Author: Zabadak

I completed this in 21.37, stopping on the way to make sure everything was properly accounted for. My unimpeachable general knowledge, some of it remembered, will explain to those of you who know not Miss … Read more “26110 The tale of the fretful porpentine”

A rather jolly grid, this one, which I completed in 15.19. I’d like to think the setter intended the somewhat surreal pairings scattered across the grid, two of which I’ve alluded to in today’s headline. … Read more “26098 Of the Church of England in exile, and cut price warships.”

17.16, so about as close as can be to an average puzzle for me. At the moment, though, I seem to be starting fast, slowing down about  a third of the way through, and speeding … Read more “26086 For those of you who don’t like sport…”

16.27 to place all the available letters in the correct order, so pretty much my average. After yesterday’s amusing diversion (I was amused, anyway) we’re back to the convention of actually having definitions for every … Read more “26074 What’s French for “raining cats and dogs”?”

I thought this was going to be a doddle, one of those where the first two across clues go straight in along with most of the intersecting ones. But somehow the time stretched out to … Read more “26062 April Fools are supposed to be completed by midday, I thought”

It occured to me that a crossword in which the same word appears four times might set some sort of record, which would at least offer some distinctive for this one. Fastest of the week … Read more “26050 A fourth ‘and piece of work”

No push over this one, though I did manage to scrape in 59 seconds before the big hand hit the 6. That’ll be 29.01 for those of you who are too young to be bothered … Read more “26038 In which Marx fails both as economist and film maker.”

Stopped the clock at 19.36, and only time will tell whether that’s a decent time for a slightly tricky puzzle or a stumbling dawdle through a piece of standard fare. There were some decent chuckles … Read more “26026 In which I restored Mlle Nina to her rightful place”

Knocked off in 20.47, including a last minute change of heart over the ending of 9 across, where I suspect we might see a few error messages today. A decent array of clue types on … Read more “26014 Not just a bog standard crossword”

16.43 for this one, slowing down towards the end and puzzling a while over the entry at 24 (25 two days ago) where I currently have only a sketchy idea of how it might work. … Read more “26002 In which philosophers have a race. On camels?”