Author: branch

For me this puzzle was a delight! No impossible clues, very few “gimme”s, and most hard enough to challenge. I expect the all-star solvers will find it easy, and the journeymen will get there at … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26844 – Saturday 30 September 2017. Slow and steady.”

Apart from 20ac, this was a typical Saturday exercise, I thought at the time. On reviewing the stats, that may have been an optimistic assessment! Average time is well over normal, so perhaps others got … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26838. Saturday, 23 September 2017. Ladies’ day.”

Times Cryptic No 26832 – Saturday, 16 September 2017. All quiet on the Western Front. Happy days! I actually did the whole puzzle on the new club site without any hiccups to report. I even … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26832 – Saturday, 16 September 2017. All quiet on the Western Front.”

For me, this was a slow solve, but never frustrating, apart from another club site problem. I started solving on my iPad, only to find that a standard iPad multi-finger gesture prompted the club site … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26820, Saturday 2 September 2017. A good idea on paper.”

 Perhaps my enjoyment was jaundiced by jet-lag after 23 hours of travel, but there were several clues I found unsatisfying here: 14ac, 4dn, 7dn  and perhaps 16dn, not to mention 15ac which is still a … Read more “Times Saturday 26814 – 26 August, 2017. I’ve got a little list!”

This started easily with the two geisha clues, but got progressively harder. 14ac, 17ac and 7dn were all difficult. My choice for the clue of the day is 20ac – nice definition and nice wordplay. … Read more “Times Saturday 26808 – August 19, 2017. What does a geisha desire?”

I got through this in just over an hour, so quickly for me. And all done without paper on the new site, since I’m travelling. It was the sort of puzzle I like, with clever … Read more “Times Saturday Cryptic No 26802 – 12 August 2017. Very relaxing.”

This was my first blog from the new Crossword Club site. I was able to solve on paper more or less as usual. The only real hiccup came when I tried to cut and paste … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26796, Saturday, 05 August 2017. Everything old is new again?”

I don’t know if it was because I have just got back from being heavily engaged in other things, but this crossword seemed to be a struggle from start to finish. (Thanks to McText for … Read more “Times Saturday 26790 – July 29, 2017. Call me baffled.”