Solving time: 55’ Made pretty good time on this at first since I guessed the long anagram at 10A quickly but really slowed down at the end: struggled with 1D, 13A, 20A, 27A (still not … Read more “Times 23523/not opera again”
23522 – Obs and Sols
Solving time : about 90 minutes – in three sittings Some nice symmetry with the first and last answers being Indian cities – one that I’ve seen before in crosswords and one that I haven’t. … Read more “23522 – Obs and Sols”
ST 4210 (Feb 4) – Parrot Fashion
Solving time: About 6 minutes for all but 8dn [corrected from 6dn], 23ac and 24dn, none of which I managed to get correctly in a further 10 minutes or so. Ilan and I have swapped … Read more “ST 4210 (Feb 4) – Parrot Fashion”
Mephisto 2423/Tim Moorey – Solved like an amateur!!
Last weekend, my efforts at solving were really poor. I didn’t complete the Times, took ages over the Indie, and let’s not even go there with Inquisitor, which I have to blog later this week. … Read more “Mephisto 2423/Tim Moorey – Solved like an amateur!!”
Times Saturday 23515 – tough NE corner
Solving time 22:04 Solved three-quarters of the puzzle fairly quickly but got completely stuck in the top right-hand corner with only 10ac entered. It took me over 10 minutes to get the rest in that … Read more “Times Saturday 23515 – tough NE corner”
Jumbo #681/27 Jan – Fluky
Solving time: 16:38, one idiotic mistake This was probably the easiest Jumbo for some time (though I have missed a few recently); I raced through most of it before being held up by a few … Read more “Jumbo #681/27 Jan – Fluky”
23,520 – Italia! oh Italia!
Solving time : 7m58s – Not a great time, given clues that are generally lucid and give one a fair chance – but a couple of the answers require serious knowledge, or good crosswording assumptions…I … Read more “23,520 – Italia! oh Italia!”
23519 – defeated by bovine spongiform encephalitis
Solving time : 13:10 with one mistake I don’t know why I was happy with ASSAIL for 11A. I assumed I would discover that SSA was a disease (like SARS and MRSA). But the definition … Read more “23519 – defeated by bovine spongiform encephalitis”
Mephisto 2422 – fairly tough
Solving time: 50 mins without Chambers, followed by one look-up (7D). Maybe I wasn’t in quite the right mood, but this seemed like one of those times when the setter’s odyssey through the further reaches … Read more “Mephisto 2422 – fairly tough”
23,518 – tip-top trap for the over-hasty!
Solving time 9:25 The last two minutes or so were spent making sure of the answer for 11. A nice mixture of material, and some very smooth clue-writing. I see with some relief that the … Read more “23,518 – tip-top trap for the over-hasty!”