Times 26421
A sigh of relief, I wasn't in the mood for a LULU from yesteryear in place of another qualifier, so I rattled through this quite fast, but the detailed parsing probably took longer than the solving...
View ArticleTimes 26422 A kindness of setters
I'd venture todays setter is more than usually generous providing extra bits of information to make sure we abbreviate where necessary and avoid spelling mistakes. It helped me to a respectable (from a...
View ArticleTimes 26145 - 2nd TCC qualifier published on Wednesday 18 May 2016
The solution to this one should be published in the paper today. I completed it in 15 minutes having just done the 1970 puzzle (220170) and had two coffees so was warmed up. Like the first qualifier,...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 578 by Dazzler
A nice offering from Dazzler, this. I found it about as close to 'average' difficulty as I could pinpoint, whatever that might mean what with all the different wavelengths floating around. I'm not sure...
View ArticleClub Monthly 20188: World's First Triple Pangram?
.. and it's only 8 letters short of being a quadruple pangram. So, still something to aim for then :-)I am not very good at spotting pangrams, ninas etc., but even I think a triple pangram is a...
View ArticleTLS Crossword 1124 by Talos - May 6, 2016 The Naughty Bits.
The sacrifices we make to bring truth and beauty to light! I did not find this too tricky, and rounded off at 35.20. But checking through to get the lowdown and detail on the answers: that was another...
View ArticleQuick Crossword 579 by Hurley
Phew! Some tricky clues here, in particular 7d and 15d, which made it feel harder than it actually was in the end. A few crosswordland abbreviations to watch out for - RA (Royal Academician) for artist...
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Times 26,423: Either These Pangrams Go, Or I Do
Be careful what you wish for, I suppose: at Tuesday's Sloggers & Betters, as always happens when I'm a couple of sheets to the wind, I wheeled out my opinion that if you haven't learned something...
View ArticleJumbo 1207 May 14, 2016 - No offence
Still geting used to this blogging caper. In my previous outing I managed to offend cat lovers, Emily Bronte fans and Dan Browne admirers (who knew?), so today I'll be steadfastly avoiding anything...
View ArticleSaturday Times 26418 (21st May)
12:55 for this, solved from the paper for a change whilst sat inside hoping for the rain to stop (it didn't). Only unknown was GALLIARD, but it was very easy to derive from wordplay, so a pretty...
View ArticleSunday Times 4695 by Dean Mayer
An absolute ripper from Dean this week: loved every minute of what turned into a very long grapple indeed. Some ingenious cluing (5a, 8d and 24a being prime examples for my money), great surfaces (6d...
View ArticleMephisto 2908 by Tim Moorey - a bit of everything
Very enjoyable puzzle that I solved anti-clockwise from NW corner to NE corner. Not sure what overseas solvers will make of the bonbons which I sense are very UK centric and are named after the...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic 580 by Tracy
This is Tracy's 53rd puzzle and judging by my solving time of 6 minutes I'd say it's at the easier end of the scale. There are a couple of answers, maybe 11ac and 4dn, that perhaps will not be...
View ArticleTimes 26425 – What is all this juice and all this joy?
A puzzle worthy of the Spring Bank Holiday, with lots of nice stuff and enough trickery to keep me occupied for 51 minutes, which included a pit-stop which was only marginally longer than Daniel...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic 26426
I found this one quite hard and needed nearly 70 minutes to work my way steadily through it. With hindsight it doesn't seem particularly difficult but there were a few references that took a while to...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 581 by Joker
A challenging crossword which I managed to get through in just over 10 minutes - but they weren't easy minutes and included a great deal of interest and a blind guess. I'm not sure how a new...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 582 by Teazel
An elegant puzzle characterised by a number of cryptic double definitions / clues - which are fine if you are on the setter's wavelength, but can prove tricky if you are not (somewhat like a shared...
View ArticleTimes 26427 - something of a milestone
A few years ago, when I was less practised in these cruciverbal arts, I'd have managed a few clues in this puzzle before putting it aside and getting on with my life. It must say something about my...
View ArticleTimes 26428 - lobster's off, would you like a slimy fish or perhaps some duck?
Solving time : 10:45 on the club timer - I'm only the second to solve the puzzle at this point, and while that isn't my best time, it's by far my best time this week.There's a large number of...
View ArticleQuick cryptic No 583 by Pedro
15 minutes, so at the harder end of the spectrum for me, with a couple of more difficult or unusual words to grapple with. It is also unusual that this grid contains no 7-letter words - it has long...
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