Author: talbinho

Solving time: 8 mins At Cheltenham last weekend we were warned that competitors posting critical or abusive messages on Internet sites could find themselves banned from future Championships. As it’s not clear where the line … Read more “ST 4402 (Sun 10 Sep) – Man alive”

Of the three puzzles in the final I found this the middle one in terms of difficulty, though closer to #1 (the hardest) than #2 (the easiest). When I turned to this I think I’d … Read more “2010 Championship Grand Final, Puzzle 3 – Brute of the loom”

Solving time: 5:09 [edit: one mistake (9ac)] I felt sluggish over this, despite it seeming fairly easy, which is in keeping with most of my solving recently and doesn’t bode well for today at Cheltenham. … Read more “ST 4401 (Sun 3 Oct) – Withal due respect”

Solving time: 7:41 This was a forced late-night solve and the result was what felt a poor time for a not particularly difficult puzzle. This was mostly accurate and there were some very good clues … Read more “ST 4399 (Sun 19 Sep) – Francly, Mr Shankly”

Solving time: About 8 mins; one mistake (25ac) A most unsatisfying puzzle with few good clues. As well as a spelling error at 15dn, 11ac should have been (15), not (5); I may be missing … Read more “ST 4398 (Sun 12 Sep) – Probe “oh no””

Solving time: 7:57 A mediocre puzzle with some wackiness, notably at 10ac (SPHERE) and 15ac (UGLY CUSTOMER). My last entry was 11dn (MINUETS), which would have been difficult anyway with just three out of seven … Read more “ST 4396 (Sun 29 Aug) – Tears for spheres”

Solving time: 4:36 By the time I’d solved this I’d already seen a comment on last week’s puzzle pointing out a mistake at 26ac (‘Remainder left inside – one of 28 here’), which I therefore … Read more “ST 4395 (Sun 22 Aug) – Clueless”

Solving time: 3:52 Yet another erroneous clue (for LEGALISED at 6dn), probably with a missing word, detracted from what was an otherwise mostly reasonable puzzle. * = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’. Across 1 … Read more “ST 4394 (Sun 15 Aug) – Illegalised”

Solving time: 4:42 I printed this off at the same time as another puzzle, then got them mixed up. The result was I thought this was a daily puzzle from The Times until I’d finished … Read more “ST 4393 (Sun 8 Aug) – Stop gap”

Solving time: 4:10 It’s been said that if you have nothing nice to say, you should say nothing. That, however, is not the lot of the blogger. This was dire. I dallied briefly at the … Read more “ST 4392 (Sun 1 Aug) – Blankety banco”