Author: vinyl1

Solving time: 54 minutes Music: Mahler, Symphony #5, Levine/Philadelphia Orchstra I thought this might be a rather quick solve when I put in nearly half the answers in 10 minutes, but then I slowed down … Read more “Times 25078 – Was I supposed to be watching something on TV?”

Solving time: Not recorded Music: Golf on TV, then Liszt Sonata in B Minor, Ronald Smith I tried to solve this casually while watching golf on TV – big mistake. You can do easy puzzles … Read more “Times 25066 – Let’s have some oysters!”

Solving time: 40 minutes Music: None, golf is back on TV If I wasn’t today’s blogger, I would have probably have just watched the golf and done the puzzle tomorrow. As it was, I entered … Read more “Times 25054 – Vodka!”

Solving time: 44 minutes Music: Holst, The Planets, Mehta/LAPO This one was unusually tough for a Monday, even though there were quite a few easy clues that could be written in nearly at sight. However, … Read more “Times 25036 – No, quite enough, thank you”

Solving time: 22 minutes Music: Dvorak, New World Symphony, Horenstein/RPO A rather simple puzzle that should result in some fast times among our crew. There is virtually no attempt to conceal the literals, making it … Read more “Times 25030 – Up in Xanadu, diamonds fell like rain…..”

Solving time:42 minutes Music: Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto, Ferras/Karajan/BPO A rather strange challenge. For the first twenty minutes I had nearly nothing, and was thinking what had I got myself into, an American pretending that I … Read more “Times 25018 – Pleased to meet you, Mr Rubble……BAM!”

Solving time:38 minutes Music: Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherezade, Kondrashin/Concertgebouw This puzzle might have been quite easy for some, but for me it involved deducing a complicated compound word I had never heard of before from the cryptic. … Read more “Times 25006 – Namby-pamby? Lickity-split!”

Solving time:35 minutes Music: Mahler, Symphony #2, Klemperer, Philharmonia I was quite tired, and wanted to solve and blog this one quickly, but when I went to the Crossword Club I found only yesterday’s. Then … Read more “Times 24994 – Where the heck is the puzzle?”

Solving time: 29 minutes Music: Sibelius, Symphony #2, Schippers/NYP Another Monday walk in the park for the experienced solvers, but a good chance for beginners to finish one. Neither the cluing nor the vocabulary is … Read more “Times 24982 – The Fate of….er, a football team?”

Solving time: 29 minutes Music: Stravinsky, Petrushka, Monteux/BSO This seemed like it would be quite easy, but an early wrong answer ended up causing considerable difficulty. Furthermore, I did not fully understand the substitute that … Read more “Times 24970 – The blogger’s albatross”