Solving time : 6m05s – I have to say this felt like a very good time, given some brilliantly contrived clues, that featured many words not meaning what they appeared to at all (and often … Read more “23,514 – Keeping up with the Joneses”
Jumbo 679/Jan 13th – the first “compact” Jumbo
Solving time: 42:38 Apologies for the second consecutive late Jumbo posting. As you know the idea had been mooted to scrap them, but the consensus emerged to keep them going in a reduced format. Consequently, … Read more “Jumbo 679/Jan 13th – the first “compact” Jumbo”
23513 – Mixed nationalities
Solving time : 13:54 Israelis, Czech, Latvian, Turkey and Anglais appear in answers. Not to mention the Nova Scotian (mis)described as an islander. I could complain that indicating “totty” as “attractive women” in 22A is … Read more “23513 – Mixed nationalities”
23,512 – a classic grid
Solving time 6:28 I’m pretty sure this grid uses the smallest possible number of added black squares in an “odd rows and columns” lattice. There are just 8 of them. This puzzle used fairly original … Read more “23,512 – a classic grid”
23,511 – The name game
Solving time: 5’04” I had a bad start, making a pig’s ear of the top left and working ‘up and left’ through the grid which is always much slower, so I expect others to have … Read more “23,511 – The name game”
Times Jumbo puzzles
As there have been very few comments about these puzzles, I’ve decided that the (sometimes considerable) effort of writing blog entries about them isn’t really justified, and that we’ll stop writing about them. If there … Read more “Times Jumbo puzzles”
23,510 – and all that jazz?
Solving time: about 1 hour 20 minutes Enjoyable enough – decent wordplay (difficult in places) but quite a few smiles to be had. Apologies for today’s brevity (and lack of my usual hypertextuality) – a … Read more “23,510 – and all that jazz?”
Times Saturday 23503
Solving time 18:38 A few foreign towns in this, but strangely enough 22ac and 16ac were the first clues I got. No one corner slowed me down, but did struggle with the last 3 or … Read more “Times Saturday 23503”
Sunday Times 4208 – Y, oh, why?
This was a lot harder for a Sunday puzzle compared to those I’ve seen since I started writing these notes. Not sure whether the clues overall were just more challenging or because a couple of … Read more “Sunday Times 4208 – Y, oh, why?”
Mephisto 2421 – Chris Feetenby
Good mix of clues, clean surfaces, slightly easier than I might have expected, what more can I say? Solving time – 20-25 minutes ACROSS 5 A-BR(E)ACT – the “modified” in the clue had me of … Read more “Mephisto 2421 – Chris Feetenby”