Author: piquet

Not too much trouble with this one, 20 minutes, easiest Wednesday for a while, although 7d was new to me. I’m a bit hazy about 9a too. [Edit: z8 to the rescue]. Half the clues … Read more “Times 26811 –”

I like a challenge. I enjoyed most of this, it has some excellent clues with nice PDMs. Looking at it now I’ve finally got there, nearly an hour, with the use of a solver for … Read more “Times 26805 – trickier than a magicians’ megafest”

This is one of those puzzles where a good few of the answers seem to have some kind of vague theme running through, but you can’t quite say it’s thematic. I’m thinking of, for example, … Read more “Times 26799 – when it comes to money”

I think this is the kind of puzzle that seasoned solvers and classicists will skip through, having seen some of the more obscure words before, while those on the nursery slopes may struggle. It’s not … Read more “Times 26793 – The classical Wednesday ‘Thriller’, or monkey puzzle.”

Nothing too challenging in this pleasant offering, which took me around 20 minutes and no need for Wiki visits. 10a was my LOI because it took me a little while to link the definition to … Read more “Times 26787 – biological salad”

Another rather off-beat but enjoyable puzzle, I thought, of typical ‘midweek’ medium difficulty, with no central theme but a good sprinkling of tasty foodie bits and some words to relish. I took me about 25 … Read more “Times 26781 – food for thought and eye candy?”

A general knowledge flavour to this one, I thought, with more unusual or obscure words than in recent Wednesday challenges, but all gettable with the wordplay. We uncover a cactus, an antelope, a Japanese art … Read more “Times 26775 – who can do this one? 28 across.”

I thought this was a slightly off-beat puzzle, with mainly easy clues and a few less obvious ones (1d, 29a, 11a). It took me around 20 minutes so a medium 5 on my Richter scale … Read more “Times 26769 – crystal clear, it’s a Schottky barrier diode, mate.”

This could have been blogged and published yesterday but owing to a bit of ‘no, be my guest, you can do it’ between me and Verlaine, it fell through a crack until now. So apologies … Read more “Times 26757 – Qualifier #3 for the Championships”

Sometimes I don’t look forward to writing this weekly blurb because I didn’t much like or enjoy the puzzle. I have been known to be grumpy. This week was not like that; I found this … Read more “Times 26763 – does your derg bite?”