18 minutes today, so for the second consecutive blog, this wasn’t necessarily the most difficult puzzle, but was again one of the more inventive efforts of recent times. At the risk of re-opening the debate … Read more “Times 24,307”
Times 24,306 – Having a Guinness in County Down
dd = double definitioncd = cryptic definitionrev = reversed or reversalins = insertioncha = charadeha = hidden answer*(fodder) = anagram A lovely puzzle of normal degree of difficulty with plenty of clever word-play and I … Read more “Times 24,306 – Having a Guinness in County Down”
Mephisto 2554 – Mike Laws
A pretty easy Mephisto, taking me about 35 minutes, but with an added bit of fun – the COUNTDOWN answer to 1A is an introduction to the theme – all the numbers from ten down … Read more “Mephisto 2554 – Mike Laws”
ST 4341 (Sun 9 Aug) – Amber grease
Solving time: 7:18 One or two strange cryptic definitions here (13ac, 11dn) but some good clues as well, 9ac (MOON SHOT), 15ac (ATHLETE’S FOOT) and 14dn (FLORIST) among them. I nearly slipped up on the … Read more “ST 4341 (Sun 9 Aug) – Amber grease”
Times Saturday 24,299 (Aug. 8th 2009)
21:08 – this wasn’t especially hard, with some helpful checking letters rendering a good deal of the wordplay less than critical. But pretty entertaining stuff, with a couple of very interesting clues. I can’t fully … Read more “Times Saturday 24,299 (Aug. 8th 2009)”
Times Jumbo 827 – Get Weaving!
The usual Jumbo rubric: as the solution is available alongside (or indeed before) the blog, comment is confined only to references that might remain obscure to overseas / inexperienced solvers even with the answer visible, … Read more “Times Jumbo 827 – Get Weaving!”
Times 24304 – OOH ER!
Time taken to solve: 32 minutes again. A fairly straightforward puzzle to solve which required a bit more thinking about in order to write it up with a degree of confidence, however after all that … Read more “Times 24304 – OOH ER!”
Times 24303 – getting wet all over again
Solving time : 27 minutes with one phone call distraction. I found this the hardest of the week so far, grinding to a halt with 9, 17, 16 and 23 unfilled. The break for a … Read more “Times 24303 – getting wet all over again”
Times 24302
Solving time: 12:38 Found this quite tricky, with a minute or so of mild panic before getting 19 to start the SE corner clean-up (followed by 27, 15, 25). Answers entered without full wordplay understanding … Read more “Times 24302”
Times 24301 Oban Viaduct
Solving time : about 12 minutes A very easy and rather corny puzzle with little to commend it. Across 1 PALL,MALL – PA’LL + MA’LL; famous Westminster street home to gentlemen’s clubs as well as … Read more “Times 24301 Oban Viaduct”