Author: branch

After struggling last week, this week went very smoothly until the last answer! I started well, finishing the bottom half (all bar one) and then the NW followed by the NE, but then found myself … Read more “Times Saturday 26766 – July 1, 2017. Nothing tedious today.”

After breezing through last week, this week saw me thud back to earth! I started well, finishing the NW corner, but then gradually slowed to a standstill. My last ones in were 15ac, 6dn, 20dn … Read more “Times Saturday 26760 – June 24, 2017. Too many unknowns?”

For me this was my easiest puzzle ever on a blogging day. I barely stopped working through the grid. It seemed that either the wordplay or the definition took me straight to the answer. The … Read more “Times Saturday 26754 – June 17, 2017. Crazy as an Ottoman.”

Good to be back! Thanks to McText for standing in. This puzzle had a slightly different feel to it. The surfaces of the clues all read nicely, and some of the definitions had a nice … Read more “Times Saturday 26748 – June 10, 2017. And the polls are in!”

No exotica here, but everything was challenging. Several clues where I made a note to myself to check later that some word really can mean what the clue suggests! My COD was 4dn. I also … Read more “Times Saturday 26730 – May 20, 2017. And it’s goodbye from me for the while”

This was full of wonderful clues. Many of them seem simple as I write the blog, but felt rewarding to solve. 28ac was my LOI, and took a little time to see the wordplay even … Read more “Times Saturday 26724 – May 13, 2017. A delight of a crossword!”

This crossword certainly had its quota of obscure answers! Strangely my first two in were 22dn and 25 across, although one I only vaguely remembered from past crosswords, and the other I didn’t know at … Read more “Times Saturday 26718 – May 6, 2017. Wailing wildly!”

This was heavy in historical references and obscure (to me, at least) foreign nouns, which may have slowed down those solvers who don’t already have a Master’s rating in useless information. The rest of us … Read more “Times Saturday 26712 – April 29, 2017. Frankly, I did it his way.”

Lots of delightful cluing this week. Great breadth of answers, geographic, culinary, classical, arts and more. Some clever single and double nested answers, and some nice misdirection. Even the dreaded fauna item was something familiar … Read more “Times Saturday 26706 – April 22, 2017. Simply elegant.”

This crossword had a lot of delicious clues. 16dn was an absolute delight! The more obscure answers were all gettable from the wordplay. And happily, no flora, no fauna. A very satisfying crossword. Thanks to … Read more “Times Saturday 26700 – April 15, 2017. See you in Ibiza?”