Author: vinyl1

Time: 52 minutesMusic: Mingus Ah Um I suspect this puzzle was a bit difficult.  I haven’t checked the NITCH yet, but the beautifully smooth clues and the well-hidden literals made it difficult to get a … Read more “Times 27319 – Don’t Bogart that clue, my friend….”

Music: Bizet, Carmen Suites, Markovich/LamoureuxTime: 28 minutes I had a hard time getting started, finding few short, easy clues, but once I got going I biffed nearly all the longer answers.  Only if I got … Read more “Times 27307 – “…but you’re already caught!””

Time: 39 minutesMusic: Shostakovich, Symphony 14, Ormandy/Philadelphia I found this a refreshing puzzle, with unusual clues and novel cryptic technique.   At first it seemed almost unapproachable, but I found a few Quickie-style clues scattered around … Read more “Times 27295 – The metronome mazurka!”

Time: 27 minutesMusic: Bach, Goldberg Variations, Glenn Gould I didn’t think this puzzle was going to be difficult at first, as I filled in the whole left side starting from 1 across.   However, things got … Read more “Times 27283 – Live from Avignon!”

Time: 40 minutesMusic: Carmen Highlights I have to admit this was a bit of a biff-fest, as I quickly discovered that this setter tended to use simple and obvious literals, often a single word.  Many … Read more “Times 27271 – Call me Deacon Blues”

Time: 15 minutesMusic: Rachmaninoff, Symphonic Dances, Johanos/Dallas Symphony Well, we are back to another easy Monday, and I’m sure we’ll see some fast times.   I started writing in a number of the answers before I … Read more “Times 27259 – What you do in winter!”

Time: 27 minutesMusic: The Royal Ballet, Gala Performances, Ansermet I don’t like to be too critical, but this was a rather unsatisfactory puzzle.   Some of the clues were a bit on the forced side, and … Read more “Times 27247 – “…and you’ve been caught!””

Time: 40 minutesMusic: Coltrane, Both Directions at Once I thought this was a bit on the tricky side for a Monday, particular in its use of highly secondary meanings of words.   There was a lot … Read more “Times 27235 – At last, a blog we can post!”

Time: 42 minutesMusic: Mahler, Symphony 9, Levine/Philadelphia Orchestra While I did manage to solve this puzzle in a reasonable time, I can’t say it was easy.   There are a few obscurities in literals, the cryptics, … Read more “Times 27223 – A mug’s game?”