Times Cryptic 29330

56 comments on “Times Cryptic 29330”

1. 35.20. I knew I was in trouble when I didn’t get a single across clue in my first pass. The down clues proved easier to make a start on but it was a tough road to the finish.
   One or two silly misses, 19 ac trying to make an anagram from old hebrew before the pin finally dropped was the most annoying.
   There were some highlights though. I thought John Ruskin, Whoa and enchanter were excellent.
   LOI passionate which came in a flash without having worked it out.

2. Anyone else having issues accessing the puzzle?

3. The Crossword Club gave me a Page Not Found and the e-paper did not update at midnight, UK time, but hours later. I finally printed out the puzzle from there and managed to finish before I went to sleep.
   Just checked, and I am still getting Page Not Found for the puzzle on the club site.

4. As my copy of The Times is delivered every morning by my very reliable newsagent, I had no access problems! 37 minutes, but no parsing problems either. A nice puzzle.

5. Admitted defeat after 50 minutes with almost 25% unfinished. Just not on the right wavelength today. The month seemed vaguely familiar but i thought it was Japanese! I thought the world had forgotten BLANCMANGE which disappointed me as it was childhood favourite.
   Thanks to setter and to jackkt for the much needed guidance.

6. 22’35”, but a DNF as PASSIONATE simply would not reveal itself. Defeated by that one clue, but an enjoyable puzzle even so. I liked the WHOA device which I’ve either not previously come across or not previously registered.

7. 33 minutes for me … then I read the blog and realised I’d completely missed 2 down, so that’s a DNF. The perils of using a biro and a hard copy of The Times, though at least you avoid the server errors.

   Perfectly decent crossword. Refreshing to have ‘IT’ clued with something other than references to allure.

8. 41 minutes with ten of those spent on PASSIONATE. NISAN NHO but it had to be. I liked WHOA. Thanks Jack.

9. I deleted my history in Safari and am now able to get the Print pages.

10. All correct apart from somehow entering a rogue T instead of K in Ruskin- I’m blaming the smallness of the new grids on my iPhone- I even knew I was supposed be using the outside letters of STOCK so no idea what my brain saw! Otherwise an enjoyable challenge for which I thanks the setter and blogger for unraveling mysteries such as why WHOA was the right choice!
    Just under 25 minutes with a rogue letter!

11. I also got the page not found error when I tried to load the crossword at midnight UK time. I tried on the non-club page but all the links loaded the wrong crosswords, so I gave up. Successfully loaded it this morning in California

    Held up at the end by TOGO and EXIT. I didn’t know the IT novel, and I didn’t think of Bogota. I’d not heard of, or forgotten, NISAN.

12. Held up at the end by most of the 4-letter clues – not my usual problem! Some cracking clues – BLANCMANGE and AGONY AUNT, also ENCHANTER. The last long one in was BANISHMENT, where I had real difficulty working out the word ordering and definition, then finally I made some sort of sense of EARN and put in EXIT, but not having heard of the novel, was unable to parse it. TOGO also took ages to work out, as I started out looking for a 4-letter capital.

13. 38:57
    EXIT and AWAY both caused a lot of delay; EXIT was my LOI, purely from the definition.
    COD TOGO.

    Thanks Jack and setter

14. Started fast but finished slowly taking 52 minutes in the end with LOI PASSIONATE. Good puzzle though and I enjoyed the battle. WHOA was one of my first but nevertheless cod for its (in my experience) originality.
    Thanks setter and blogger

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