A quick solve for me, nothing too hard to write up the parsings for here. I was grudgingly going to admit that the sports-related clues (eg 40ac) were among the most memorable of the across … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1499: The Man With The Midas Touch, A Spider’s Touch”
Author: Verlaine
Times 27,995: John Arrests: 85% Less Funny In San Marino
Fairly tractable for a Friday, even though I started poorly by trying to bung in ELECTRONIC at 8ac. Lots of answers that were exactly what you’d expect them to be, having located the definition part; … Read more “Times 27,995: John Arrests: 85% Less Funny In San Marino”
Monthly Club Special 20,248: Cute Rockney, All British
Another quality MCS with some finely-turned cluing, not a word wasted anywhere. I loved the guest appearances by L. Savage and C. Hodges, the fact that there were a few “normal-strength” clues in here to … Read more “Monthly Club Special 20,248: Cute Rockney, All British”
Times 27,989: There’s Only One Way To Solve, And That’s Your Own, Your Own, Your Own
Tersely clued, but with a good sense of humour throughout. I liked 15ac a lot: a short and unusual word makes for a good “hidden”, and groaned appropriately when I worked out the logic behind … Read more “Times 27,989: There’s Only One Way To Solve, And That’s Your Own, Your Own, Your Own”
Times 27,983: Please Do Not Use Thermometers Imprectically
I can’t really find much to criticise about a crossword that manages to set the Genius of the Carpathians side by side with the Hero of Pontypandy: some of the clues took a long time … Read more “Times 27,983: Please Do Not Use Thermometers Imprectically”
Times 27,977: Come Friday Bombs
As will all multi-double-def-including puzzles, this felt like it might end up being very wavelengthy. I did it relatively speedy, especially as I seem to be having an off-my-game week, but this was helped by … Read more “Times 27,977: Come Friday Bombs”
Cryptic Jumbo 1494: Solved Only Using Techniques I Could Will Should Become Universal Cryptic Law
All done in under the quarter hour, but enjoyable throughout, especially the sciency clues which tickled my GK centres most pleasurably, my favourite being the God particle at 32ac. Late to fall, and excellent penny-drop-moments, … Read more “Cryptic Jumbo 1494: Solved Only Using Techniques I Could Will Should Become Universal Cryptic Law”
Times 27,971: Primate, Marmite
This felt strangely easy considering the trickiness of the vocabulary – 10ac and LOI 15dn are both spelled completely differently to how they are in my head (with the result that 15dn was my LOI, … Read more “Times 27,971: Primate, Marmite”
Monthly Club Special 20,247: Can We Solve It?
An enjoyable tour of the less well-trodden reaches of the dictionary, with some really brilliant clues: My favourite moments being “presumably gross” to clue UNNET, and my Clue of the Month 27 ac. That Laotian … Read more “Monthly Club Special 20,247: Can We Solve It?”
Times 27,965: Hufflepuff Shufflestuff
Not too arduous (7 minutes here) but certainly adequate to Friday purposes. I liked “is tasted again” as the hard-to-see definition for 5ac, the &lit, the complex subtractive anagram at 27ac and the misleading capitalisation … Read more “Times 27,965: Hufflepuff Shufflestuff”