Author: Verlaine

One of the benefits of having to write out the workings of a puzzle in full every week is getting a real sense of its construction, I adjudge this to be a very elegantly clued … Read more “Times 26,285 A Perfect Circle”

Enjoyed this puzzle immensely – there was an excellent rogue’s gallery of characters at 11ac, 19ac, 22ac, 2dn and 18dn, giving a real sense of personality which is not always evident in a Times grid … Read more “Times 26,279: Young Men In Spats”

I have to head for work directly from the school run tomorrow, to accommodate a hospital appointment of the wife’s, so you get this blog remarkably early, you lucky lucky people. I very much enjoyed … Read more “Times 26,273: Good Night and Good Riddance”

A short, sweet and late blog from me again this week, as I managed to poison myself last night (dodgy 22dn may have been involved) so I’ve spent much of the morning tossing my 3dns, … Read more “Times 26,267: {N}emesis”

I see everyone’s already going strong in the comments, and you’ve been waiting long enough, so no preamble, I’ll just postamble below! Thanks setter for an enjoyable Friday puzzle. Across 1 PICK OFF – identify … Read more “Times 26,261: Revenge of the Shrinking Violet”

Another Friday puzzle that seemed less hard than the Thursday puzzle preceding it, though all things are relative and there were certainly a few clues that I could imagine people having a hard time with … Read more “Times 26,255: The Revenge of Michael Fish”

Very quickly this morning as I’ve got to catch a lift up to Derbyshire where I’m partaking in a weekend of murder mystery play readthroughs including the title role in Oedipus Rex, you know, because … Read more “Times 26,249: A Nod’s As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse”

Once again a uniformly excellent Friday puzzle that I did on paper, possibly depriving the Crossword Club of witnessing my off-by-one downfall for the second time in a row. I finished the whole grid apart … Read more “Times 26,243: The Name’s Bond… Ybounden In A Bond”

An excellently chewy puzzle for a Friday, I thought, that I did not manage to solve inside the quarter hour mark, alas. 9A was my FOI, closely followed by 10A, 12A (South London dweller’s advantage), … Read more “Times 26,237: Come, Bombs, And Fall On Slough”

A post-midnight solve for me again as I did this one after coming home from an evening of very clubbable bangers at the Brixton Academy courtesy of Jamie xx – or Already That Is Twenty, … Read more “Times 26,231: Moriturus Te Bloggo”