A Christmas Eve Sunday Jumbo – which was a bit hard to find online. Xmas eve puzzle with a Xmas-lite theme (pantos, reindeer, santa…) which even I didn’t find very hard. A couple of new … Read more “Sunday Times Jumbo 4204/still Christmas”
Times Saturday 23480
Solving time 11:30 A welcome relief after the previous Saturday’s really hard puzzle! No obscure vocabulary, and some very well-constructed clues with excellent surface reading. I expect the faster solvers here will have halved my … Read more “Times Saturday 23480”
23,484 – Curate’s egg
Solving time: 8mins approx Some excellent clues here, others I found quite strained, and two (13ac/5dn) that I still don’t fully comprehend. Across 4 E(D/M/ON)TON 9 S/IGNORA(N.T.) 11 KID/NAP/S 12 HORUS, ref HOU/R/S 13 C/LEVEL/AND … Read more “23,484 – Curate’s egg”
23,483 – Mix-ups cut no ice
Solving time : 8:42 Each letter of the alphabet appears at least twice in the grid, giving some interesting words to clue – I enjoyed the howitzer and the sasquatch. Also the occasional well-worn word, … Read more “23,483 – Mix-ups cut no ice”
23,482 – Seeing double??
Solving time 9:11 In total, 14 letters of the alphabet appeared at least twice in the same answer somewhere in this puzzle. I suspect a doubled-letter pangram is impossible, but occasionally setters seem to try … Read more “23,482 – Seeing double??”
23,481 – 9ac gave me the 9ac
Solving time: Gave up after 25 mins or so with one missing (9ac) and two wrong (10ac, 24ac). Had a good start on this one but got bogged down and spent the last 15 minutes … Read more “23,481 – 9ac gave me the 9ac”
Mephisto 2418/Mike Laws
As has been stated before, Mephisto is an excellent bridge between the more difficult daily puzzles and the barred weekend puzzles such as the Listener. The clues in this one were not particularly difficult, and … Read more “Mephisto 2418/Mike Laws”
Sunday Times 4203/no sour grapes this time
No sour grapes this time. Nice selection of clues with not much to complain about. Some surprisingly well-hidden wordplay (20A, 21D) and some good &lits (16D). Across 1 SUNGLASSES – cryptic definition. 7 BASS – … Read more “Sunday Times 4203/no sour grapes this time”
The spirit of crosswords past
Those who like a tough challenge might like to buy a paper copy of the Times today. It has a puzzle supplement with Times crosswords from 1996, 1976, 1956, and 1936. The oldest two will … Read more “The spirit of crosswords past”
Jumbo 672 – run out of long phrases?
Solving time – 32:39 Another Times Jumbo with no answers longer than 14 letters. As PB often says, why make a 23×23 grid if you’re not going to use the extra size? ACROSS 9 CAS(h),HEW, … Read more “Jumbo 672 – run out of long phrases?”