Category: Announcement

Across 1 BOW,WOW 4 IS,OTHER,M 10 BALL,A,DEER 11 L,ASE,R – ASE=sea*, and from side to side indicates L and R, although I’m not sure that there is a containment indicator. With checking letters the answer … Read more “2009 Finals – Second Preliminary Session – Puzzle 3”

I solved this one and Puzzle 3 together – moving back and forth when I felt bogged down. I felt this was marginally harder. Across 1 PA(DLO)CK – DLO = OLD (over the hill) reversed … Read more “2009 Finals – Second Preliminary Session – Puzzle 2”

Well, here goes for my first crossword blogging entry – putting my head above the parapet! Grateful for any comments, and thanks for reading! I was not aware until I read Peter’s blog entries how … Read more “2009 Finals – Second Preliminary Session – Puzzle 1”

The middle of the three for difficulty – my (estimated) time was 14 minutes. The third cracking puzzle of three – I often manage to enjoy at least some of the clues while trying to … Read more “Times Crossword Championship 2009 – Grand Final Puzzle No. 3”

The hardest of the three – my (estimated) time was 18 minutes in two roughly equal bursts – halfway through, I gave up to try puzzle 3 instead. I can’t remember much about which answers … Read more “Times Crossword Championship 2009 – Grand Final Puzzle No. 2”

The easiest of the three, I think – which isn’t saying much. My (estimated) time was 11 minutes. Unlike the other two grand finals puzzles I have no idea who wrote this but it’s just … Read more “Times Crossword Championship 2009 – Grand Final Puzzle No. 1”

A short report which I’ll expand later today or possibly tomorrow. * indicates a former champion. Mark Goodliffe* confirmed his position as the leading current solver by winning today’s final by a distance from a … Read more “Times Championship 2009 – Magoo joins the greats”

We’ll start with the good news. Under his real name, kororareka (Russel John) won the latest Times Crossword Club monthly clue-writing competition. Angus Walker (presumably the one who comments here) was third. Congratulations to both. … Read more “News snippets”

I’ve had a message from Anax with a PDF showing four seven new Times grids which are now available to the setters – so you’ll probably see these grids used in a few months. I’ll … Read more “New grids”

A couple of questions e-mailed to me by mctext, who can’t yet post here (I suspect he’ll be on the staff one day). If you want to reply personally, I suggest using the private message … Read more “On behalf of mctext ….”