Solving time: Something like 35 minutes; I completely forgot to stop the clock after grasping what was going on. This was no ordinary puzzle; after 25 minutes I was still totally baffled by apparently senseless … Read more “Times Crossword 24334 – A Reticulated Network”

Solving time: 9:24 I don’t feel I whooshed through this, but I went through pretty steadily with no long hold-ups. Some of the constructions or allusions were tricky, but there is nothing obscure in this. … Read more “Times 24,333”

7 a.m.: 13:00 for this. At 1D I saw “PI=holy inside something”, and made this into POPISH, thinking it was an offensive version of “catholic”, and hoped the rest worked. On writing up, I got … Read more “Times 24332 – Another fine mess!”

Thank you to Peter for taking the register, I am here now, courtesy of a coffee shop in Skipton, having a break from walking up hill and down dale. Glad to find that today’s puzzle … Read more “Times 24331 – Another Fine Mess”

Solving time: 32mins I found this a fairly straightforward solve, from STILE to NANETTE, with only a few holdups, one new word and, er, one revision. Across 1 I + MP + AS TO giving … Read more “Times 24330 – A Bit Wobbly?”

Solving time: 6:19 I wonder what merited Plymouth Argyle’s appearance in prime position at 1/6ac? Perhaps the setter is a supporter. Whatever, it’s the last time the Pilgrims, as they are known, will be at … Read more “ST 4345 (Sun 6 Sep) – Pilgrims ogrish”

Time taken to solve: Off the scale again with this one. Certainly well over the hour and I still have one unexplained. I think my difficulty was the lack of answers containing more than one … Read more “24328 – No relief”