Author: ulaca

Not a personal best, but my 26’59” sees me on the first page of the leaderboard, ahead of certain luminaries, who shall remain nameless. (Hint: They have been known to finish faster than Jason.) It … Read more “Times 26497 – We’re Not All Rob Roys”

A weekend for the sports fan, with Wellington (NZ), Sri Lanka and England all notching significant wins, with Manchester United chipping in with an insignificant one of their own. As for the proposal to switch … Read more “Times 26485 – Playing for one’s average”

This was a pretty typical Monday offering, unless, like me, you mucked 1 down up, and then revised it in part so that it was still wrong in part. Heavens knows how much that took … Read more “Times 26473 – Sting in the head”

What a weekend for English sport! Lewis Hamilton wins at Silverstone, Froome leads the Tour, Andy Murray reigns at Wimbledon and a Manchester United inspired Portugal beat France at the Euros. Even I got in … Read more “Times 26461 – Britannia Rules the Waves!”

It may be the Fourth of July, but I detected a distinctly Australian flavour to this puzzle, what with 13 down, 16 across and 28 across. Be all that as it may, I failed miserably … Read more “Times 26455 – Off with the hillbillies!”

A very pleasant start to the week, with nothing to scare the thoroughbreds but enough to keep the palfreys on their toes. Mine trotted home in 37 minutes. I particularly liked the muddled situation at … Read more “Times 26437 – Standing on this pleasant lea”

A puzzle worthy of the Spring Bank Holiday, with lots of nice stuff and enough trickery to keep me occupied for 51 minutes, which included a pit-stop which was only marginally longer than Daniel Ricciardo’s. … Read more “Times 26425 – What is all this juice and all this joy?”

What an enjoyable puzzle with which to start the working week! Not particularly difficult, but a satisfying challenge, in the main, with a pleasing mix of clue types and subject matter. It will be interesting … Read more “Times 26413 – A Nice Mosaic”

This will be as minimal as a Derek Jarman film, I’m afraid, as it’s Labour Day here and we are going out for yum cha. 43 minutes, good enough for last place on the leaderboard … Read more “TImes 26,401”

I made a bit of a meal of what was – to be fair – a meatier Monday offering than usual, with my less than stellar scientific knowledge holding me up on 3 across and … Read more “Times 26389 – Suffering from cramp?”