Author: mctext

Solving time: 37:44 Didn’t find this very easy at all; or perhaps just out of practice after a few days off? There are quite a few parsings I don’t understand but will try to work … Read more “Times 25296: L.O.L.A, Lola”

Solving time: 27:52 A few obscurities including a poet, a composer and a sculptor. Had most trouble with 23ac though, where the parsing took a fair while and I didn’t want to enter the answer … Read more “Times 25290: A cold coming”

Solving time: 24:46 Would have been quicker if not for the two fours at 13ac and 25ac — especially the former where MANE looked to be on the cards for a while. The key for … Read more “Times 25278: Swallows and Amazons”

Solving time: 19:42 A few obscurities which, once navigated, make for a quite simple puzzle. The cryptic defs at 11ac, 23ac, 18dn (all omitted) suggest the paucity of this clue-type. My view is: no wordplay, … Read more “Times 25266: They put bromide in your tea”

Solving time: 17:42 Phew! An easier puzzle on my blogging day after a couple of real stretches in the week’s two earlier numbers. The three cross-refs to 27ac made it simpler if you got it; … Read more “Times 25254: For De Mille, young fur henchmen can’t be rowing”

Solving time: 30:46 Had a bit of trouble with some answers here. UMBRELLA I got but couldn’t parse for a while. And I’m still far from sure that my reading of the last one (25dn) … Read more “Times 25242: After Geography … Music and Drama”

Solving time: 33:12 Got fooled into thinking the two 1s had to be harder than they turned out to be. So went to the bottom half first where a bit of wordplay parsing and a … Read more “Times 25230: Where to find a salt and battery?”

Solving time: 26:12 Filling in for Jerry today. He’s off to France. Didn’t really understand ACCLAIMERS or VANITY until a pleasant phone call with one wiser in words than I. Otherwise, plain sailing. Across  1 … Read more “Times 25212: A cake, long in shape but short in duration”

Solving time: 34:52 with one missing in that time. So technical DNF. Thought this was going to be easy after the dead giveaways at 1ac and 1dn. Not to be. Ended up with a letter … Read more “Times 25206: “I am a doughnut” (JFK); “I am an Eccles cake” (McT)”

Solving time: 19:04 After a good run on Monday and Tuesday, I was expecting a bit of a stinker. Not to be, thank goodness. All pretty straightforward this morning with fast times anticipated from those … Read more “Times 25194: There’s X, here’s Y”