One of our Mephisto bloggers wants to drop out. If one or more others are willing to write Mephisto blogs about once a month, drop me a line – peter at biddlecombe dot demon dot … Read more “Mephisto blogging vacancy”
Mephisto 2486 – Tim Moorey
Solving time: 76 mins, mostly with Chambers I found this considerably harder than most Mephistos, though this may just be down to luck of the draw – three or four obscurities that you happen to … Read more “Mephisto 2486 – Tim Moorey”
ST 4273 (Sun 20 Apr) – O tempora! O mores!
Solving time: 10:30 A rare gem from the Sunday Times, the like of which crops up about every three to four months. Some inspired clues, very tight wordplay and first class surface readings throughout. I’ll … Read more “ST 4273 (Sun 20 Apr) – O tempora! O mores!”
Olla podrida
This is an experimental message for the benefit of people with questions that don’t fit elsewhere, or about old postings that you don’t expect people to still be reading (specially folks doing syndicated versions of … Read more “Olla podrida”
23897 – Winding gently down for the weekend
I struck lucky with an easy one today and polished it off in about 20 minutes which is as good as things get for me. I can’t see there’s much that could cause others problems … Read more “23897 – Winding gently down for the weekend”
Times 23,896
Solving time:13:49 This was good but seemed quite tough, with lots of answers that are on the borders of the level of obscurity one would expect in a daily puzzle. Fortunately, I have recently re-read … Read more “Times 23,896”
23895 – toponyms
Solving time 5:40 Started quickly and hoped to dip under 5 mins for a while, but didn’t quite make it. Maybe easier for the geographically savvy, with three place names. Across 1 HORS(D)E,COMBAT = “to … Read more “23895 – toponyms”
Times 23894 Spencer Thingumabob
Solving time : 25 minutes A largely straightforward, enjoyable and very fair puzzle unusually without homophones or a hidden word but several multiple meaning clues. Nothing held me up although I guessed ESURIENT and for … Read more “Times 23894 Spencer Thingumabob”
Times 23893 – eh?
Solving time: 54 mins I really enjoyed this overall. Quite a few tricky words, but generally all quite gettable from the clues. Last to go in were HASSOCK, OLID and BLACKCAP. For 29A, I wasn’t … Read more “Times 23893 – eh?”
ST 4272 (Sun 13 Apr) – Brain Teeser
Solving time: Would have been under 3 minutes but for an extra 10 or so on 14ac! Even easier than last week, although frustratingly I stalled on 14ac (despite being fairly confident of the answer) … Read more “ST 4272 (Sun 13 Apr) – Brain Teeser”