This one was rather straightforward, and didn’t take long. The pun is worse than usual, and wasn’t of any help in solving.
Author: vinyl1
Times 29491 – Kicking myself
This should have been rather easy, but after racing through about two-thirds I became most thoroughly stuck, and could just not see some very simple clues.
Mephisto 3418 – If you are a Kiwi familiar with Scots….
…you might do well. But I found this one rather chewy. While there are a few easy clues to get you started, there is some difficult vocabulary and some tough parsing here.
Times 29479 – Our colleague down under, say
This was not too difficult, only I started a bit too confidently and had to think again. Experienced solvers should find this a typical Monday puzzle.
Mephisto 3416 – Close encounters of the feline kind
This puzzle was surprisingly mild for a John Grimshaw, and was able to answer a number of the clues without consulting my Chambers.
Times Cryptic 29467 – Done and dusted
I’m in a bit of rush tonight, so I wanted a quick solve. That didn’t quite work out, as I solved rapidly for a while and then got thoroughly stuck.
Mephisto 3414 – Nous for youse
As often happens, a Paul McKenna puzzle which is not particularly difficult but provided several hours of pleasure. A relatively high percentage of the answer words are not obscure, which helps the solver get enough crossing letters to finish off the more difficult clues.
Times Cryptic 29455 – No pictures on scorecards!
Well, I did solve the puzzle, my solution is all correct, and I did have a pretty good time. The only problem is I didn’t understand several of the clues, and simply put in the most likely answer.
Mephisto 3412 – The Devil You Know
Robert Teuton has provided us with a middle level puzzle with a few clues requiring a bit of special knowledge, but nothing that is too hard to figure out.
From the Editor, Jason Crampton
Jason has been kind enough to post a reply to the complaints about extremely difficult puzzles on Friday.