Solving time: 4:28 A distinct improvement this week, with no mistakes that I noticed and some very good clues. This, plus some speculative schedule analysis, suggests that this may have been written by Tim Moorey. … Read more “ST 4349 (Sun 4 Oct) – Status report”
Saturday Times 24347 (3rd Oct)
Solving time 10:07. I found this pretty straightforward, although very good nevertheless. I know others struggled with it from comments on last week’s blog, so maybe I was just “in the zone” for a change. … Read more “Saturday Times 24347 (3rd Oct)”
Late night Sunday Post
Posts about last week’s Sunday Times and Mephisto puzzles will be up fairly late on Sunday after your reporters have returned from Cheltenham. There should also be at least some kind of report about the … Read more “Late night Sunday Post”
Times 24352 – Pieces of Eight
Is this one of the new grids? It doesn’t look familiar and I don’t remember one being so dominated by 8-letter answers , 8 of them across and another 8 down. And even the one … Read more “Times 24352 – Pieces of Eight”
Times Jumbo 836 (Sat 26 Sep 2009)
Excellent puzzle with pleasing variety and misdirection , solving time 63 mins. * = anagram < = reverse ACROSS1 HERO IC (ALL)Y6 SLOW HANDCLAP Cryptic definition, not heard this for a long, long, time, but … Read more “Times Jumbo 836 (Sat 26 Sep 2009)”
Times 24351 – something tasty, something naughty and one old king
Solving time : 19 minutes, found this a struggle, though the words are not that unusual, I had a tough time justifying a few and held back on pulling the trigger a few times. At … Read more “Times 24351 – something tasty, something naughty and one old king”
News snippets
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”
Times 24350
Solving time: 7:20 A fairly smooth run, with 6A and all three of its danglers solved on first sight. At least three stock wordplays here, and two of the three fooled me on first reading … Read more “Times 24350”
Times 24,349 Take a butchers me old china
Solving time : 25 minutes An entertaining puzzle with some good clues and interesting constructions. Also quite a range of knowledge required from the usual sources plus a little piece of Euclidean geometry. The non-cricketing … Read more “Times 24,349 Take a butchers me old china”
Times 24348 – Live from the Kemble, it’s the Sardonic Rumpus!
Solving time: 28 minutes Music: Wagner Orchestral Excerpts, Furtwangler This one should have been easy, but I had two wrong entries for a while and mis-wrote a correct entry, causing considerable difficulties in getting the … Read more “Times 24348 – Live from the Kemble, it’s the Sardonic Rumpus!”