Author: ulaca

A bit of arcane vocab, a bit of sciency stuff, a few Latiny words – just the sort of fare you’d expect from the Thunderer. 

A much stiffer test than we are used to of a Monday. Quite a bit in the way of letter deletion and one cunning letter substitution clue.

As for the crossword, it was as prototypical for the second day of the week as you could possibly wish for. A bit of geography, a bit of classics, a bit of science and a smattering of literature

This will be my last blog for a few months, as my wife and I finally celebrate our retirements by embarking on our European tour taking in such gems as Serifos, La Roche-sur-Yon, Polperro…

No fewer than four double definitions (DDs) here and plenty of deletion too, certainly contributory factors to making this a rather easy offering. Only the papal mini-bull held me up to any extent, but even that was pretty tractable. As a bull – of whatever size – should be.

I managed to return to my island paradise a little earlier than expected, so this is going live somewhat earlier than I indicated in my holding post. This was a very stolid Monday offering with … Read more “Times 28273 – Lake it or lump it”

A pretty typical Monday offering, with not too much to scare the equines, or indeed ships of the desert. The winner of Most Bizarre Vocab Item was very generously clued and the winner of Old-fashioned … Read more “Times 28261 – I coulda been a contender”

Not much to say about this gentle introduction to the week. I got home in 16:47, so it can’t be that tough… ACROSS 1 Growth of old academic institution, beginning again (5)POLYP – POLY (old … Read more “Times 28249 – Nice and easy does it…one more time”

I had intimations of Sever-like grandeur for a while on this one before all hopes of a first-ever clean sweep disappeared like common sense fleeing the Hong Kong Government. Still, it was pretty easy, requiring … Read more “Times 28237 – Sin No More”

What a few days it has been! While things unravel in Eastern Europe, the New York Times attends to really serious matters by imposing sanctions on the popular word game WORDLE, which it recently bought … Read more “Times 28225 – Hateable speech”