Author: jackkt

Time taken to solve: About 40 minutes, half of which was spent on 21 across. A very enjoyable puzzle with lots of clues that read really well. I thought I was in for a record … Read more “23849 – Another scorpion”

 This took me a good hour but I probably spent longer working out the clues whilst solving than I normally would. There was some lovely stuff along the way and only a couple of queries or … Read more “Times 23837 – Phew!”

Time taken to solve: A little over 30 mins. I found this mostly straightforward but uninspiring after some rather exceptional puzzles earlier in the week Across 1 PAC(IF)Y 4 EPI(DEM,1)C – (1,MED) rev. that is, held … Read more “23825 CHAR-CHAR-ARCH!”

 Oh dear! Another difficult one for me today and I suspect that Peter and some others may have finished before I had even put my first word in as that took me at least 5 minutes. Having … Read more “23813 Hammered again! (well not quite)”

I found this one much easier to complete than to explain. It took me about 40 minutes but I was rather distracted by the number of answers going in that I couldn’t fully justify at the … Read more “23801 – Hay ho!”

Solving time : About 40 minutes. An enjoyable puzzle that didn’t make too many demands on this addled brain when tackled in the early hours before bedtime. Several nice clues, in particular 9, 24 and … Read more “23793 Oooh R!”

Solving time : About 45 minutes. This presented a few more problems than yesterday’s easy one but progress was steady throughout and I didn’t get bogged down for too long anywhere. I can’t choose between 27 … Read more “23790 – Not too 14D but sticky stuff at 8”

Yes, 16 of them! I had completed the puzzle without major problems until I became bogged down in the SE corner with 13d a tricky &lit, 27a an alternative spelling I have never met before and … Read more “23778 – Got any O’s?”

 Solving time: Longer than it should have taken. I put this down to nerves on my first blog and attempting it late at night after a busy day.. Nevertheless it was a very enjoyable puzzle … Read more “23766 – My first blog, blow by blow”