I polished this off relatively quickly (video solve here, with bonus Guardian Enigmatist at the end) but it certainly had its tricky bits! The somewhat fusty feel to the vocabulary, two cricket clues back-to-back, and … Read more “Times 28,349: My Mate Marmion”
Author: Verlaine
Times Cryptic Jumbo 1564: Il Blogger e Mobile
No complaints from me about this excellent Jumbo, all of its clues being marvellously put together and quite funny to boot. Good job to the setter. My favourite things this week were: the “quartet each … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1564: Il Blogger e Mobile”
Times 28,343: Wop bop a loo bop a lop bom bom
A somewhat frustrating puzzle for me – I was happily streaming my solve, not realising that the app had conked out 3 minutes in, so I was just speaking to no avail. Fortunately perhaps this … Read more “Times 28,343: Wop bop a loo bop a lop bom bom”
Times 28,337: How Now Brown CH4
I thought this was just great and perfectly matched to its day of the week. Loads of brilliantly deceptive definition parts merging seamlessly into smooth surfaces. The best setters make it look easy but it … Read more “Times 28,337: How Now Brown CH4”
Monthly Club Special 20,261: Atokic Bomb
Some gobsmackingly good clues in here – I would point you towards 8ac, 11ac, 18ac and 22ac as examples that just feel “next level”. The MCS is the laboratory in which the innovations of the … Read more “Monthly Club Special 20,261: Atokic Bomb”
Times 28,331: The Mombles of Mimbledon Common Are We
Well this was good wasn’t it! Friday hard and a real masterclass in constructing seamless surfaces out of cryptic parts. Some very entertaining moments: I always like the incongruity of an -EST clue like 2dn, … Read more “Times 28,331: The Mombles of Mimbledon Common Are We”
Times 28,325: A Blog Told By An Idiot, Full Of Sound And Fury, Signifying Nothing
Not tremendously difficult wordplay-wise, but with a lot of interesting GK in it: with Ray Charles, Cole Porter, Frank Sinatra, Jason Robard and A.J. Cronin all making an appearance, we’d have quite an interesting dinner … Read more “Times 28,325: A Blog Told By An Idiot, Full Of Sound And Fury, Signifying Nothing”
Times Cryptic Jumbo 1559: Setting The Fox Among The Layers
Live solve video available here. This was on the breezy end but there were a few standout clues – I liked “queen perhaps” at 24ac and “high earning African” next door to it was pretty … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1559: Setting The Fox Among The Layers”
Times 28,319: How Much Is That Blogger In The Window?
Moderately straightforward for a Friday, but with some excellent surfaces. 10ac took me way too long at the end, as I was looking for a word for drab-coloured, not for a doxy or floozy. My … Read more “Times 28,319: How Much Is That Blogger In The Window?”
Times 28,313: Loud Quiet Loud
A quick jaunt by Friday standards, with any difficulty stemming from slightly fusty vocabulary (expatiate, asseverate, fortepiano, etc); and American solvers may have hit a few speedbumps with some very British acronyms to puzzle out. … Read more “Times 28,313: Loud Quiet Loud”