Somehow a mid-afternoon/early evening blitz on this saw a rapid-fire completion, so here’s Bonus Puzzle #005: http://www.ukpuzzle.com/bonus/TimesCOD005.html Go on. You know you want to.
24,004
Solving time: 23:52 Because this is appearing late (for which I apologise) it is written in some haste. I shall add any necessary corrections later. I think it was a tough one. Lots of words … Read more “24,004”
24003
A nicely tough work-out. For me the tricky clues were at the bottom, with the last few saolved being 22/24, 17, 16,27,15. COD for me was 5D. A very minor weakness is that one=1 and … Read more “24003”
ST 4290 (Sun 17 Aug) – Butterfly nuts
Solving time: not taken. I’m afraid I lost interest in this puzzle when I realised that there were several more clues than there should have been. It seems that (in the online version) several additional … Read more “ST 4290 (Sun 17 Aug) – Butterfly nuts”
Times 24,002 A Brief Encounter
Solving time : 25 minutes I enjoyed this puzzle, which wasn’t difficult but had some nice clues. I particularly like ADAPTOR at 23A. PECK at 26A may give some problems since not everybody had to … Read more “Times 24,002 A Brief Encounter”
24001
Solving time: 39 minutesQuite a straightforward one today. I think they put a reasonably easy one in to encourage more people to try the Bank Holiday Jumbo. I’ll be giving that a go tonight. No … Read more “24001”
Mephisto 2503 – Mike Laws
I started this on a plane, and had most of the right-hand side filled in without much trouble. The left side ended up being a disaster for a long time, with two rather silly guesses … Read more “Mephisto 2503 – Mike Laws”
Times Saturday 23994 (Aug 16)
Solving time – not recorded, as I started it in the paper while I was out and finished it later when I got in. Judging from the amount of Tippex on my copy though, a … Read more “Times Saturday 23994 (Aug 16)”
Jumbo 770
Which was indeed 770, not the 771 I originally stated. This seemed like hard work at the time (73 mins) though there are quite a few clues that seem to merit explanation. Across 1 A … Read more “Jumbo 770”
Times Crossword 23999
Solving time: 16.31 The bottom half of this went in relatively painlessly but I was left with 7 or 8 empty spaces at the top in two unconnected groups which took a lot longer to … Read more “Times Crossword 23999”