Solving time: 10:22 A bit slow on this, especially in the bottom left. A mixture of good clues and bad, and a couple of synonyms I’m not convinced by, but no outright mistakes that I … Read more “ST 4270 (Sun 30 Mar) – Diplomatic immunity”
Author: talbinho
ST 4269 (Sun 23 Mar) – Score draw
Solving time: 7:33 I enjoyed this more than usual – some good clues and no major quibbles. Should probably have been faster but I was slow to spot a few fairly standard devices, especially ‘score’ … Read more “ST 4269 (Sun 23 Mar) – Score draw”
Jumbo 745 (Sat 8 Mar) – Laughing Kavalier
Solving time: 18:52 Not a fast time but I’m reasonably pleased with it as I thought this was quite hard. There are some difficult words and cultural references, most of which I didn’t know, but … Read more “Jumbo 745 (Sat 8 Mar) – Laughing Kavalier”
ST 4267 (Sun 9 Mar) – Oh Rio, Rio…
Solving time: 11:58 Got stuck in the bottom left until I got 26ac, then it all fell out. One faulty anagram today (18ac – RIO DE JANEIRO), where the blame probably lies with the typesetter. … Read more “ST 4267 (Sun 9 Mar) – Oh Rio, Rio…”
ST 4266 (Sun 2 Mar) – Low ebb
Solving time: Gave up on 28ac after 10 mins. I did try again later, without success; it turned out that a crossing answer (25dn) was wrong. The clues in this puzzle were extremely verbose with … Read more “ST 4266 (Sun 2 Mar) – Low ebb”
ST 4265 (Sun 24 Feb) – Watts his name
Solving time: 6:04 Apart from one question mark over 23dn, much more accurate clueing than normal this week. Nothing too difficult, apart from a couple of less well known names, one of which (the artist … Read more “ST 4265 (Sun 24 Feb) – Watts his name”
Jumbo 741 (Sat 9 Feb) – Flamed out
Solving time: 12:00 This was probably the easiest Jumbo I’ve seen – but for 51dn I’d finished in about 7:50. Unfortunately it took me another four minutes to spot the answer to that (and even … Read more “Jumbo 741 (Sat 9 Feb) – Flamed out”
ST 4264 (Sun 17 Feb) – Bowled out
Solving time: 15 mins I had a bit of a shocker on this, especially on 27dn (BOWL) and in the top left where I got stuck on 1ac (STALWART), 2dn (ANIMAL) and 9ac (DRIFTERS?). Clarification … Read more “ST 4264 (Sun 17 Feb) – Bowled out”
ST 4263 (Sun 10 Feb) – Pro errata
Solving time: 6:30 Some good clues in this. As usual, this puzzle contained ERRATA, but for once only as a clue answer (15ac) – there were no editorial howlers this week (that I spotted, anyway). … Read more “ST 4263 (Sun 10 Feb) – Pro errata”
ST 4262 (Sun 3 Feb) – Essay crisis
Solving time: 8:45 Unless I am very much mistaken there are two faulty clues in this puzzle, 23ac (OSIERS) and 20dn (ESSAYED). That a Sunday broadsheet crossword with a wide circulation and significant prize should … Read more “ST 4262 (Sun 3 Feb) – Essay crisis”