Author: jackkt

Time taken to solve: Off the scale. I resorted to aids after an hour. I might have appreciated this excellent tough puzzle more if it hadn’t been my day to blog. As it was I’m afraid … Read more “Times 24232 – Worst Nightmare”

This took me about 45 minutes in two sessions because having completed the LH and most of the SE my mind went blank and I couldn’t get started in the NE so I took a break. … Read more “Times 24220”

Time taken to solve: 26 minutes. Mostly straightforward stuff requiring little special knowledge. I learnt one new book title (18d) and one new meaning of a familiar word (6d) but both were obvious from the wordplay. … Read more “Times 24208”

I made very slow progress on this one but having completed it I can’t really understand what my difficulty was. I think perhaps I’m a bit nervous on days when it’s my turn to blog … Read more “Times 24196 Tortoise’s Hell”

I was surprised this took me nearly an hour. I started off very confidently in the SW corner having noted there were lots of multi-word answers elsewhere which I thought would fall into place quickly … Read more “Times 24184 – Phew!”

This took me 40 minutes, but having finished it I don’t quite understand what detained me for so long. The 5s were the last in, and I think I wasted too much time trying to … Read more “24172”

This one took me about 45 minutes having got off to a slow start. I kept thinking of answers or parts of answers but was unable to complete or explain them. Eventually I settled down … Read more “Times 24160”

I was very surprised that this took me nearly an hour to solve because  I did not feel I was stuck at any point, just making steady progress. I had to go back after completion … Read more “Times 24148”

The run of more difficult puzzles continues, at least as far as I am concerned. In fact I found this one the most difficult of the week, though it’s possible that some of this may have … Read more “24136 – Ouch!”