A short while ago we had a brief discussion about whether Mephisto is being dumbed down. If we had seen this puzzle at that time we might have reached a different conclusion. This is indeed … Read more “Mephisto 2560 Mike Laws”
Saturday Times 24335 (19 Sep)
Solving time 14:29. Some interesting vocab and general knowledge required in this one, one of those where what you either know or you don’t makes it easier or harder (e.g. 9A, 12A, 14D, 17D, 19A, … Read more “Saturday Times 24335 (19 Sep)”
24340 – Murder!
I made rather heavy weather of this one and must have spent over an hour on it. I printed it just past midnight in case the site was down again for maintenance and as it … Read more “24340 – Murder!”
Jumbo 834 – 12th September 2009
A pleasing workout at 31:50, which is about average for me. Quite rarely for me, I have nothing to moan about – all the clues work well and the few “obscure” words have reasonable wordplay.Kudos … Read more “Jumbo 834 – 12th September 2009”
Times 24399 – so how’s your art, literature and geography?
Solving time : 14 minutes, but two phone call interruptions – I expect this will be a fast crossword for some. I found myself up against it first by trying to print and being out … Read more “Times 24399 – so how’s your art, literature and geography?”
Times Jumbo 833
Apologies for late posting – I didn’t get various blogging tasks done before a busy weekend. Having made a complete hash of a puzzle and blog at fifteensquared, I’m trying to ensure this one is … Read more “Times Jumbo 833”
Times 24338
Solving time: 8:14 This feels like a better bit of speed-solving than a few recent attempts. Answers written in without full wordplay understanding were: 1A, 14, 15, 17, 5, 20. There’s some quite fiendish wordplay … Read more “Times 24338”
Times 24,337 A Stroll in Hyde Park
Solving time : 15 minutes Whilst this is easy it is also entertaining with a smattering of good surfaces and some good clues. There is only one slight obscurity, a mammal from the animal kingdom. … Read more “Times 24,337 A Stroll in Hyde Park”
Times 24336 – OK, boys, time to go back to school!
Solving time: 55 minutes Music: Chopin Mazurkas, Malcuzynski I had most of this done in 20 minutes, and then ran into a wall. There are some clues that I am not sure are entirely fair, … Read more “Times 24336 – OK, boys, time to go back to school!”
ST 4346 (Sun 13 Sep) – Oil disaster
Solving time: 9:15, plenty of which on the erroneous clue. An abysmal error at 22ac (‘about oil’ intended as an anagram of ABUTILON) was the nadir of this pretty awful puzzle. * = anagram, “X” … Read more “ST 4346 (Sun 13 Sep) – Oil disaster”