Solving time : 7:00 A quick time for me. I felt lucky to know “proa” and “ophicleide” without thinking. And the Hittite is probably the second Uriah one would think of. But otherwise I didn’t … Read more “23531 – another easy Thursday”
23,530 – U?M? !
Solving time 10:50 Inevitably, after someone said something nice about sub-10 solvers yesterday, I dropped out of that category today, so I wonder whether Tony will emerge from the pampas grass to beat me again … Read more “23,530 – U?M? !”
Times 23529/Fear and loathing
Solving time: 45’ Maybe it was my mood or maybe the setter’s, but there seemed to be a lot of anxiety and worry in this puzzle: engineers feeling uncertain in a nation gripped by fear, … Read more “Times 23529/Fear and loathing”
Times 23528
[I’m posting this on behalf of David Hogg…]My first go at blogging a Times crossword. A certain amount of literary knowledge was required to complete the puzzle – two across clues required you to know … Read more “Times 23528”
ST 4211 – Lured down a cul-de-sac and quietly strangled
Solving time: 7:42 If I’d been a bit braver with 1ac I would have done somewhat better with this. As it was, I had a pretty slow start before getting going. 20ac caused me a … Read more “ST 4211 – Lured down a cul-de-sac and quietly strangled”
Mephisto 2424/Chris Feetenby – An excuse for an old (bad) gag
Solving time: 37:04 I found this a lot tougher than normal for a Chris Feetenby Mephisto. After 23 minutes I noted that I had only entered 16 answers along with a few parts of wordplay … Read more “Mephisto 2424/Chris Feetenby – An excuse for an old (bad) gag”
Times Saturday 23521
Solving time 17:37 I found this quite hard to get into, and quite hard to finish off – there were a few unusual words but none I didn’t already know. And some very good clues. … Read more “Times Saturday 23521”
23,526 – Maybe together the total group can advance afar
Solving time : 7m15s – At first I thought this was really hard – but then a minute later one or two answers came and I calmed down, and proceeded OK. I think it may … Read more “23,526 – Maybe together the total group can advance afar”
Times 23525 – Not too hard
Enjoyable puzzle, with some good misdirection. Easy to break into, but tricky enough to finish, especially the NE quadrant. Solving time: 29 mins (about average for me for the Times) * = anagram ACROSS5 ERE … Read more “Times 23525 – Not too hard”
23,524 – nothing on St Valentine’s day
Solving time 4:49 Probably the easiest puzzle I’ve written about since we changed to a team blog. Got 1A and 4 straight off and never really looked back except for a silly initial guess at … Read more “23,524 – nothing on St Valentine’s day”