Solving time – I dread to think. Certainly over an hour, in three sessions. After a few weeks of fairly straightforward Saturday puzzles they’ve come up with an absolute stinker. For a while I was … Read more “Times Saturday 23474 – a real stinker!”
23,479 – Felicitous yet laboured?
Solving time : 4m46s – welcome relief for me after a taxing few days at the blockface. Quite a variety of feelings about the clues – two elegant &lits, some other very felicitous phrasing, but … Read more “23,479 – Felicitous yet laboured?”
23478: what about flight lieutenant?
Solving time : 13:11 I entered two words wrongly, but managed to recover them. Last word solved PERRON, of which I have never heard. Lots of fun clues today, but also a number of clues … Read more “23478: what about flight lieutenant?”
23,477 – one for old hands?
Solving time 7:15 A fairly good time for this, but there was lots of “instinctive solving” going on, with plenty of def-guessing and a few lucky spottings of probable wordplay material that helped. I got … Read more “23,477 – one for old hands?”
23,476 – Christmas gift
Solving time: 6:51 Most of this puzzle was very straightforward as the clues were packed with clichés and most definitions were transparent. However, a few difficult words slowed me down: in particular, I didn’t know … Read more “23,476 – Christmas gift”
23,475
Solving time : 1hr 24minsI initially wondered whether the clue for 27A being half-printed with the Down clues had any significance, but then I spotted 24D was incomplete. According to the online version 24D should … Read more “23,475”
Sunday Times 4202 – etaerio
Not a bad puzzle. A couple of clever wordplays. Actually I’m finding it hard to remember what I thought about this puzzle since I wrote these notes a week ago. Perhaps there’s a theme here … Read more “Sunday Times 4202 – etaerio”
Times Saturday 23468 – the Persians are coming!
Solving time 12:35 In retrospect that seems like a fairly indifferent time, as there don’t seem to be too many tricky clues, although there are a few interesting answers. I remember taking a while to … Read more “Times Saturday 23468 – the Persians are coming!”
23,473 – Ninas all round
Solving time : 17m40s – so much for no variation in solving times. I really don’t think it was because it was my office Christmas Party last night that I struggled to get to grips … Read more “23,473 – Ninas all round”
Speeding things up …
I’ve noticed fairly slow display of the default view of the blog in the last few weeks. I’ve therefore reduced the number of entries displayed on each “page” from 20 to 10. If you notice … Read more “Speeding things up …”