This one took me much longer than the other puzzles this week, but not because it was exceptionally difficult I don’t think, more that I ground to a halt on a couple of corner clues, … Read more “Times 27,629: Please Look After This Blog”
Author: Verlaine
Monthly Club Special 20,234: A Daimen-Icker In A Thrave
What, April already? I’d totally forgotten to do this until just now but it was worth the wait, with some LOLsome words from the very darkest corners of the dictionary, and some truly splendiferous cluing, … Read more “Monthly Club Special 20,234: A Daimen-Icker In A Thrave”
Times Cryptic Jumbo 1429: Creepy Crawly Cluey
On the easier side I thought, but not egregiously so. My favourites this time were 26ac for the oldie-but-goodie “Harry” as anagrind; 36dn for being ridiculously hard to parse yet satisfying when I finally did; … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1429: Creepy Crawly Cluey”
Times 27,623: With A Shrug
This didn’t take an awfully long time, and what it did take was mostly taken up in MERs over just what the last 4 words of 11ac were doing, and whether TERN (when not a … Read more “Times 27,623: With A Shrug”
Times 27,617: Fridays, How We’ve Missed You
You know it’s a Friday, or it bally well should be, when Latinate terms like 11, 20 and 22ac are liberally interspersed with YEAH and SOZ and ALLEY-OOP; and Baruch, Boris and César happily rub … Read more “Times 27,617: Fridays, How We’ve Missed You”
Times 27,611: Roll Over Rawlplugs, We’ve Got Wealthier Sponsors Now
Much of the wordplay in this was just brilliant, I thought, and every surface reading a belter. MER at product placements for both Apple and Nintendo but my house is full of their tech so … Read more “Times 27,611: Roll Over Rawlplugs, We’ve Got Wealthier Sponsors Now”
Times 27,605: A Surfeit of Typos
9.5 minute, but with a dumb typo of FORTNIGHTIY at 8d – I was so concerned about spelling TIDDLYWINKS right, and not as TIDDLIWINKS as I somehow managed on its last outing, that I failed … Read more “Times 27,605: A Surfeit of Typos”
Monthly Club Special 20,233: By The Wordpower of Greyskull!
The usual abundance of cluing splendour, but to be honest this puzzle is all about the amazing Homeric-onomatopoeic word for the noise of the sea at 15ac – clue of the (~8th) century (BCE), my … Read more “Monthly Club Special 20,233: By The Wordpower of Greyskull!”
Times 27,599: Doctor Doctor
Yes, of course I’m upset that I didn’t get to blog yesterday’s brawny colossus, but this was a perfectly good middleweight puzzle, with a few chuckles to be had: I especially liked 21ac’s “fighter in … Read more “Times 27,599: Doctor Doctor”
Times Cryptic Jumbo 1424: If A Good Walk’s Worth Spoiling, It’s Worth Spoiling Twice
A mostly straightforward, economically clued jumbo but none the worse for it. Thanks setter! I particularly liked 24ac, 32ac, 52ac and the very cute 2dn. Any favourites from the floor? ACROSS 1 Supporters, British, stopping … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1424: If A Good Walk’s Worth Spoiling, It’s Worth Spoiling Twice”