Author: talbinho

Solving time: 3:44 A very strange puzzle. Most of the clues are fine and some are good (at least by Sunday Times standards), but there are three that seem to be faulty: 1ac (SHIPMENT), 12ac … Read more “ST 4391 (Sun 25 Jul) – An almighty mess”

Solving time: 5:30 The solving time includes some despairing head-shaking at the clearly flawed 2dn (where ABELIA is apparently an anagram of ‘I label’), plus further bemusement at 25ac which I also don’t understand so … Read more “ST 4390 (Sun 18 Jul) – Abelia bloomer”

Solving time: lost… …but I don’t think it was very good. If I remember correctly I got nothing much in the top half, having wasted a lot of time at 1dn trying to remember what … Read more “ST 4389 (Sun 11 Jul) – Scarlet fever”

Solving time: 10:35 I got bogged down in this, struggling with ASTERN/TITMOUSE and CALICO/BREECH-LOADING. This was much a better puzzle than usual – there were some excellent clues with very good surface readings, as well … Read more “ST 4388 (Sun 4 Jul) – Into the breech”

Solving time: about 5 mins Unfortunately I have only a few minutes to write this blog. This is a pity, because it was an excellent puzzle whose compiler I’m fairly confident I could identify. There … Read more “ST 4387 (Sun 27 Jun) – Bigmouth strikes again”

Solving time: 4:52 Firstly, many thanks to Peter for standing in for me last week when my computer temporarily died. I probably ought to replace it but decided to carry out one last resurrective repair, … Read more “ST 4386 (Sat 27 Jun) – Deutschland, wir kommen”

ST 4384 (Sun 6 Jun) – Worm hole Solving time: Not taken but I think it was about 5 mins for all but 3dn; one mistake (6dn). [Sorry this is late – my fault entirely, … Read more “Jun. 14th, 2010”

Solving time: 11 mins, one mistake (17dn) Not my finest hour: a hasty wrong answer at 1ac cost me a lot of time, but this all felt very sluggish. I ended up stuck on 17dn … Read more “ST 4383 (Sun 30 May) – Shank’s ‘mare”

Solving time: 7 mins A little harder to get into than many Sunday Times puzzles, partly because of the awkward grid with four corners connected only by four under-checked seven letter answers, but not too … Read more “ST 4382 (Sun 23 May) – Cabriole eh?”

Solving time: 6:30 This was a bit of a curate’s egg: some of the clues (e.g. 10ac, 28ac) were really good, most were fine but some were a mess. A couple of the solutions were … Read more “ST 4381 (Sun 16 May) – Foot loose”