Author: Zabadak

Quite a lot of this one reads like a cryptic series of headlines on the affairs of the day, though whether that’s deliberate on the part of the setter or the imaginings of the shell-shocked … Read more “Times Cryptic 26566 – November 10, 2016. Here is the news.”

25 minutes for this one, an interminable time trying and failing to parse 18dn as befits a conscientious commentator. Apart from this and others in the Cornish corner, I found this easygoing with some pleasant … Read more “Times Cryptic 26554 – October 27, 2016. Une jolie puzzle avec many choses interestant.”

24.40  completes a set of times in the 40’s, 30’s, 20’ and 10’s this week, and it remains to be seen at which end I complete the running flush. I look forward to seeing what … Read more “Times Cryptic 26542 – October 13, 2016 The royal I and I”

There are a lot of very concise and not terribly revealing definitions scattered throughout: An author, a writer, a queen, a poet, a nurse, this rifleman, so it’s just as well they’re tied to lucid … Read more “TLS Crossword 1142 by Myrtilus, September 16 2016 Buddy can you spare a definition?”

25 minutes on the dot, distracted perhaps by the incessant roar of a butterfly flapping its wings in the far, far distance. I don’t think there’s anything too tricky here, though there are a couple … Read more “Times Cryptic 26530 – September 29, 2016. A Navel Encounter.”

Another slow solve punctuated by semi-conscious episodes before the caffeine kicked in. I should explain that George has kindly agreed to take next week’s crossword when I shall be loose in France with uncertain communications … Read more “Times Cryptic 26512 – September 8, 2016 Both grandmothers, twice”

I struggled through drooping eyelids through this, untroubled by any inkling of excitement for 25 minutes*. So many of the clues were of the “stick this into/onto that” variety, so many indeed that I ran … Read more “Times Cryptic 26506 – September 1, 2016 At last, a cure for insomnia!”