimmy Shands!
This one was not terribly difficult, and I made good progress by starting at the bottom and working my way up. Most of the cryptics were quite simple, with only two elements, and the answers … Read more “Mephisto 3212 – Don’t sit on my Jimmy Shands!”