Author: Verlaine

An efficient and professional puzzle that I was far too much on the wavelength for, resulting in a time of barely 6 and a half minutes (under pen and paper conditions) that left me feeling … Read more “Times 26,561: Ecclesiastes Cake”

I cannot tell you exactly how long I took over this puzzle as I did it while on the move around London, in a minorly Kafkaesque ordeal of trying to get a replacement for my … Read more “Times 26,555: Hey You, You In The Jesus Sandals”

A puzzle on the EVE of the Times Crossword Championship wherein a suspiciously vast majority of the enumerations are EVEN? A lesser blogger might not discern a Nina in that, but I’ve been at this … Read more “Times 26,549: Even Stevens”

After four really quite chewy puzzles in a row, I was living in superstitious dread of what Friday might bring, but I needn’t have worried: this was by some distance the most straightforward of the … Read more “Times 26,543: A Variety of Registers”

I’d better whirlwind this as due to the Crossword Club being inaccessible all morning, I did it on the old papyrus on a rainy station platform (in 9 minutes 40, my stopwatch claims) and I’ve … Read more “Times 26,537: Sauce For The Reverend’s Merry Goose”

Whoever it was asking whether longtime Times solvers can guess the identity of the setters – I’ve been under the weather this week and so asked our esteemed editor for a special advance copy, during … Read more “Times 26,531: Old McDonald Had A Grid, X-Q-K-J-Z”

A good crossword this week I thought, and a very fine exemplum of the “must be a pangram, ARGH IT’S NOT A PANGRAM” genre. Extremely economically clued, some definite bang for one’s buck in the … Read more “Times 26,525: Hymns and Hurts”

I won’t beat around the bush: I pretty much adored this crossword, to the point where my good mood wasn’t even dented by somehow typing the “R” and “Y” of 6dn in the wrong order, … Read more “Times 26,519: Walpole Position”