Author: Zabadak

My experience this week is that the crosswords have been getting steadily easier, with this one requiring 15’ 15”. However, I am very aware that there are entries here that may not be in everyone’s … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26998 Thursday, 29 March 2018 Forget Oxfam, feed Twiggy”

The leader board would suggest that this was not as tough as I made it in my 28 minutes of struggle, and I can’t really claim that I took it steady so as to parse … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26986 Thursday, 15 March 2018 Careless Rapture. Bravo!”

I think I might preface my remarks by suggesting a game of guess who. In at least four rows of the grid there are, in the two answers combined, what appear to be hints to … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26974, Thursday, 1 March 2018 He shoots, he scores again and again!”

There’s a fair bit of religion is this one, which made it easier for me if annoyinger to others. Perhaps the most likely bone of contention is the Bible story at 14d, beloved of both … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26962, 15 February 2018 I know my transgressions.”

I sauntered through this in 21 minutes, not troubled too much by the golfing references which didn’t require me to know anything about golf, and relieved that the Latin references, of which there are several, … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26950 Thursday, 1st February 2018 Don’t Panic.”

I squeezed in (just) under 20 minutes for this one, which contains a rather useful compendium of anagram indicators and a few little bits of history to keep you on your toes. It takes a … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26938 18th January 2018 Tequila!”

No great difficulty with this one, run off in 14 and one third minutes. It’s perhaps worth commentating in the light of recent comment that the only As in this puzzle are necessary ones, apart … Read more “Thursday, 04 January 2018 Times Cryptic No 26926 ‘Twas the NIGHT before CHRISTmas and…”

I rather enjoyed this one, though it took around 25 minutes, with 3d incompletely parsed but confidently entered. There was a decent helping of wit, and plenty of the kind of misdirection which didn’t make … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26914 Thursday, 21 December 2017 Not (yet) the Christmas Turkey”

A pleasant enough solve with a few clues needing revisiting just to find out how they work, in my case 24 and 19, both of which I decoded post solve. I don’t think there’s much … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26902, 7/12/2017 Thursday’s star child has far to go.”

…the story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. A bit of a quirky oddity, this one, with two answers that end with the same preposition, … Read more “Times Cryptic No 26890, 23/11/17 Ladies and Gentlemen…”