Author: mctext

Solving time: 32:28 Made rather heavy weather of this. Normally I like a grid with a few long answers to get going. But the butterfly would not yield easily without some checking letters. I have … Read more “Times 25744: Lettres françaises”

Solving time: 29:11 Took my time this morning. Just strolling through this, bit by bit, and writing down the parsings along the way. Needed a coffee to finish off in the top right. Suspect the … Read more “Times 25732: A 17ac stravaig in warmish morning weather … and 15ac to all our readers”

Solving time: Close to the hour. The SE was a terror spent pondering possible composers’ names. Had to look it (or them) up in the end. So you can call this a DNF if you … Read more “Times 25720: Unknown composers and underwear”

Solving time: 38:44 About as hard a Wednesday puzzle as I’ve seen in a while. Trying to get the parsings for the blog slowed things down even more. There seem to be a fair few … Read more “Times 25708: Pulling a few punches”

Solving time: 28:44 Shouldn’t present too many problems for the regular crowd; but I fell into trouble in the SW and NE corners, trying to scribble the parsings as I went. I think I have … Read more “Times 25696: More Sitzfleisch!”

Solving time: 24:13 Well, that’s how long it took to put a letter in every square, plus as many attempts at parsing as I could manage along the way. Still not sure of a couple, … Read more “Times 25684: The bare necessities”

Solving time: Over the hour Found this very hard. Could just be the hangover. I shall be as brief as possible. Across 1. DEFACED. Rev. FED (full) + ACED (as in tennis). 5. BIRETTA. B … Read more “Times 25672”

Solving time: 20:29 This includes a minute or so knowing the obvious answer to 8dn but failing to see the bleeding obvious. If you didn’t have to parse as you went, you probably wouldn’t bother … Read more “Times 25661: Curate’s 26”

Solving time: 29:20 So … nothing too difficult here, though I had to ponder 14dn and the 19dn/26ac pair for a while this morning. A brief blog as I hurry to reach my self-imposed deadline … Read more “Times 25637: Second Prelim, Puzzle 2”

Solving time: 25:48 So not much harder than the first puzzle of the first prelim, that being the easiest so far in my book. Perhaps I got a (for me) decent time because I’d just … Read more “Times 25631: Second Prelim, Puzzle 1”