The December Magpie, the first electronic version is available and free. It contains six barred grid puzzles by the Magpie editorial team, who include our own occasional blogger Mr Magoo. Difficulty is supposed to range … Read more “Magpie – 60½ for 0”
Author: petebiddlecombe
23,770 – the curse of the 17 strikes again?
Solving time: 18:37 The curse of the Times crossword club certainly strikes again – no online puzzle and I left home before the papers landed on the doormat, so had to buy a paper at … Read more “23,770 – the curse of the 17 strikes again?”
Collins dictionary free search is back
Once more, you can do free searches of Collins English Dictionary at the Collins web-site: http://www.collinslanguage.com/ This is useful for the Times puzzle, as Collins is one of its two reference dictionaries. There do however … Read more “Collins dictionary free search is back”
Jumbo 726 – unknown element trouble
Solving time: 24:25, one wrong answer A fairly challenging puzzle, which stumped me at the end with one of those toss-up anagrams for a word I didn’t know. It’s another appearance for one of those … Read more “Jumbo 726 – unknown element trouble”
23,764 – I thought I was supposed to be good at this?
My first chance to report on a completely unseen Times puzzle since the championship, and I have to record … Solving time: 26:43 … which means that I found this very tough indeed, especially the … Read more “23,764 – I thought I was supposed to be good at this?”
Mephisto 2463 (‘2462’ in online version) – Chris Feetenby
Solving time 27:25 with no books, then a few minutes with Chambers to clear up mistakes at 6 and 15. A fairly easy puzzle this, with not too much diffucult vocabulary in the answers. Across … Read more “Mephisto 2463 (‘2462’ in online version) – Chris Feetenby”
Unofficial Times cryptic RTC No. 19 – your times please
This one’s different … This contest is for the six preliminary round puzzles from the Times Championship. Please give your tmes in the order the puzzles appeared in the paper – different from the championship … Read more “Unofficial Times cryptic RTC No. 19 – your times please”
Unofficial Times cryptic RTC No. 18 – your times please
End of the road I’m running out of time for doing results of these contests as well as the other blogging things I do. So unless the number of entrants shoots up, I’m going to … Read more “Unofficial Times cryptic RTC No. 18 – your times please”
New bloggers
My appeal the other day was mostly successful. After his final report tomorrow, dhogg’s Friday slot will be shared between jackkt and neildubya who’s already on the sub’s bench. dorsetjimbo and glheard will be sharing … Read more “New bloggers”
23,758 – Championship Prelim 2, Puzzle 2
This puzzle seems to have been the main reason for 13 of the first 25 finishers in this prelim making a mistake, with the main culprit WICKET for PICKET at 20D. (See my results – … Read more “23,758 – Championship Prelim 2, Puzzle 2”