Author: kororareka

Solving Time: 55 minutes Not much to say for myself except I was waylaid by a 32 page tome and a 500lb canary loose in Slough. Apart from that, the appearance of some old favourites … Read more “Times 24665 – What does a 500lb canary eat?”

Solving Time: DNF A difficult puzzle for me on a Monday. It all became too much after an hour; wines, parts of London, French authors, the Just So Stories… this particular blogger’s bêtes noires. Our … Read more “Times 24653 – Between a rock and a Harrods place”

Solving Time: 40 minutes It all began well in the NW, with some well constructed but straightforward clues (“beginner’s delight” I was thinking) but then just as quickly turned into something completely different; requiring my … Read more “Times 24641 – One flower and no insects”

Solving Time: 36 minutes I solved this in a hotch-potch fashion, never really being able to establish a coal face to work at and several times thought I’d be left with embarrassing gaps; but it … Read more “Times 24617 – Oh, say can you see…”

Solving Time: 32 minutes Mostly straightforward, but with some vocabulary and a foreign phrase which might put it beyond the entry level category. If I hadn’t attempted to start in the SW corner (where I … Read more “Times 24605 – One for the ladies?”

Solving Time: 25 minutes I would have said this was an absolute doddle, had I not scribbled 11d in so fast that PAINTING came out PIANTING which turned Neville Cardus into Frederick Wildus (not a … Read more “Times 24581 – And the band played on”

Solving Time: 65 minutes I knew I shouldn’t have stayed up watching New Zealand play Italy, but when they scored the first goal, what was one to do? So it was with brain working at … Read more “Times 24569 – Vuvuzelas 1, Kororareka 0”

Solving Time: 45 minutes No, I’m not getting ahead of myself. I’m standing in for vinyl1 this week. There was a goodly helping of anagrams to save my bacon in this one, followed by lashings … Read more “Times 24551 – Fete sounds like… like…”

Solving Time: 18 + 17 + 10 minutes A typical Monday for me; mostly very easy with a few which had me stumped and one which I only got courtesy of some barely functional synapse … Read more “Times 24545 – Really?”

Solving Time: 40 odd minutes Mostly the answers flowed straight from eye to pen, but I was eventually inordinately delayed in the SE corner and defeated in the SW by an elk. What more can … Read more “Times 24533 – Och, there’s a moose in the hoose”