Author: jackkt

I solved all but seven clues in the top half within 30 minutes then ground to a halt for 20 minutes. Having eventually cracked 7dn the remaining answers fell like nine-pins. I had a lot … Read more “Times 25680”

About 50 minutes for this one but my brain is still addled following the festivities of the past couple of days. An early Z made me think we might be in for another pangram but … Read more “Times 25668 – The morning after…”

This took me 45 minutes parsing everything as I went and some of the wordplay was not immediately apparent. There were no actual unknowns today except perhaps 4dn where I knew the engine part but … Read more “TIMES 25657 – Bit of a stretch?”

20 minutes, and as predicted I got off very lightly after a testing week of puzzles. One clue gave me pause for thought but otherwise it was more or less a write-in. If I’d not … Read more “Times 25645 – Happy Day!”

A minute or two over the hour, so another tricky one for me which on reflection might have been solved more quickly if I had not insisted on working out the wordplay as I went … Read more “Times 25633 – Slow Cha-Cha”

I expect to see some fast solving times today as most of this was very easy indeed. I got held up towards the end by a couple of shades of meaning I didn’t quite see … Read more “Times 25621 – The New Monday”

I thought this was going to be easy as I started strongly but I soon ran into problems and slowed to a crawl. I was parsing as I went but had to miss out a … Read more “Times 25609 – Reverse Gear”

Around 40 minutes for this fairly straightforward puzzle. The answers in the top half almost wrote themselves in but I lost time further down, particularly in the SW corner. I suspect we shall see some … Read more “Times 25597 – Wrong side of the blanket”

I raced out of the starting blocks with this one but very soon began to realise that it was not going to be as easy as I originally thought. An hour later with much of … Read more “Times 25585 – Sting in the Head”

This very lively and enjoyable puzzle took me 42 minutes parsing as I solved, so it was yet another at the easier end of the scale. There was nothing unknown although I needed all the … Read more “Times 25573 – Take Your Partners…”