Author: piquet

For me this puzzle fell into the catgory of those which at first sight seem impenetrable but once opened up, they unravel and reveal some fine work by the setter; by the end you wonder … Read more “Times 26871 – am I wrong?”

I came to this straight after finishing another, easier puzzle and feeling ‘warmed up.’ However I soon cooled down as my first pass saw only a few clues in the NW corner filled in and … Read more “Times 26865 – to wit, to woo, this was fun. But tricky.”

I haven’t done yesterday’s (26858) yet, but this one seemed to me to be an order of magnitude easier than Monday’s, where the SE corner had me flummoxed. No longer are we able to know … Read more “Times 26859 – more than a couple of gems”

Quirky, economical clueing here in this puzzle; nothing too obscure but much to admire in this fine example of the setter’s art. I had the right side completed quickly with a couple of blanks on … Read more “Times 26853 – spare me the German poets please, but sue the French by all means.”

How often do we find a puzzle where most of the clues fall into place quite quickly and a few stubborn ones hold us up, even with checkers in place? For me, this was one … Read more “Times 26847 – one of those ninety-ten jobs”

I really enjoyed this one, it has wit, a bit of general knowledge, some fine wordplay and a 14 letter anagram to make your eyes water. I thought it was going to be a pangram, … Read more “Times 26841 – fifteen square fun with no F”

I romped away with this one to start with, but was brought to heel by the setter with half a dozen clues to polish off; a bird I didn’t know, an animal I’d heard of … Read more “Times 26835 – carnival of the animals”

This didn’t seem much harder than Monday’s puzzle this week, it took me 19 or 20 minutes to decipher to my satisfaction; all the more enjoyable because many of the clues have clever surfaces which, … Read more “Times 26829 – we like relevant surfaces”

I was feeling rather jaded when I sat down to tackle this one, so made heavy weather of it, taking around 45 minutes and one still not fully understood (11a). But I suspect it’s not … Read more “Times 26823 – don’t be a t*t, do the wordplay.”

Well it’s hotter than Lord Flashman’s pants here today, so we’re hunkering down indoors with shutters shut as if we’ve gone off to the seaside to join all the French in bouchons. Not a difficult … Read more “Times 26817”