Time: 15 minutesMusic: Elvis Costello, Spike Looks like easy Monday is back. I flew through this one, biffing some of the longer answers which had obvious literals. Getting these really opens up the grid, and … Read more “Times 27811 – Welcome to the working week!”
Author: vinyl1
Mephisto 3138 – What the bright dawn scatters
Here we have another fine Mephisto from Paul McKenna, with the usual groaner across the top line. This is the first time I ever used one of these atrocious puns to come up with an … Read more “Mephisto 3138 – What the bright dawn scatters”
Times 27799 – Lenehan is back!
Time: 27 minutesMusic: Ravel, Daphnis and Chloe, Munch/BPO Another easy Monday? Well, easy if you follow the cryptics. We’re not allowed to use the answers in the blog titles (you bloggers do remember this rule, … Read more “Times 27799 – Lenehan is back!”
Mephisto 3136 – Old quarterback’s quandary?
This Mephisto was pretty easy for a Don Manley, with a good number of the clues having a somewhat obvious answer. I think I did about two-thirds of it without even opening Chambers. The vocabulary … Read more “Mephisto 3136 – Old quarterback’s quandary?”
Times 27787 – Put that in your lapel!
Time: 60 minutes!Music: Schubert, Piano Sonatas, Wilhelm Kempf Yeah, my time was 60 minutes, but it was 25 minutes on all but one clue. Since I had never heard of the fastener, and there a … Read more “Times 27787 – Put that in your lapel!”
Mephisto 3134 – Citizen Furball
Generally speaking, this was not that difficult a Mephisto. Most of the answers are not obscure, allowing a certain amount of biffing once you get a few crossing letters. But there is a bit of … Read more “Mephisto 3134 – Citizen Furball”
Times 27775 – Vanilla city!
Time: 27 miinutesMusic: Wagner, Tristan and Isolde Prelude, Klemperer This was pretty much a typical Monday puzzle, well-clued but rather straightforward. I would have been much faster, but I just could not come up with … Read more “Times 27775 – Vanilla city!”
Mephisto 3132 – The crystal ball is dark
I thought parts of this were pretty chewy, with some rather fancy cryptics. One or two still elude me, but I’m sure my fellow Mephisto solvers will have the explanation. It is very helpful it … Read more “Mephisto 3132 – The crystal ball is dark”
Times 27763 – In the loop
Time: 19 minutesMusic: Bob Marley, Babylon By Bus Another easy Monday, despite the grid having so many long answers – I was definitely on the wavelength, The only one I wasn’t sure of was the … Read more “Times 27763 – In the loop”
Mephisto 3130 – India, not Africa!
When I generated the blog skeleton and pasted it into Live Journal, I had a moment of panic – I don’t remember any of these answers! Is this the right puzzle? Yes, it is, and … Read more “Mephisto 3130 – India, not Africa!”