With the R&A getting a mention, along with its home of St Andrews on the slimmest of justifications, I think our setter may have been wishing he was 11ac-ing on the second half of 10ac … Read more “Times 27,665: Craving “A Good Walk Spoiled””
Author: Verlaine
Times 27,659: 75 Years Of Unconditional Surrender (To Crosswords)
Acceptable Friday fare, not too “abstruse” but not without some little deviosities either. For my part I got well bogged down in the NE corner by having essayed PLAY FIGHT as some kind of weak … Read more “Times 27,659: 75 Years Of Unconditional Surrender (To Crosswords)”
Times Cryptic Jumbo 1434: Operation Undersolved
I was happy to have this done inside of 20 minutes – and then submitted to see a dreaded pink square, as I’d submitted with SPILLATE for SPILLAGE for no apparent reason, maybe having taken … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1434: Operation Undersolved”
Monthly Club Special 20,235: A Stroll In The Woods
I thought this puzzle made for a strong counterargument against those who think that the MCS is an unnecessary exercise in wilful difficulty and obscurity. Yes, there was a handful of Scots dialect, and a … Read more “Monthly Club Special 20,235: A Stroll In The Woods”
Times 27,653: Cabbages And Kings
Another puzzle a little too close to “moderate” rather than “eye-watering” difficulty for my Fridayfied tastes, though I’ll be the first to admit there was some clever and elegant stuff in here. The two definition … Read more “Times 27,653: Cabbages And Kings”
Times 27,647: Poe Pourri
Not very Fridayish this one, with a bit of a pared-down Cryptic Jumbo feel to it, but I did appreciate it a bit more after writing up the parsings – there are some mischievous definition … Read more “Times 27,647: Poe Pourri”
O Tempora! CCXXXVIII by Auctor
I didn’t find this as 1ac as Basil’s puzzle last week, ending up a bit baffled by 5ac, 12ac and a couple of spellings/word endings. But it was all in Latin and therefore good! ACROSS1 … Read more “O Tempora! CCXXXVIII by Auctor”
Times 27,641: Se No Evil
I breezed through this one in 5 and a half minutes – there are some very elegant clues, but there’s nothing here I wouldn’t class as rather straightforward. 23ac wins a prize for being topical … Read more “Times 27,641: Se No Evil”
O Tempora! CCXXXVI by Basil
By popular demand (of one person) – a popup bonus blog of this weekend’s Latin puzzle. I found this comparatively easy but was finally defeated by having to check 20ac, so a technical DNF (Decus … Read more “O Tempora! CCXXXVI by Basil”
Times 27,635: Be Careful What You Wish For
Well, fair do’s, I can’t really claim this was anything other than a Friday puzzle, despite the attempted misdirection in 1ac. TRANCHET crossing with CASSIMERE crossing with TWITE though? These are the kind of shenanigans … Read more “Times 27,635: Be Careful What You Wish For”