Saturday Times 26400 (30th April).
16:49 for this one, so I must have found it on the tricky side. I can't remember what held me up now though, seems pretty straightforward going through the clues again this morning. It was my third...
View ArticleMephisto 2905 - Tim Moorey
I found this one considerably more difficult than the last few, and there are a few that complete understanding of is eluding me, but hopefully once I start writing this up all will become...
View ArticleSunday Times 4692 by Dean Mayer - a 10ac 9dn
12m. An unusually gentle offering from Dean this week. No unknowns for me, and it all flowed smoothly with no major hold-ups. But we don't need to be tortured every week and I found this highly...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 565 by Teazel
I thought this was a straightforward puzzle that neither hit the heights nor plumbed the depths of either difficulty or enjoyment. This was no doubt because Teazel didn't want to steal Middlesbrough's...
View ArticleTimes 26407 - Day by day
Solving time: 54 minutesMusic: Mahler, Symphony #7, Tennstedt/LSOWell, as far as I'm concerned, this was not another easy Monday. I had a hard time getting started, then made good speed for a while,...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic 26408 by Hayley Dixon
34 minutes for this one, so relatively straightforward apart from a couple of slightly dodgy definitions and one answer I didn't know clued by a word I didn't know, but the wordplay was helpful.For...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 566 by Orpheus.
Excellent! A good, fun start to the day. 9 minutes for me which included a couple of definitions I had to think through. A note for iPad users - I've had the 'Sunday' subscription which includes online...
View ArticleSloggers and Betters 13
There will be a meeting for crossword setters and solvers at The George, Borough High Street, Southwark, London, SE1 1NH, coinciding with the annual Times Setters’ Lunch. The meeting will begin at...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic Number 567 by Felix
A cracking little puzzle from Felix, just the trickier side of medium in difficulty for me. From a list of smile-inducing clues, I will pick 11dn as my favourite - it made me laugh again as I write the...
View ArticleTimes 26409 - easier than I made it
As I prepared myself for an early start on this in peace and quiet, no less than four elderly French chaps arrived bearing my new front door - a massive wooden thing; the existing, now disintegrating...
View Article26410 Caesar adsum iam forte: Latin for speakers of other languages.
My 17’ 22” demonstrates the care with which I approached this pleasant little number, checking every clue for proper and satisfactory wordplay and checking for typos at the end. It’s not every day I...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic No. 568 by Izetti
I don't know about you, but I found this tough today, particularly the west side. It was a Did Not Finish, as I gave up a bit shy of the half-hour mark with one left unfilled, having been staring in a...
View ArticleQuick Crossword by 569 by Joker
I found this one quite tricky, with a few clues which would not be out of place on the 15x15. Good fun though; COD 21 across.Thank you JokerAcross1Source demonstrated with broken cane:...
View ArticleTimes 26,411: A Glittering Display
A second night in a row solving after an evening out on the sauce - well, now that the nice weather is back, drinking in beer gardens is kind of the law - but my less *obviously* impaired time of 6m39...
View ArticleSaturday Times 26406 (7th May)
Solving time 7:06, my fastest for a long time. As I mentioned in a comment earlier in the week, a double whammy of a rare clear head on a Saturday morning and time to solve it online! A good puzzle...
View ArticleTimes Jumbo 1204
For complicated reasons to do with ospreys, I ended up solving this at around 3:30 one morning, so I'm not sure I can comment on how easy or difficult it was! Not too hard, I don't think... 13ac and...
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TLS Crossword 1122 by Praxiteles (April 22, 2016): Sooner Or Bardolater
What a privilege to be allowed to blog this special 400th-anniversary-of-the-great-man's-passing Shakespeare puzzle; a privilege which I have sorely abused by posting it a couple of days late. All I...
View ArticleSunday Times 4693 by David McLean
An enjoyable mix of some tricky stuff tempered with a few gimmes - and with an overall style I'd describe (in a very positive way, I should stress) as "quirky". From an ST enthusiast's perspective,...
View ArticleMephisto 2906 - Paul McKenna the sighing setter
Relatively straightforward puzzle with a little French, Hindi and Latin thrown in to liven the mix. Across1SETTER - SETT(l)ER; push along=leave; definition is "a stream of cattle" see SETTER-2 in C;...
View ArticleJumbo 1205 (Bank Holiday 2nd May 2016)
I found this puzzle in general of about average difficulty, but the last few answers were sufficiently tricky as to drag my solving time into the "harder than average" category. Some interesting...
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