Solving time 7:55 Not that snappy, but a good puzzle – no obscure words except maybe CUTIS, and wordplay subtlety rather than difficult “general knowledge”. A quick reminder that today sees the second qualifier for … Read more “23,572 – Make it snappy, Peter”
Author: petebiddlecombe
Mephisto 2431 – Mike Laws
Maphisto 2431 – Mike Laws Solving time: say 75 mins Had a disjointed experience of this. Solved about half to two-thirds on paper when visiting relatives last Sunday – between playing football with one nephew … Read more “Mephisto 2431 – Mike Laws”
23,568 – easy enough
Solving time 5:40 A fairly gentle puzzle, which suggests there might be some tougher ones coming up over the weekend. Across 9 EM=me<=,MENTAL 10 CAUL = “call” 13 BEN,TON – ton = fashion is something … Read more “23,568 – easy enough”
23,566 – as hard as it looks post-solve?
Solving time 6:58 Despite a fairly long day travelling to the office and back, and not solving until after supper, including a couple of glasses of red, I go through this in fairly quick time. … Read more “23,566 – as hard as it looks post-solve?”
23,560 Party time again
Solving time 7:22 Trickiest part of this for me was the SW corner. With a fair number of moderately exotic words, this felt like quite a good solving time. Possibly a shame that this puzzle … Read more “23,560 Party time again”
Mephisto 2429 / Tim Moorey – Carnifex!
Solving time – about 32 minutes, with fairly extensive use of Chambers. One of the rules of crossword grid construction observed almost everywhere is “no duplicated entries”. This puzzle throws the rule in the bin … Read more “Mephisto 2429 / Tim Moorey – Carnifex!”
It’s a lovely day for a Crossword Tournament …
Just about now, some nervy sleepless solvers will be getting up in Stamford, Connecticut. This weekend sees the 30th American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, where the best solvers can dispose of an easy New York Times … Read more “It’s a lovely day for a Crossword Tournament …”
Championship Qualifier 1 – a fairly easy starter
Once the closing date for the championship qualifiers is safely in the past, we’ll discuss them in the usual way. I’m writing about the first two, and richardvg is covering the third and fourth ones. … Read more “Championship Qualifier 1 – a fairly easy starter”
Jumbo 686
Solving time 19:59 Another late posting. Just scraped inside 20 minutes, so not a giveaway jumbo. Clues picked out are rather good as well as possibly tricky. Across 5 S(A MARK)AND – “a mark in … Read more “Jumbo 686”
Google custom search
I’ve tried using another of those free gizmos the chaps at Google keep tempting people with. (A Google calendar is in use behind the scenes here to try to make sure we keep track of … Read more “Google custom search”