Author: ulaca

A slight delay in posting this which I blame on the goings-on at Valhalla. Some nice touches in this puzzle, but overall a typical Monday offering to ease us into the week. In this respect, … Read more “Times 25862 – Nothing much in the corridor of uncertainty”

31 minutes for a very nice Monday offering with just enough to keep the seasoned solver honest. When was the last time a puzzle had five hyphenated double-word clues, all in the acrosses? Oh, and … Read more “Times 25850 – Biological charades”

A 30-minute solve to start the week, with just enough obscure vocab and ancient references to give the grey cells a good workout. Not a scientist in sight, but a golfing reference to welcome our … Read more “Times 25844 – ‘O, had I but followed the arts!’”

This was perhaps the easiest daily crossword I have ever done, and certainly the easiest since I started blogging nearly two years ago. I expect a lot of fast times, several PBs and not a … Read more “Times 25832 – Expect Records to Tumble”

32 minutes for this most enjoyable outing, which takes us to the South China Sea and back again with stop-offs in Nottinghamshire, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Greece and North America. We even have a … Read more “Times 25814 – Young Bears Beware!”

Had to resort to the dreaded aids to finish this one off – I’m putting it down to the jet-lag as it’s not a difficult puzzle. That said, the north-east (taken to include 17ac) has … Read more “Times 25802– The Law and the Prophets”

This was a chewy little number for a Monday, with generally nice clueing mixed with some slightly odd literals and tricky but gettable vocab. 74 minutes for me. Next week, since Vinyl and I are … Read more “Times 25790 – On your bike, son!”

Not too much to tax the seasoned solver here, but a smattering of Classics and a knotty plant to trip perchance the unwary, and an unusual grid to please the gridologists. A little cricket and … Read more “Times 25778 – Slap and Tickle”