21.23 for this one, with a strong feeling that it should have been a lot quicker. The Wedgwood caused the most trouble, probably because I got fixated on gazunders and other products of the Staffordshire pottery, and couldn’t pick … Read more “Times crossword 25823: enough to drive you potty.”
Author: Zabadak
25811 What soubriquet would you give to the puzzlin’, solvin’, bloggin’ bore?
A smidge under 20 minutes for this, working steadily around the grid, encountering something of uniformity of difficulty where even the tiddlers put up about the same resistance as their longer sistren. There were things … Read more “25811 What soubriquet would you give to the puzzlin’, solvin’, bloggin’ bore?”
25799 – I refer the honourable members to the answer McText gave earlier…
This puzzle appeared briefly yesterday on the club page, and McText cheerfully undertook to blog it as his swansong. Perhaps we should club together and buy him a subscription! I offer him my best wishes … Read more “25799 – I refer the honourable members to the answer McText gave earlier…”
25787: An exercise that dampened expectations of a quick finish
I thought I was on for a fast time and another Thursday easy, but while the perimeter clues went in smoothly enough, the internal ones, particularly the four longest ones, proved highly resistant. Add two … Read more “25787: An exercise that dampened expectations of a quick finish”
25775 A very peculiar practice
Less than 10 minutes for this one, so look out for some whizzo times, and then have a go at the Quickie for something a bit more challenging. Well, I say ten minutes. It was … Read more “25775 A very peculiar practice”
25763 Take your bag of Scrabble™ letters, throw them into the air and see how they land.
And just who is Roy Maer (line 6)? My time for sorting all the letters (it is a pangram this time, I’ve checked and checked!) was 24′ 47″, with determined knocking off of the wordplay on … Read more “25763 Take your bag of Scrabble™ letters, throw them into the air and see how they land.”
Times Cryptic 25751 Mystifying for Apes or a distinct feeling of déjà vu.
Last time I was here in the hot seat, Rev John Galbraith Graham, of blessed memory, appeared under his pen-name in a crossword that mirrored, to a degree, his looser and affable style, And lo! … Read more “Times Cryptic 25751 Mystifying for Apes or a distinct feeling of déjà vu.”
Times Cryptic 25739 Bright Maharajah, long producing problems for his guardian? (4,9,6)
Was there perhaps a hint of a more relaxed style of setting here? A touch of the not-quite-Ximenean? There is certainly one laugh out loud clue and a couple where the definitions are hardly precise. … Read more “Times Cryptic 25739 Bright Maharajah, long producing problems for his guardian? (4,9,6)”
Vanilla? Chewy toffee? Tutti Frutti? Neither, but a pleasant enough picnic. Times 25727
A rather exciting sub-10 for me, and even then I wasn’t the first on the board having started at midnight local time. I’d like to suggest there’s a bit of an outdoor party theme trying … Read more “Vanilla? Chewy toffee? Tutti Frutti? Neither, but a pleasant enough picnic. Times 25727”
Times crossword 25715: All you have to do is get all the letters in the right order
Stopped the clock after a smidge over 20 minutes. Probably should have been quicker, but decided still to do this on the night shift after a long day pottering around northern France with my 10 … Read more “Times crossword 25715: All you have to do is get all the letters in the right order”