Solving time: 43:30 A lot easier than last week’s Tuesday and a lot harder than yesterday’s. I made quite good progress at first, so good that I thought another sub-30’ was in the cards, but … Read more “Times 23697/tough birds”
23696 – easy Monday
Solving time: 20:40Shaved 2 minutes off my previous personal best from last Thursday, but this time I did understand all the wordplay as I entered the answers! Almost – see 2D. I thought I was … Read more “23696 – easy Monday”
Unofficial Times cryptic RTC contest No. 7 – results
The key to success this week was avoiding mistakes on 23,691 and 23,694. Only four entrants came through unscathed, with Mark Goodliffe taking a fairly easy win in both contests and becoming the first to … Read more “Unofficial Times cryptic RTC contest No. 7 – results”
ST 4239 (Sun 26 Aug) – Water rabies
Solving time: 3:52 Howler of the week goes to 21dn. (If in fact this is my howler then apologies in advance to setter and readers; I probably won’t be able to reply to any comments … Read more “ST 4239 (Sun 26 Aug) – Water rabies”
23691 Postscript – Congratulations Anax!
I don’t usually encourage setter-naming here, as I don’t want to amend the anonymity policy of The Times on their behalf, but just occasionally, rules can be broken. In a posting last November, I mentioned … Read more “23691 Postscript – Congratulations Anax!”
Times Saturday 23689 (Aug 25)
Solving time 35:03 A couple of early mistakes made this one harder for me than it should have been, although I think it was pretty tough anyway. Several clues had very complicated wordplay. By comparison, … Read more “Times Saturday 23689 (Aug 25)”
Unofficial Times cryptic RTC No. 7 – your times please
This is a weekly unofficial contest based on your times for the Times cryptic crossword from Saturday to Friday. In July 2007, someone commenting on Tony Sever’s Times 2 RTC blog suggested a competition like … Read more “Unofficial Times cryptic RTC No. 7 – your times please”
23,694 – Showboating
Nothing too challenging today – a couple of unusual words that were easy to guess from the wordplay. Solving time – 8m22s ACROSS 1 SHOW-B(lue)OAT – The word length for this should have been (4,4) … Read more “23,694 – Showboating”
23,693 – a maze of twisty little passages, all different
Solving time: 12:18 I enjoyed this puzzle. Interesting words but no particularly obscure ones, and good surfaces. Annoyingly, it took me a long time to get two easy-looking ones: the long anagram at 3D (BE … Read more “23,693 – a maze of twisty little passages, all different”
23,692 – easy enough
Solving time 6:20 Started this at high speed, filling in most of the NW and hoping for a clean sweep until I got to 6D, where I (a) looked for “catches up” to match ???S … Read more “23,692 – easy enough”