Greetings and happy Hallowe’en barred-grid fans. I know it is silly, but I rather like the US obsession with this time of year featuring costumed kids collecting treats and adults getting drunk while playing dress-up. … Read more “Mephisto 3191 – Tim Moorey”
Author: glh
Times 28120 – when is a crane like a French girl?
Time taken: 11:01. I thought this was difficult, though some of the other early solvers breezed through it. I spent a fair bit of time cribbing together the long answers while most of the short … Read more “Times 28120 – when is a crane like a French girl?”
Mephisto 3189 – Paul McKenna
Greetings barred-grid fans. In creating a grid with a unit commonly used in chemistry, an alchemical term, a form of car racing ridiculously popular in the part of the USA in which I live, and … Read more “Mephisto 3189 – Paul McKenna”
Times 28108 – mood
Time taken: 8:42. There’s a few faster times than mine, but it seems of the early crew, most found it a little more difficult than usual. I was mostly held up by two incorrect stabs … Read more “Times 28108 – mood”
Mephisto 3187 – Don Manley
Greetings barred-grid fans. Excellent puzzle here from Don Manley, with very clear wordplay for the more obscure entries. 20 in particulatly had me wondering if it was truly a word from the wordplay, but yes … Read more “Mephisto 3187 – Don Manley”
Times 28096 – Great 11
Time taken: 10:12. Not sure if this is as difficult as I made it, but I’m not at my best having just been in the car for four hours. Some tricky wordplay here, and I … Read more “Times 28096 – Great 11”
Mephisto 3185 – Tim Moorey
Greetings barred-grid fans I thought this one was a notch up in difficulty from the usual Tim Moorey puzzles, and I had a bunch of scribble around my grid, though only a few question marks. … Read more “Mephisto 3185 – Tim Moorey”
Times 28084 – not so steep
Time taken: 9:18. Got out of rehearsal early, so I’m doing the puzzle a bit earlier than I expected. The first few times are all over the place, so this might be a puzzle for … Read more “Times 28084 – not so steep”
We are now officially Big Data
Greetings all – Loplop from the National Puzzlers league has compiled a database of cryptic crossword clues, and includes 12 years of our blog posts as sources for the clues, answers and analysis. You can … Read more “We are now officially Big Data”
Mephisto 3183 – Paul McKenna
Greetings barred-grid fans! Tricky workout from Paul McKenna this week – a few clues with multiple components and a 90-degree grid which led to some answers being fully-checked, but the 12-letter entries all having three … Read more “Mephisto 3183 – Paul McKenna”