Solving time : 9m04s – Feels like a fairly feeble time for a puzzle that didn’t in retrospect have anything monstrous (except perhaps GILLRAY, which was well-checked and well-clued), but I really got a bit … Read more “23,508 – Stupider and stupider”
Author: i_am_magoo
23,502 – I’m grinding MY teeth
Solving time : 9m54s – this crossword frustratingly kept me at bay – a lot of the answers, when I eventually got them, showed no reason why they should have taken so long from the … Read more “23,502 – I’m grinding MY teeth”
23,496 – Lift & separate
Solving time : 6m10s – Felt like a good time, as the NW corner particularly took some (fast) concentrated thought to deduce. One or two references, and odd words, that I knew (and one word … Read more “23,496 – Lift & separate”
23,479 – Felicitous yet laboured?
Solving time : 4m46s – welcome relief for me after a taxing few days at the blockface. Quite a variety of feelings about the clues – two elegant &lits, some other very felicitous phrasing, but … Read more “23,479 – Felicitous yet laboured?”
23,473 – Ninas all round
Solving time : 17m40s – so much for no variation in solving times. I really don’t think it was because it was my office Christmas Party last night that I struggled to get to grips … Read more “23,473 – Ninas all round”
23,467 – some much-loved favourites
Solving time : 5m40s – remarkably just about my slowest this week, though it felt like a good time for this puzzle. Again almost a pangram (just K & V missing, and they’d have been … Read more “23,467 – some much-loved favourites”
23,461 – Little to stir the old sweats (yes, I’m doing it again!)
Solving time : 6m08s felt not particularly quick for an easy puzzle, but on reflection a lot of the answers were quite hard, even if the clues weren’t. For instance, I couldn’t have been confident … Read more “23,461 – Little to stir the old sweats (yes, I’m doing it again!)”
23,455 – New blood? I’ll get my teeth in
Solving time : 5m43s – I may regret writing this, but I may as well say what I think. Some of the puzzle seemed to me a little … well, amateurish. Ximeneans would object to … Read more “23,455 – New blood? I’ll get my teeth in”
Laugh at me, mock me, beat my score and time
Solving time : 13m23s – 3 wrong(!). Yesterday’s gloat has been fully paid for, not just by fbgp beating my time, but by a horrendous foul-up today, with eons taken to resolve 15, 18, 19, … Read more “Laugh at me, mock me, beat my score and time”
23,443 – Played IT by ear
Solving time : 6m45s – Seemed a little hard to get started, and then I had one of those experiences where partial answers and clues that wouldn’t yield meant a corner (NE) was filled with … Read more “23,443 – Played IT by ear”