Times Cryptic 26614 - January 5, 2017. Not exactly upping the anty
A rather straightforward solve marred for me by an over-exuberant attempt to score a whizzy time, forgoing proper checking and allowing 2 typos. The grid is rather infested with Formicidae, or bits of...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic No 738 by Mara
I think this was towards the harder end of things, so I was happy to come in at the 13 minute mark. Some tricky clues, some generous checker-providers, some cracking clues, and lots of lovely surface...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic 26614 - January 5, 2017 Take two
Much harder than the grid posted on the time warped Club site, at least for me, though I was solving on my smart phone, an experience akin to keyhole surgery. As with next Monday’s puzzle, I have given...
View Article15 x15 puzzle Thursday 5th January
Due to an error at the Times, the cryptic puzzle published in Thursday's newspaper and accessed via the online newspaper was different from the one that appeared on the Club site and it was the latter...
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TLS Crossword 1155 by Broteas - December 16, 2016
I had a bash at this on the morning it came out and got almost nowhere. I came back to it this week and, in truth, found it a real slog. The Miller book and the Smollett reference were about the only...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 739 by Rongo
5:47 to complete this one. So that's four more or less standard Quickies in a row after Izetti started the year off with a bang on Monday.Nice offering this from Rongo, with a variety of clue...
View ArticleTimes 26,615: ★
What a pleasure and privilege to be blogging this superb anniversary-or-thereabouts puzzle, one of the best and hardest to have fallen to me in ages; and it even comes with a Nina, or should I say...
View ArticleTIMES JUMBO 1241
Gosh, has it really been two weeks since Christmas Eve? This took well under an hour with distractions – I was expecting something a bit chewier for the festive season. First in was OBSTREPEROUS but...
View ArticleJumbo 1242 Boxing Day, 2016
Apparently this one took me just over an hour, and I assume I solved it during one of the extended rain delays in the cricket, but it all seems to have been lost in the fog of the festive season.Having...
View ArticleSaturday Times 26610 - New Year's Eve Cracker
This was a really good puzzle, and I wish my blog could do better justice to it. I think it took me around 20 minutes, on the train home sometime in the week. The good news is that I'd half-finished...
View ArticleSunday Times 4727 by Jeff Pearce
An enjoyable puzzle, not too stretching which was probably a good thing as I tackled it whilst nursing both a hangover and a dancing injury incurred during the previous night's revelry.A couple of...
View ArticleMephisto 2940 - Paul McKenna - Let's Rename it the River Chanel
A middle of the road puzzle to start the New Year with no less than eight full anagrams. We appear to have clue padding at 6D, which works perfectly well without the questionable word. At 7D we appear...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic 26617 Link
Due to a problem at the Times last week, today's 15x15 puzzle #26617 was posted last Thursday in the Crossword Club as puzzle #26614, blogged accordingly by z8, our blogger on duty, and commented on by...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic 740 by Joker
I've no solving time for this one as I nodded off and returned to it later. I can't imagine I found it hard as many of the clues are very straightforward, so I must have been extremely tired and ready...
View ArticleTimes 26618
I had problems with this one solved over two sessions and probably need most of an hour in all. In particular I came to grief in the SW corner where the French word eluded me for ages. I don't quite...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 741 by Pedro
13 minutes with 15dn/20ac being the last to fall. The long clue at 8ac could prove the key to faster times as it provides many crossing letters including the first letter of the long 9dn which helps a...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 742 by Hawthorn
I've had the pleasure of blogging a few Hawthorn puzzles recently, and they have always been beautifully crafted. This one is no exception.I've now totally given up on predicting degree of difficulty...
View ArticleTimes 26619 - put that in and smoke it.
Maybe I was in a less than enthusiastic mood today, but I found this more of a plod than a pleasure; I hope the esteemed setter will forgive me if everyone else finds it a blast. It took around 25...
View ArticleTimes 26620 - 11 drinks later...
Solving time : 39:40 with my friend Brian helping me get one. OK - I am probably not in the best solving form at the moment since we went to Epcot at Walt Disney World and prevailed in the challenge of...
View ArticleQuick cryptic No 743 by Des
I don’t think I have blogged a puzzle by Des before, and I had no difficulty adapting to him on this occasion, my total time being well inside my 15 minute target.Some nice clues here, with little need...
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