Author: Zabadak

  I don’t think this was all that hard, but it took me the best part of 26 minutes. I spent quite a lot agonising (unnecessarily as it turns out) over the three little letters … Read more “28738 All the way round single handed”

  Pleasant enough if not too demanding “for a Thursday” and I got through in less than 20 minutes but (as I think is my regrettable custom) I can’t spell the American. I’d sort of … Read more “28,726 Le Bikini jaune du temps perdu.”

  I confess to being in two minds about this thing. I want to say there are some very clever clues and some fine and amusing, even risqué, surfaces. Perhaps because I never really got … Read more “28714 Dam’ and blast. So fair and foul…”

  Another fine puzzle which occupied me for 25.44, which looks to be a pretty good time. I found the right hand side of the grid much easier than the left, fading generally into the … Read more “28702 A special operation or two.”

  I managed an error free completion in 23.30, a lot of that trying unsuccessfully to work out what a sense of belonging was, even though I read Alex Haley not so long ago. Nothing … Read more “28690 Hinge benefits”

  Not unpleasant, and not too demanding either, though the demands of careful parsing for your benefit stretched my time to 20.19. Some bits of the TLS are on display, and some may not be … Read more “Times 28678 “Dost thou not suspect my years?””

  I managed this in 21.09, just maintaining the record of getting quicker every day this week. By 5 seconds. This one is distinguished by a collection of immaculate surfaces and, to my eye, no … Read more “Times 28666 More of a beauty than a Beast”

  20.20 for my time, if not for my vision. After yesterday’s oddity with little regard for surface readings, I thought this one was a fair representation of how it should be done, if for … Read more “Times Cryptic 28654 Fortunately no Cockney Rhyming Slang”

  I did OK on this one, completing in 22.32, but I should own up straight away to looking up the Trojan priest. I’ll be quite surprised if it turns out I’m the only one. … Read more “Times 28642: Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?”

  No time for me  on this, as I left the clock running during a necessary absence, but probably around 25 minutes, as I stumbled over rather a lot of the clues. As ever, spotting … Read more “Times 28630 – The walrus, leopard and harp, OK?”