Times 26392 - at least all the little squares are on the grid
Solving time : 10:54, and since I've already been to a show and had three pints, I'm going to call that pretty good. Not sure if anyone else had the same problem, but when I tried to print yesterday's...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 553 by Joker
This took me twice as long as it should have (20 minutes), mostly because I misspelt ISRAELI and couldn't for the life of me make any sensible answer at 22 with the letters A_A_E. I eventually saw the...
View ArticleTLS 1119 by Broteas, April 1st 2016 - April Food
In a lively, Listener-ish April Fools' wheeze nine of the solutions are book titles to be entered in the grid with a single-letter misprint. In the clues for these the name of an author points to the...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 554 by Felix
A really enjoyable crossword from a new setter (at least to me). I got going pretty quickly, but was slowed up by 5d, 22a and 8a, last ones in in that order, with a few made up words along the way. I...
View ArticleTimes 26,393: Snowdonder
I thought this was going to be very easy indeed by Friday standards, as a bunch of answers flew straight in on the first pass, but I ended up getting bogged down in the SW and clocked out at the 8...
View ArticleSaturday Times 26388 (16th April) - placeholder
Unfortunately I won't be able to get this out on time (unforeseen circumstances). This happens a lot lately, mainly because I work about 80 hours a week on the other 6 days! It'll be tomorrow morning...
View ArticleJUMBO 1201 - Me Grim, you Ariadne
Three blogs in and I’d say this was certainly the hardest Jumbo I’ve had to blog so far. Spread over a few days with interruptions and with time taken to parse everything and make notes etc. I’d say...
View ArticleSunday Times 4690 by David McLean - all in the game, yo, all in the game
21:49. I felt I was making heavy weather of this, but I found it very enjoyable. Writing up the blog afterwards I couldn’t for the life of me see what I had found so hard, which is generally the mark...
View ArticleTimes Saturday 26388 April 16
I'm filling in for Andy as per his request below. I found this one pretty straightforward for a Saturday and completed it in 36 minutes.[I tried posting this several times on Saturday evening but was...
View ArticleMephisto 2903 - Paul McKenna
I did this in one fairly short sitting during an break in a play I'm performing in. I have a few question marks around the grid, which usually means gaps in the wordplay, so hopefully those can get...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 555 by Orpheus
I seem to blog an inordinate number of puzzles where hyphens are conspicuous by their presence/absence and today's crossword doesn't disappoint in that regard, however I'm getting sufficiently used to...
View ArticleTimes 26395 - Seven years a blogger!
Solving time: 26 minutesMusic: Tchaikovsky, Symphony #6, Fricsay/Berlin PhilharmonicYes, my first blog was just about seven years ago, April 20, 2009. I was both surprised and thrilled to get the email...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic 26396
A fairly straightforward solve completed in 34 minutes, so just 4 minutes over my target time. I don't think I have ever blogged a puzzle before that didn’t contain a single full anagram and with only...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 556 by Teazel
I have a long drive today so hope my fellow bloggers will field any questions. Fortunately the crossword was easy - I took longer trying to get the new format to work on an iPad - very difficult to get...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic Number 577 by Izetti
Another elegant and interesting quickie from Izetti, by my reckoning slightly easier than his recent puzzles. Of course, there were a few testers - the hardest of the lot for me we’re down to my...
View ArticleTimes 26397 - eventually
For whatever reason, I struggled with this one, especially the NW corner. I'd hoped to have had it solved and blogged by my weekly target time of 10.00 CEST, without leaping out of bed at an...
View Article26398 Tie me Knagaroo down, sport.
This could well pass for a TLS with all the arty stuff in it, together with a couple of rather lame cryptics. I’ve thrown in a few extra arty bits in the course of interpretation: see if you can spot...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 558 by Hurley
I found this a good bit harder today. Coming in at 20 minutes or so, and after an especially speedy Mon-Wed, it pretty much doubled my aggregate for the rest of the week. There was some misleading...
View ArticleClub Monthly 20187 - April 2016
This blog was compiled on my lovely new Surface Pro 4 tablet/laptop thingy, sitting outside in the Kent sunshine with a nice glass of red; so, apologies in advance for any typos or (more likely)...
View ArticleTLS Crossword 1120 by Talos - April 8, 2016
After the two puzzles immediately preceding this, which were extremely tricky, I should have been on Easy Street here - so of course I made a mistake. Memo to self: do not try to do these crosswords...
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