Solving time 10:12 – but add a few minutes to account for knowing 17A in advance. This was the third puzzle in preliminary session B of the championship, and it was solved by 54 per … Read more “23,441 – Harder than I thought”
Author: petebiddlecombe
Independent and Guardian crossword blog goes live
Neil Wellard’s blog for these two puzzles officially goes live tomorrow, with a team of contributors including some of us. There are test posts about recent puzzles already there and I believe most of these … Read more “Independent and Guardian crossword blog goes live”
Mephisto 2409 – Chris Feetenby (+weekend round-up)
Solving time 21:15 – Chambers used for last word (17A) As this is our first posting on Mephisto, here’s some brief information about the puzzle. Mephisto is a puzzle in the “advanced cryptic” tradition of … Read more “Mephisto 2409 – Chris Feetenby (+weekend round-up)”
Indie 6255 by Monk
Solving time: 20 mins give or take A challenging puzzle but fair as I’ve come to expect from Monk. Grid is a double pangram. Continues the current “Jewish culture” trend with one answer (to go … Read more “Indie 6255 by Monk”
23,435 – where did they go wrong?
Solving time 7:41 This is the middle one of the three puzzles from the second preliminary session of the championship. It’s fairly easy for a championship puzzle – 64% solved it within the time limit … Read more “23,435 – where did they go wrong?”
A new beginning
Welcome to “Times for the Times” – a “community” version of a blog previously kept by Peter Biddlecombe. The point of this version is just the same as before – to discuss the day’s Times … Read more “A new beginning”