Solving time: 7:57, one missing (27dn). Mostly straightforward wordplay, but there were quite a few words (or alternative meanings of words) here which are rarely seen outside barred puzzles: ‘neat’ (cattle), ‘euro’ (a kangaroo) and … Read more “ST 4220 (Sun Apr 15) – “Neil suffers setback with one missing, a Red River” (4)”
Take your time, David!!
A generally fair crossword with some misleading clues that made me think for a bit, and a couple of times put in wrong answers because I hadn’t read the clue properly. Some of the definitions … Read more “Take your time, David!!”
23,579 – Roedean forever?
Solving time : 5m01s – Seemed an easy puzzle, though with some surprising words. The finish of 20 and 24 are such to suggest that 28 FOREVER is placed deliberately for some secret Nina purpose … Read more “23,579 – Roedean forever?”
Championship qualifier 2
Solving time 8:31 I made heavy weather of some parts of this, having to write out letters for the anagram at 10A. But there are other answers like OBLATE, ACCIDIE and INDRA where I may … Read more “Championship qualifier 2”
23,578 – shades of the cricket…
… only scoring a RUN on the very last clue (24D). Some good stuff in here, including some “essence of Times xwd”. Solving time 6:42 Across 1 THROUGH=via,comPUTing 10 BAN,JAX=”jacks” – with JERKIN as the … Read more “23,578 – shades of the cricket…”
Times 23577/Laban
Solving time: 58′ Meticulously fair wordplay but some pretty obscure references that had me scurrying for reference books (e.g. LABAN) and I’m not sure about the Clare reference in 13D nor the wordplay for 22A. … Read more “Times 23577/Laban”
23,576 – heatstroke
Solving time : 42mins, but not sure about a coupleI found this pretty straightforward – I did it on the train, so hoped I wouldn’t need to go to the dictionary. I am not sure … Read more “23,576 – heatstroke”
ST 4219 (Sun 8 Apr) – The Confetti Incident
Solving time: 16-ish minutes, one missing (21dn) The less said about my effort on this, the better. 21dn was understandable, but I don’t know what I was playing at on 5ac, 10ac and 7dn. * … Read more “ST 4219 (Sun 8 Apr) – The Confetti Incident”
Mephisto 2432/Tim Moorey – just glad to get it finished!
This was the toughest Mephisto that I have had to blog – I’m not sure why. Sometimes I just seem to struggle for no apparent reason, and this was the case here. 70-80% of the … Read more “Mephisto 2432/Tim Moorey – just glad to get it finished!”
Times Saturday 23569
Solving time 9:44 It’s not often I beat 10 minutes for a Saturday puzzle (or indeed any other day except Sundays), but this was the easiest Times I’ve seen for a long time. I’d expect … Read more “Times Saturday 23569”