Author: william_j_s

It will be interesting to hear if this really is chewy in parts, or if I’m just suffering from the heat…

Finished in a pretty average time for me, only held up by 1ac at the beginning and 20ac at the end.

Straightforward, but not boringly so.

A little tricky, possibly because I did not solve 1ac on first glance, I don’t know Kent geography well enough, and had never heard of the tribe.

Only the first if these was unknown to me, and was consequently my LOI. Otherwise another solid and gettable puzzle from Tracy.

I had to consult the dictionary over 9ac before seeing the answer to 2dn, so DNF after many long minutes staring at those last two clues. Apart from that, and despite some other unknowns, a very enjoyable test.

Lured into a false sense of security by Mara today. The NW corner went in smoothly and then I had to pick them off all over the place. Good fun though. Definitions underlined. Across 1 … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 2117 by Mara”

Quite tricky today. Although I managed to finish just inside my target time, Tracy has a way of making you second guess how the clue works while solving it. I did not know 3dn, 7dn, … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 2107 by Tracy”

After a little difficulty breaking through to the bottom half (and particularly the SW), this was polished off in less than target time. I had to take a post-solve look at 7dn to parse it, … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 2097 by Tracy”

Not as rare as hen’s teeth, these days, Alconiere strikes again. Thanks to jackkt for the heads-up regarding this setter’s habit of including a Nina – I wouldn’t have spotted it (have I though?) without … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 2087 by Alconiere”