Author: piquet

I’ve flown in today as Verlaine is off in Glastonbury doing something with henges and probably covering himself in woad, or worse. This was a puzzle he’d have enjoyed blogging, so I’ll try to do … Read more “Times 26759 – Very Verlainable”

… or a piece of gateau, I thought, a rather bland puzzle, more Monday-ish than the usual Wednesday middle to hard fare. Several straightforward anagrams, a hidden word you could guess if you didn’t know … Read more “Times 26751 – un jeu d’enfant … or perhaps not, you say.”

As Verlaine observed last week, you had a choice; go on holiday next week and suffer me twice this week, or go this week and enjoy his insightful ramblings next Wednesday and Friday. By gracing … Read more “Times 26741 – well past my prime”

This was one of those puzzles which involved a little head-scratching at times followed by penny-dropping moments when an answer, or the reason why, suddenly became apparent and the beauty of the setter’s art was … Read more “Times 26739 – Pennies dropping”

As the second qualifier for this year’s TCC, I expected this to be a moderately easy challenge, and it was. The long ones top and bottom were write-ins and the rest followed in quick time; … Read more “Times 26727 – Fat chance to win £1,000, but nice enough puzzle.”

A splendid puzzle, I thought, with a mixture of easy clues and much trickier ones, and not without wit. I don’t have an exact time as I was doing it in between doing something else. … Read more “Times 26733 – don’t get shtuck in a confiture de circulation; use your bonding set.”

It was in the back of my mind that this week a second Championship qualifier was due, and I was correct; you can find a PDF of it here http://www.harrystottle.com/timesq2.pdf if you don’t have a … Read more “Times 120430 – Times have changed for the better.”

Much to savour in this one, plenty of omission / substitution type word play, but no chemistry or cricket to help me along. It took me around 30 minutes starting with 9a, 10a, and ending … Read more “Times 26721 – I like a good seabird.”

I romped along through this, the top half done and understood in good time. The SE corner followed nicely. Then I struggled for a while with the SW, in spite of having the checkers from … Read more “Times 26715 – held up by the underworld visitor”

Just back from a tiring and somewhat socially excessive golf trip, in unseasonably cold and wet Catalonia, I found this quite tough in places; it took me the bones of 45 minutes to get through … Read more “Times 26711 – was this tough or was I below par?”