Author: piquet

I really enjoyed this one. Sadly I don’t have a time for it, as I was interrupted three times by the postman and two phone calls. I’d guess it would be around the half hour … Read more “Times 27339 – East meets west here and there.”

19 minutes for me to solve and parse this one, nothing to frighten any horses here. It has a slight literary flavour, with Kipling, Dickens and Shakespeare (for example) cropping up. I’ve never read Kipling’s … Read more “Times 27333 – another midweek middle of the road”

I like a struggle on a Wednesday; I enjoy the frisson of solving a tough test under pressure and understanding every clue so as to write a convincing account. This week I was disappointed. This … Read more “Times 27327 – at least I had time to read all about dear old Alfred.”

After a couple of orange or red zone SNITCH Wednesdays which had me working harder for a living (well, unpaid!) I found this one more like a Monday stroll in the park. Even if you … Read more “Times 27321 – no fleas in my bed today”

I found this tough. One of those puzzles where it takes an age to get going properly, then turns into a slow but steady plod, unravelling some of the more obscure wordplay afterwards. Had I … Read more “Times 27315 – all that glisters is not gold.”

Maybe I’m a bit rusty, but I struggled to get on to the setter’s wavelength with this, working slowly from top left to lower right and ending in an unimpressive 40 minutes with a few … Read more “Times 27309 – certainly not vanilla, but not tickling my taste buds much.”

Starting at 1a, I sped through the top half then lower left of this one on a PB schedule, then the opposite of 13d happened. I slowed down to cope with a couple of unknown … Read more “Times 27297 – For Romeo lovers, bird lovers and dog lovers.”

A reasonably easy challenge today, with three straightforward but chunky anagrams to get you well on the way. It helped, but wasn’t essential, if you knew the playwright (wasn’t the film director) and your duck … Read more “Times 27291 – no more pancakes for a while, please.”

I pottered through this pleasant little challenge in my target of twenty minutes or so, held up at the end by 25a until I saw the devious definition. I think Mr Setter or Mr Editor … Read more “Times 27285 – Not Harry Potter, or a 3a question”

I much enjoyed this. It wasn’t easy IMO, but perhaps not as hard as last week’s Wednesday at 160, I’ll be interested to see the SNITCH. Several clues had me going off in the wrong … Read more “Times 27279 – Is a joint setter a cosetter? Can a foodstuff be inedible?”