Author: ulaca

I thought this was a very pleasant little number, which I completed in 24 minutes with the unseen but immanent assistance of Hilarius of Poitiers, as I semi-biffed my last one, the plant at 9 … Read more “Times 26653 – Braying Blumenthals”

A gentle start to the week, albeit with a bit of a teaser at 14 across, a potential incubus to those of our community who suffer from vocalophobia (fear of vowels). The company I used … Read more “Times 26641 – A Sting in the Tell”

I snuck under the half hour on this puzzle with a scintilla of a Shakespearean theme, which is always pleasing for a non-Olympian type such as I. The right-hand side yielded its secrets first, including … Read more “Times 26,629 – Where there’s a Will there’s a neigh?”

I ended the old year as I mean to carry on in the new one, cheating like a proverbial on this to finish in a half decent time. It seems like my new year’s resolution … Read more “Times 26605 – Like a Lambda to the Slaughter”

A dodgy dog, a strange fish, a couple of sea-captains and one of the most epochal sea-battles of all time. What more can a solver ask for on the penultimate Monday before Christmas? ACROSS 1. … Read more “Times 26593 – Not one for the Morninke?”

Finally, after many a near thing and one unfortunate crash-landing, the time machine is safely in my possession. And what a work of art it is! I hope you will indulge me as I describe … Read more “Times 26569 – Boldly going…”

Due to an unfortunate concurrence of events – not least my PC being on the blink and the time machine needing further time at the service centre to remove all traces of the use it … Read more “Times 26,551 – Sweets for my sweet, what the heck for my honey”

I thought this was a little on the trickier side for a Monday. Well, a lot trickier if you include 10a, where I managed to fall into the heffalump trap like Pooh and his cerebrally … Read more “Times 26533 – Pay More Heed”

A quick look at the Crossword site scorecard shows a lot of singletons, error wise, which I am assuming (though very probably wrongly) to owe more to the Ashford clue than to the pianist clue. … Read more “Times 26515 – Just chilling out in the hood with the West Staines massiv”

I thought this was a slightly trickier than usual Monday offering, but that may have been because of my masochistic streak, which saw me up till all hours watching England’s hapless football team play like … Read more “Times 26509 – Beware of the Biff!”