Solving time: 6:18 Oh dear, another Sunday shocker I’m afraid. I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure 20dn has incorrect wordplay, while 10ac, 23ac and 28ac are all questionable. Clarifications or corrections welcome. * … Read more “ST 4224 (Sun 13 May) – Peaky”
Author: talbinho
ST 4223 (Sun 6 May) – Lies, damned lies and politics
Solving time: 3:49 A quick solve despite inexplicable slowless on 1ac. Some of the cryptic ‘grammar’ was loose in this puzzle (e.g. 1ac, 23dn, 28dn). Quotation of the day: “Since a politician never believes what … Read more “ST 4223 (Sun 6 May) – Lies, damned lies and politics”
ST 4222 (Sun Apr 29) – Puttee-fussing
Solving time: Gave up on 1dn after about 15 mins. Plenty here for the purist to quibble with. If anyone has a better answer for 1dn, please let me know! Apologies for the late posting, … Read more “ST 4222 (Sun Apr 29) – Puttee-fussing”
Jumbo 694 (Sat 21 Apr) – REMarkable, tREMendous, supREMe
Solving time: 34:14, two mistakes (40ac and 6dn). Super puzzle with some lovely definitions. My favourites were 15ac (‘leaving mark’ for EXIT WOUND), 33ac (‘Missing dope’ for UNINFORMED), 52ac (‘Devotional base’ for PRAYER MAT), 9dn … Read more “Jumbo 694 (Sat 21 Apr) – REMarkable, tREMendous, supREMe”
ST 4221 (Sun Apr 22) – Starters’ orders
Solving time: 3:50 This was closer to the daily crosswords than most ST puzzles in terms of clue accuracy, although much easier, with some nice clues. Quite a quick time but I felt I should … Read more “ST 4221 (Sun Apr 22) – Starters’ orders”
ST 4220 (Sun Apr 15) – “Neil suffers setback with one missing, a Red River” (4)
Solving time: 7:57, one missing (27dn). Mostly straightforward wordplay, but there were quite a few words (or alternative meanings of words) here which are rarely seen outside barred puzzles: ‘neat’ (cattle), ‘euro’ (a kangaroo) and … Read more “ST 4220 (Sun Apr 15) – “Neil suffers setback with one missing, a Red River” (4)”
ST 4219 (Sun 8 Apr) – The Confetti Incident
Solving time: 16-ish minutes, one missing (21dn) The less said about my effort on this, the better. 21dn was understandable, but I don’t know what I was playing at on 5ac, 10ac and 7dn. * … Read more “ST 4219 (Sun 8 Apr) – The Confetti Incident”
ST 4218 (Sun 1 Apr) – Goonlike schemata
Solving time: 4:15 After some recent improvements, this is another of those puzzles which leaves you wondering if this crossword is edited/proofread at all. Either I have missed something (quite possible), in which case I … Read more “ST 4218 (Sun 1 Apr) – Goonlike schemata”
ST 4217 – Copper-bottomed
Solving time: 4:58 No significant gripes this week, a good and accurate puzzle of about average difficulty for the Sunday Times. Favourite clue was probably 11ac, which reminded me that there are loads of slang … Read more “ST 4217 – Copper-bottomed”
ST 4216 – Dyak knifed
Solving time: About 20 mins by the time I gave up looking for alternatives and wrote in my three guesses (starred) of which (at least) one was wrong. Also spent a long time on 26dn. … Read more “ST 4216 – Dyak knifed”