Easily the slowest of the week so far for me. Good start with 1A, though wordplay not fully understood at the time, but then slowed down a bit. The right hand side seemed easier than … Read more “23,686 – ou you are awful, but I like you!”
Times 23685/mercy!
Solving time: 37:50 Pretty straightforward pour moi – though had to defer to refs for a couple (couldn’t place the two Dickens refs: Jarndyce and Miss Pecksniff). Other than STOT, vocab was all pretty familiar … Read more “Times 23685/mercy!”
Mephisto 2450 / Tim Moorey – in the shade
Solving time: say 80 minutes, no books As presented on the Times club website, this puzzle had a grid with two diagonal sequences of squares shaded, but no preamble. There may have been some instructions … Read more “Mephisto 2450 / Tim Moorey – in the shade”
23684 – ok today
Time: 38:30 — I am well pleased with this time. It is the first time I have completed a Times puzzle on the train to London (42 mins), although I have completed a couple of … Read more “23684 – ok today”
Unofficial Times cryptic RTC contest No. 5 – results
Mark Goodliffe wins the mini-championship by a country mile this week, but there were fewer mistakes than in the previosu couple of weeks and some close contests, with the margins between Sabine and Tony, and … Read more “Unofficial Times cryptic RTC contest No. 5 – results”
Times Saturday 23677 (Aug 11)
Profuse apologies to those who were waiting for this to arrive earlier in the week, but I had a hectic week at work combined with a lot of evening social occasions (Sloggers & Betters 3 … Read more “Times Saturday 23677 (Aug 11)”
ST 4237 (Sun 12 Aug) – Drog star
Solving time: 5:18 A straightforward puzzle with one or two more difficult words and names, but for once I knew them so this time was below par. * = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’. … Read more “ST 4237 (Sun 12 Aug) – Drog star”
Unofficial Times cryptic RTC No. 5 – your times please
(This is a weekly unofficial contest based on your times for the Times cryptic crossword from Saturday to Friday.) At last I can log a set of all-correct times adding up to less than an … Read more “Unofficial Times cryptic RTC No. 5 – your times please”
23,682 – Gunning for homophones
If you follow my blogs here and on Fifteensquared, you may realise that I don’t like dodgy homophones, and 24ac held me up for a minute or two today. Other than that, this was pretty … Read more “23,682 – Gunning for homophones”
23681 – comparisons are odo(rife)rous
Solving time: 12:53 No show-stoppers but a lot of clues that needed thinking about, and a fair number that I filled in without understanding the wordplay at the time. I think there are only five … Read more “23681 – comparisons are odo(rife)rous”