I have had an annoying cold this week, and it seems to have impacted my solving. I felt very slow solving this one, even though my time was acceptable.
Author: vinyl1
Mephisto 3360 – Or maybe over easy?
This one was not too bad, although a bit harder than Paul’s usual. After much struggle, I kept saying I should have seen that one right away.
Times 29131 – The Pardoner’s Tale? No!
Another easy Monday; I went quite fast for a while, and then got just a little stuck at the end. I got the two long ones quickly, but the bottom row gave trouble, and I biffed a wrong answer for the final across clue before seeing what the answer must be.
Sunday Times 2602 From 1975
Owing to various unfortunate contingencies, the management here at TftT only just learned of the publication of these historical puzzles. They are being published to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the very first Sunday Times puzzle in 1925, and are accompanied by an article by Sunday Times puzzle editor (and founder of TftT) Peter Biddlecombe.
Mephisto 3358 – A strange monkish ritual?
This one was a little tough, even though I finished most of it on a Saturday night, and polished off most of the rest the next morning. Most, but not all.
Times 29119 – “The east is bright with morning light….
These Monday puzzles with lots of long words and long clues look intimidating at first, but with a few crossing letters they can be easily tamed.
Mephisto 3356 – A motley one?
I had a little trouble getting started, but I made tolerable progress until the nearly the end. However the last few were pretty tough, and requited an extensive dictionary trawl.
Times 29107 – Cruel setter? Not in my prime, for sure!
This puzzle had one brilliant clue after another. Unfortunately, that does not make for easy solving, and I was not really at my best. The mechanical methods you can use to solve an easy Quickie have to go out the window here.
Mephisto 3354 – A felony, I would say!
This one was pretty easy for a Mephisto, and I found little to hold me up. I actually knew most of the answers, unlike some Mephistos I have done.
Times 29095 – In my beginning is my end…..
This did not feel like an easy Monday at first, as I struggled to get started in the grid. After five minutes, I only had a few answers here and there. But once I had a sufficient quorum of crossing letters, I started to speed up dramatically.