Quick Cryptic 789 by Hurley - Cead mile failte
Morning everyone, and a happy St Patrick's Day to you all. May the road rise up to meet you and all that stuff.Now I have a question to ask. Was this a particularly tough one, or was I just being...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Times 26,675: Down And Out In Puzzles And London
To begin with a semi-important announcement: keriothe and I are planning to have a crosswordy meetup on April 12th, probably at that old stalwart the George Inn near London Bridge. It is after all...
View ArticleTimes Saturday 26670 - March 11, 2017. Hello, Dolly.
Much easier than last week. As usual, some people, plants and birds I didn’t know, but all gettable from the wordplay. Not really any dolly deliveries, but a pleasant workout this week. I think my clue...
View ArticleJumbo 1253
A couple of unfamiliar solutions and one word that I have only seen in crosswords, but all fairAcross1 RELIANCE - E.C. = City, NAILER = fixer, all reversed5 FIZGIG - FIZ(z) = champagne, GIG =...
View ArticleSunday Times 4737 by Dean Mayer
Another very fine puzzle from Dean, with the trademark concise clueing and some enjoyable splashes of wit. For me this was quite a tussle which I undertook on the train back from Manchester to London,...
View ArticleMephisto 2950 - by Don Manley
A stroll in the park this weekAcross1SFERICS - S(F)ERIC-S; fine=F; society=S; atmospherics; 6KAPUT - KA-PUT; spirit=KA; 10HELIANTHUS - (health sun I)*; 11ACIDLY - AC-IDLY; 13FICHU - hidden...
View ArticleJumbo 1252 February 25, 2017
Sorry for the late posting, the dog ate my homework.This puzzle took me roughly an hour, which would suggest average difficulty, but I had a very undignified three errors. Three! One was just a typo,...
View ArticleTimes 26677 - Half a Dozen Chappies Looking for an Emperor
A very pleasant Monday offering with a smattering of European clues with the potential to stretch the grey matter of those who cry with Aguecheek that they wish they had followed the arts! My favourite...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic 790 by Mara
I finished this in 8 minutes. I think most of it is straightforward but we shall see if others agree. As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and...
View ArticleTimes 26678
This one took me a few minutes over the hour though I think I may have dozed off briefly at one point - no disrespect to the quality of the puzzle intended, just that I was very tired. I found...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 791 by Teazel
Just over the 10 minutes being held up by a couple at top and bottom of the RHS. Here and there some vocabulary which isn't in everyday use but nothing untoward. For no apparent reason it also took a...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 792 by Flamande
I thought this was a reasonably gentle offering from Flamande with a good variety of clue types. Nothing obscure, but a couple of the clues (18ac and 19d) might present newcomers with a good challenge...
View ArticleTimes 26679 - all you could wish for, and a gazelle
About 25 minutes of amusement for me with this delightful puzzle, nothing unknown, a less obscure than usual "safari animal", a cricket reference, lots of word truncation clues, nothing too UK-specific...
View ArticleTimes 26680 - two 10s and a 14 walk in to a 19a in 19d
Solving time : 14:04, but with a typo, which was initially distressing because I had a few I was not 100% on, though it turns out I had put an extra T into 4 down.I found this one very tricky - there's...
View ArticleQuick cryptic No 793 by Hawthorn
Through this in 12 minutes at 05:30 this morning, which kept my mind off the events of yesterday at least for a while. With about another million people, I was within half a mile of Westminster when I...
View ArticleTLS Crossword 1165 — 1A by Praxiteles - March 3, 2017 Return to Mugby...
....or The Magic FishboneThis is no normal TLS, and there are clearly those at t'Club who dislike it simply because everything in it is from Dickens. The extraordinary determination of Praxiteles to...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 794 by Izetti
Not much to say today. I think it was on the easier side, and I can't see much that would raise a solver's hackles. Took me 4:56.Thanks Izetti. Here's how I parsed it all. Clues are reproduced in...
View ArticleTImes 26,681: Pink Eye In The Morning, Solvers Take Warning
A beautifully set puzzle here, absolute cryptic economy combined with terrific surfaces across the board. I was really impressed by the synergy between wordplay and definition parts in multiple places...
View ArticleTimes Saturday 26676 - March 18, 2017. Insights sadly lacking.
As I start this blog I still have three answers unexplained: 1ac, 11ac, and 12dn, although given the checkers I think all three answers are clear. I hope the penny drops soon. (Aha – 1ac is very...
View ArticleTimes Jumbo 1254
Another (probably) not-exceptionally-difficult Jumbo.As always, * indicates an anagram.Across1REFECTORY - alternate letters of bEeF, in RECTORY6SHOW-OFF - SHOW, + OF F10ORIEL - OR + IE +...
View Article