Author: Zabadak

A mildly classical feel to this one, with the sort of vocab that turns up in Shakespeare but not much elsewhere, some Chaucer, some Greek mythology and Genesis to play with, though for the most … Read more “27682 Thursday, 4 June 2020 Io, Io, it’s off to work we go.”

I’m not sure whether I found this tricky because it is, or because I was tackling it after a long and unusually busy day. You will see that there were several clues which I only … Read more “27670 Thursday, 21 May 2020 Kill’d i’ the Capitol”

I found this a cheerful enough number, with intelligent and witty clues and nothing I could see that was obscure. My last two in, the mostly harmless crossing pair at 3d and 14a took my … Read more “27658 Thursday, 7 May 2020 “Two households, both alike in dignity””

A step up from the week’s earlier offerings, this one pushed me hard for 27’ 44” of lockdown, nothing much else to do time. I am expecting quite a few blank looks around the place, … Read more “27646 Thursday, 23 April 2020 Cry God for Harry, England and St George….and Shakespeare”

Cop and robbers turn up in equal measure in this puzzle, and there’s also a barrister in attendance and a former criminal keeping us company. I rather breezed through this after a shaky start, with … Read more “27634 Thursday, 9 April 2020 Uncle Bulgaria Remembers”

Thursday, 26 March 2020 I’ll tell you what, I haven’t done this in a mort of years, but I went straight through the clues in presented order and emerged breathless in 9.24, which included my … Read more “27622, Thursday, 26 March 2020 Having nothing else to do…”

I thought at first this was going to be tough, not getting 1 across straight away and treating the following clues with rather more suspicion than they warranted. Once I got going, though, I realised … Read more “27610 Thursday, 12 March 2020 You remind me of the babe”

Well. That was exciting! There are some Mephisto-ish words around, mostly workoutable from the wordplay, and quite a few places where the setter tries to bamboozle you into thinking you need some specialist knowledge to … Read more “27598 Thursday, 27 February 2020 Ĉu ni ne amuzas nin!”

I have to admit to this being a rather dozy solve over 24 minutes with a single typo which I should have spotted and (probably) a rather dozy exposition. An impressive five “rounds” appear in … Read more “27586 Thursday, 13 February 2020 Round and round and round we go”

A small confession: my solving is currently spasmodic, and when I clicked on the crossword as the clock ticked over into Thursday, Wednesday’s grid occupied my solving attention until I submitted and found myself in … Read more “++++++++++++++++++++++++++27574 Thursday, 30 January 2020 Daydream believer”