I managed this on paper in 16 minutes, with one Russian poet half-guessed as the more likely arrangement of the anagram letters; the rest was straightforward although required the usual crossword knowledge of CRS and … Read more “Times 26703 – 1st Championship Qualifier (Wednesday 19 April)”
Author: piquet
Times 190460 – a world apart
This came as a bit of a shock as I hadn’t realised the qualifiers for the next championship were starting already. I feared the worst when I saw this was an alternative puzzle dating from … Read more “Times 190460 – a world apart”
Times 26697 – Mr Grumpy today.
Maybe I was just in a bad mood, but I have to say I didn’t enjoy this much (unlike Monday’s cracker; I haven’t done yesterday’s yet). It wasn’t overly difficult and the three words I … Read more “Times 26697 – Mr Grumpy today.”
Times 26691 – out for a stroll
Plenty of answers from the puzzle which I could borrow to write about it; the 7d of a gentle workout, even 20a at times. I tried not to be 1a but keep it 1d, with … Read more “Times 26691 – out for a stroll”
Times 26685 – stars of stage, screen and statue. And a Scottish word.
I found this tough. The lower half went in slowly but the upper part took an age, in spite of having the longer answers quite early on. It requires significant general knowledge as well as … Read more “Times 26685 – stars of stage, screen and statue. And a Scottish word.”
Times 26679 – all you could wish for, and a gazelle
About 25 minutes of amusement for me with this delightful puzzle, nothing unknown, a less obscure than usual “safari animal”, a cricket reference, lots of word truncation clues, nothing too UK-specific I think. All in … Read more “Times 26679 – all you could wish for, and a gazelle”
Times 26673 – where we find lady cats and tailless cats
Excuse brevity, our satellite internet was still down after a nasty storm, I am having to rush this sitting in a restaurant. An odd mix of easy clues and strange ones, a couple of definitions … Read more “Times 26673 – where we find lady cats and tailless cats”
Times 26667 – finding the birthplaces of Zeus
I really enjoyed this one, a tad trickier than my recent blogging challenges but not unreasonably difficult; about half an hour to finish, parse and check a couple of ‘must be’ answers. It seems to … Read more “Times 26667 – finding the birthplaces of Zeus”
Times 26661 – a fine example of the art, and a plant.
Maybe I was just in a better mood, but I thought this was a smashing puzzle, with wit, misleading definitions and all kinds of smart wordplay. Medium difficulty, perfect for a blog day, it took … Read more “Times 26661 – a fine example of the art, and a plant.”
Times 26655 – two fish, no antelope, no plants.
A good puzzle nearly as amusing as yesterday’s, I thought, with no unknown words or poor clues. Around 25 minutes by the time I’d decided I could parse it all. I thought 17d had a … Read more “Times 26655 – two fish, no antelope, no plants.”