Author: vinyl1

I realized today that due to the press of business in one of my unpaid jobs, I had not finished this puzzle, so I had to sit down at 7 to polish it off and do the blog.   It was not very difficult, but some of the wordplay relies on quite obscure meanings of words you probably know in another context.

I was surprised to find this puzzle relatively approachable, as Robert Teuton has given me considerable trouble in the past.    But I was able to solve a fair number of clues without cracking Chambers.

I sometimes have trouble with Grimshaw puzzles, but this one was not particularly difficult.    There are definitely a few easy ones to get you started, and for once one across was a write-in.

This was not terribly difficult, as is often the case with Paul McKenna puzzles, and I didn’t even need the pun to help me solve.   The answer words are mostly well-known, although perhaps the meanings used here are a bit obscure.

I have to admit, this wasn’t easy.   I spent all week, as time was available, adding an answer or two.     Even when I finished, there were many questions, and I had to do a fair amount of research to write the blog.

I solved this one more by instinct than by analyzing the clues; experienced solvers just get a feel for what the answers are going to be.   A half-remembered fragment of a Greek or Germanic root is often enough to point the mind in the right direction.