Author: piquet

I’m not sure how easy or hard this puzzle will prove to be on the snitchometer, but I found it mostly straightforward; it seemed that many of the clues I’d either seen the likes of … Read more “Times 26991 – familiarity breeds chickens”

A bit of a curate’s egg, this one, quite a few easy clues and one ot two at the end which required either obscure knowledge (i.e. stuff I didn’t know) or trust in the wordplay … Read more “Times 26985 – apparently, philosophy is a way of life”

I found this a serious work-out, more on the way to Club Monthly stlye than a standard weekday romp, with quite a few answers being obscure words known only to cryptic crossword regulars and pub … Read more “Times 26979 – stuff I didn’t know I knew but did …”

Seems a bit of a foodie theme today, with one obscure word at 23a which did ring a faint bell once the wordplay suggested it. The top half went in smoothly but the lower was … Read more “Times 26973 – very comma very tasty”

Sad to see our world champion Elise crashing out of the speed skating yet again. There again, £32 million of taxpayers money in four years to chase a few medals in elite winter sports does … Read more “Times 26967 – nearly as fast as Elise Christie yesterday”

Another challenging Wednesday, with some fine clueing and smart wordplay, enhanced, or spoilt (depending on your knowledge, or lack of it) by a couple of “general knowledge required” answers which were otherwise hard to guess … Read more “Times 26961 – flummoxed again by Poets and Polynesian Powers”

Another cracking Wednesday puzzle to blog; unravelling some of the parsing took a bit of the oldlateral thinking, although there was plenty of scope for BIFD. [I once heard speak the good Dr de Bono, … Read more “Times 26955 – Italians, and not the Trump White House (although it’s a idea!)”

To say I struggled with this would be an understatement. As usual, ninety per cent of it went in pleasantly in fifteen minutes or so. I was left with a few blanks scattered around the … Read more “Times 26949 – oh God it’s Scottish but not a God”

All you could wish for in a puzzle, today, not too easy but not too hard, not very biffable, no very obscure words, not a plant or antelope to be seen. Only one poet, of … Read more “Times 26943 – I was nearly the King of poets”

I sat down to this and quickly had the NW corner all done, then the NE, but even then I was thinking ‘this is Wednesday, not Monday, you’re not the Friday-blogging genius, things will soon … Read more “Times 26937 – of birds, flowers, plants and fungi, but none the worse for that.”