Author: ulaca

Pretty much where I left off in 2019, puzzle difficulty wise, with this pleasant offering doing nothing to disturb any swallow-like creatures who might be constructing their nests in soft cliff material and digging in … Read more “Times 27553 – It’s That Bird Again!”

I was bang on the wavelength for this one, romping home in 11 and a half minutes. I never thought one of CS Lewis’s favourite expressions would become a chestnut, but MARES NEST is in … Read more “Times 27541 – Baldrick meets Benny Hill”

For those looking for a gentle reintroduction to the art of solving after losing a brain cell or two at Times HQ or in the George, this was a nigh-on perfect puzzle. One or two … Read more “Times 27529 – Mother and Father of Mondays”

Quite a few double definitions (DDs) and cryptic definitions (CDs) in this more difficult than usual (SNITCH allowing) Monday offering from a setter who was either in his/her most mischievous mode or had perhaps been … Read more “Times 27517 – Absolutely spliffing!”

For those who were worried that Monday has become the new Friday, this was very much a throwback to the old days (like a fortnight or so ago). With all its recent bells and whistles … Read more “Times 27505 – Schindler’s Missed?”

A bit short of time again this week – and I will be in meetings most of the day – so something of a skeletal blog. If you require extra elucidation please ask the extremely … Read more “Times 27493 – Epic Fail”

Just the bare bones of a blog today, as I am suffering from a lurgy. This one took me around 40 minutes and has some very nice stuff. If you have queries, please ask, and … Read more “Times 27481 – Under the wether”

With its weird exercise routine (‘a household phrase’ in the 1920s, as Pinter puts it) and its Irish lake isle, this is by no mean your average Monday offering, taking me in excess of 40 … Read more “Times 27469 – Not stuff you’d find Marvin, Borgnine and Bronson countenancing, methinks”

I don’t know about you, but I am especially inclined to take umbrage against people who broadly belong to what I conceive of as my side. Being somewhat right of centre (except in an online … Read more “Times 27457 – As Woke as Piers Morgan?”

Tricky for a Monday this. I staggered along until I was done by 25a, where I made the schoolboy mistake of forgetting that a certain Kipling poem is the cruciverbal equivalent of a Haggard novel. … Read more “Times 27445 – If the poet doesn’t get you, the rod will”