Solving time: 13:36 Quite tricky this one, though for no very obvious reason – must just be well-hidden wordplay. Last in were 27 and then 13. Just noticed that the top row makes a good … Read more “Times 24194 – 1A, 3”
Times 24,193 Meet Benjamin Twain Franklin
Solving time : 30 minutes There’s quite a lot of odd pieces of knowledge required for this one . Whilst doing the blog I found myself repeatedly referring to Wiki to check dates and facts … Read more “Times 24,193 Meet Benjamin Twain Franklin”
Times 24,192 – cheers
Solving time: 31 mins This is my final post as the regular Monday blogger. So thanks and farewell, although I’ll still pop in and say hello.I’ve been doing this for about two-and-a-half years and it’s … Read more “Times 24,192 – cheers”
Mephisto 2535 – Paul McKenna
I found this one a real stinker, most of it was in areas that I wasn’t familiar with, and after my customary ripping through about a third of the grid, to get the last ten … Read more “Mephisto 2535 – Paul McKenna”
ST 4322 (Sun 29 Mar)/Second guess
Solving time: 3:24 Pretty good this week. The anagram at 28ac would be my pick of the bunch. * = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’. Across 1 PRO + PROSITION – I hesitated here … Read more “ST 4322 (Sun 29 Mar)/Second guess”
Saturday Times 24185 (28th March)
Solving time 10:46, and should really have been sub 10 minutes. I remember having three or four unconnected clues left at the end which should have gone in right away but didn’t. 25D SHOT was … Read more “Saturday Times 24185 (28th March)”
Jumbo 805 (21st March)
Didn’t record a time, but it was around the half-hour mark (however long it took my train to get from Euston to Milton Keynes on Wednesday night). Still, as I solved it only a couple … Read more “Jumbo 805 (21st March)”
Times Crossword Championship 2009 – 1st Qualifier
This first qualifier has about the same degree of difficulty as a normal weekday Times puzzle; in fact, a tad on the easy side. I found more difficulty reading the 6 point font than solving … Read more “Times Crossword Championship 2009 – 1st Qualifier”
Times Crossword 24190
Solving time: 22.33. I struggled dreadfully with this despite being fairly lucky with the vocabulary – I knew the relatively unusual GOPAK, DREYFUS, NAAFI and MENSHEVIST, so I don’t really have much excuse except the … Read more “Times Crossword 24190”
Times 24189
Solving time: 13:54 I did better than yesterday, when I was stumped by the cricket references. It could have been faster if I had spotted 1A sooner, but although I was expecting it to mean … Read more “Times 24189”