DNF. I was so absurdly off the wavelength here, there’s very little I can say. I labored to fill in as many squares as I could, but in the end, there were three clues I couldn’t get.
Author: plusjeremy
Times Cryptic No 29093 — A marathon, not a sprint?
43:39. Well, that’s how I felt solving this puzzle anyway. Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of absolutely delightful clues here (meaning surface reading, wordplay, word choice, etc), but I felt that a fair amount of the difficulty for me stemmed from using very uncommon synonyms or abbreviations. But let me parse the clues and I’ll get back to you.
Times Cryptic No 29081 — I guess that’s a thing
20:02. It was that sort of puzzle, where clue after clue I would ask myself, “Is that a thing?”, and eventually answer, “I guess that’s a thing.”.
Times Cryptic No 29069 — A disappointing DNF
This one hurt.
Times Cryptic No 29057 — Wag the dog
This was an excellent puzzle, which I enjoyed bashing my head against at the time, and enjoyed even moreso while writing the blog.
Times Cryptic No 29045 — A solid performance
24:30 for a puzzle which I found quite enjoyable, and neither too easy nor too hard. I imagine I’m on the slower side today, because I seemingly cannot finish a puzzle in under 20 minutes anymore, but nevertheless I felt at home with the clues, which is a welcome change for me.
Times Cryptic No 29033 — I work hard for my money (?)
40:52 for a challenging and very enjoyable puzzle. I worked hard, and in the end, everything was gettable.
Times Cryptic No 29021 — Lift and separate
DNF. I think a lot of the wordplay here was quite tricky (more lifting and separating than you might find in a pilates class), but I fairly raced through this one until I got to the upper-left corner. After 15 minutes of beard-scratching, I still wasn’t able to get 1 Across or Down, so I threw in the towel.
Times Cryptic No 29009 — A beard-scratcher
24:35, a time which reflects more confusion rather than any real difficulty. Several answers I just shrugged and went with, after a minute or two of not being able to figure the clue out.
Times Cryptic No 28991 — A week in the woods
26:22, although I spent far too long dithering over my last two entries, not really being able to parse them. I’m filling in for William this week, writing this blog from the misty woods of Phoenicia, NY, where we are enjoying cooler than usual weather. I found this puzzle to be gentle, though not without interest. A fitting conclusion to a week of hiking and board games with friends and family.