Verlaine – Page 21 – Times for The Times

This Month’s Puzzles Sponsored By The 9D Group

Verlaine20th February 2020 at 4:53 PM10 September 2025Daily Cryptic

Well this was an awful lot of fun, and I really don’t mind the Times setters taking backhanders from a certain fixtures and fastenings company if the extra cash helps them produce puzzles of this … Read more “This Month’s Puzzles Sponsored By The 9D Group”

Times 27,587: Wide Sagacious Setter

Verlaine13th February 2020 at 5:59 PM10 September 2025Daily Cryptic

Now this is what I want to see on a Friday – a tough, clever puzzle which keeps many of its secrets past the 10 minute mark and indeed into the parsing. 12ac, 20ac, 22ac, … Read more “Times 27,587: Wide Sagacious Setter”

Times 27,581: Persuasion Equation

Verlaine6th February 2020 at 5:12 PM10 September 2025Daily Cryptic

A Friday puzzle with a pleasantly old-fashioned feel about it, including the most literary clue we’ve had in ages at 8dn and a number of places where it was necessary to get on the setter’s … Read more “Times 27,581: Persuasion Equation”

Monthly Club Special 20,232: Strip Jack Naked

Verlaine31st January 2020 at 5:09 PM10 September 2025Monthly Club Special

Those who don’t like these puzzles could do worse than to point at the run of down answers from, say, 10dn to 16dn: UREDINIOSPORE, ANOBIIDAE, DAIDZEIN? Give us a break! Random bits of science jargon … Read more “Monthly Club Special 20,232: Strip Jack Naked”

Times 27,575: Criss Cross’ll Make You Jump

Verlaine30th January 2020 at 4:51 PM10 September 2025Daily Cryptic

I very much enjoyed this but I expect we won’t be getting very deep into the comments before somebody complains vociferously about the cross-references at 14 and 18dn. I quite enjoy them I must say, … Read more “Times 27,575: Criss Cross’ll Make You Jump”

Times Cryptic Jumbo 1419: Godownly Knows

Verlaine25th January 2020 at 8:59 AM10 September 2025Jumbo Cryptic

Apologies for the delay on this one – I’d almost finished writing it up before I was haled off to a bar followed by a drunken party, and you wouldn’t have gotten any sense out … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1419: Godownly Knows”

Times 27,569: Hit Me With Your Tickling Stick

Verlaine23rd January 2020 at 4:54 PM10 September 2025Daily Cryptic

I found this a little bitty, with some quite easy numbers intermingled with strange foreign-isms, including 3dn which is one of the most wilfully obscure clues in recent memory. I did very much enjoy the … Read more “Times 27,569: Hit Me With Your Tickling Stick”

Times 27,563: The Coast of Euterpe-a

Verlaine16th January 2020 at 5:12 PM10 September 2025Daily Cryptic

A very musical crossword, with something for everybody’s ear, be it hip-hop, rapidly trilling 1/32-notes, the excitement of high C’s (possibly on the high seas) or just a 15dn (more terpsichorean than euterpean, if indeed … Read more “Times 27,563: The Coast of Euterpe-a”

Times 27,557: Sunshine SPQRman

Verlaine9th January 2020 at 4:44 PM10 September 2025Daily Cryptic

The disappointment of a pink square for me as I somehow managed to submit PENINENT at 16dn, after 9 minutes. Woe am I! I probably deserved to come a cropper as I wasn’t entirely on … Read more “Times 27,557: Sunshine SPQRman”

Times 27,551: Cor Blimey Luv A Duck

Verlaine2nd January 2020 at 4:56 PM10 September 2025Daily Cryptic

A very enjoyable, demotic-heavy puzzle that I didn’t find *too* hard thanks to a high biffability factor, but was by no means too mimsy for its Friday slot. My favourite clue was 23dn – where … Read more “Times 27,551: Cor Blimey Luv A Duck”