Author: branch

I am blogging this in beautiful Goa, India. A wonderful place, but since the monsoon arrived yesterday what else to do but crosswords? This was a challenging puzzle, but never impossible. My time was probably … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27060 – Saturday, 09 June 2018. Beautiful one day, monsoon the next.”

No flora or fauna – how excellent! Strangely I knew the rock at 10ac, no doubt from crosswords. This was a steady solve until I got down to four or five missing in the top … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27054 – Saturday, 02 June 2018. Meaningful spelling reform needed?”

I struggled with this one, but I suspect more because of household stresses than its intrinsic difficulty. In retrospect it looks like a typical Saturday puzzle. My last ones in were the four clues around … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27048 – Saturday, 26 May 2018. Easy for some?”

This was a quick solve – done on paper in about 20 minutes. Despite that, all the clues felt suitably challenging. A number of clues exposed knowledge or vocabulary gaps without slowing me down unduly. … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27042 – Saturday, 19 May 2018. Woman’s Work.”

This was fairly straightforward. I struggled a bit with the salad ingredient at 17ac – not rugola, of course – but otherwise progress was steady. The long anagrams down the left and across the bottom … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27036 – Saturday, 12 May 2018. Rugola salad?”

Some very obscure Greek words here. Thanks to the setter for expanding my horizons, but give me scientists any day! My clue of the day was 26ac – I just “went for it”. Clues are … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27030 – Saturday, 05 May 2018. All Greek to me.”

Well there were some tours de force in this puzzle, capped by the quadruple definition at 25ac – yes, four of them in a surface that reads naturally! And supported by a triple definition elsewhere … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27024 – Saturday, 28 April 2018. Definitions, definitions everywhere!”

I think that barring some quibbles this is the best Saturday puzzle I have had the privilege of blogging. Clue after clue was a gem of the setter’s art. Sadly, it was beyond my abilities … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27018 – Saturday, 21 April 2018. A classic beauty – but don’t give me flowers!”

This was a straightforward exercise, although in several cases I had to stop and think twice about well-disguised definitions. Finished in under 30 minutes, so I expect some fast times from the experts. My clue … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27012 – Saturday, 14 April 2018. A walk in the park?”

I printed the crossword soon after it appeared on the Club site, and solved it in about 40 minutes – so not too hard for me, and no horrible obscurities, I’m happy to report. The … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27006 – Saturday 07 April 2018. Blink and you’ve missed it!”