Times Cryptic No 26796, Saturday, 05 August 2017. Everything old is new again?
This was my first blog from the new Crossword Club site. I was able to solve on paper more or less as usual. The only real hiccup came when I tried to cut and paste the clues into this blog, but we may...
View ArticleJumbo 1277 July 29, 2017
A new Jumbo PB for me, 24:51. Pretty sure that says more about the crossword than it does about me.Not much more to say really, so here's how I parsed it....Clues are reproduced in blue, with the...
View ArticleMephisto 2971 - Don Manley
New format, and I for one welcome our new Mephisto formatting overlords, as this one printed automatically on one sheet of paper. Woohoo! For many years I've been loading the grid and adjusting the...
View ArticleSunday Times 4758 by Dean Mayer
10:53. The new Puzzle Club doesn’t give scores or leaderboard positions for competition puzzles until the solution is published, so I don’t know whether my time for this puzzle is relatively fast or...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 895 by Mara
I took a bit longer than usual for this, which I'd like to say was due to savouring one of the more geography-heavy puzzles we've had in recent times but was probably more just due to being a bit...
View ArticleTimes 26803 - Not as meaty as you might suppose....
Time: 19 MinutesMusic: Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition, JoselsonWell, this was an easy Monday for me, but lurking at the back of my mind was a suspicion that not everyone will agree. Long-time...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic 26804
I needed 48 minutes for this one. I thought it was going to be easy because I wrote in 7 adjoining answers in the NW straightaway but then slowed to a crawl, gradually picking off the answers one by...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic 896 by Joker
Having fun with a new version of live journal editor. This blog was posted some time ago but ended up in the wrong place. So - here we go again.Thought I was on for a very fast time until the SW corner...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 897 by Flamande
Happily completed this one with my other half. Despite not being a regular solver, she completed much of it without hesitation or complaint, and only needed my (doubtful) help to crack the SE corner....
View ArticleTimes 26805 - trickier than a magicians' megafest
I like a challenge. I enjoyed most of this, it has some excellent clues with nice PDMs. Looking at it now I've finally got there, nearly an hour, with the use of a solver for one clue and an exposed...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic No 26806 Thursday, 17 August 2017 It can't be effed.
As happened last time I blogged, the club version didn’t turn up until I had completed the online paper version, which is eerily similar until it disturbingly vanishes after you tap in the last letter....
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic No 898 by Teazel
I found this very tough today. Or at least, I made very heavy weather of it - I threw in the towel at the 25 minute mark with 1d and 9ac unanswered, which is my worst performance in... well, as long as...
View ArticleTLS Crossword 1186 by Myrtilus - July 28 That’s All folks
I am relieved of this most pleasant of duties with this last TLS before the axe fell, and I’m already suffering withdrawal pains. Many thanks are due to Talos (still available in the Sunday Times),...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 899 by Pedro
Morning all. Not much to say today on what I thought was a fairly straightforward offering from Pedro. Took me 4:08.Anyone trying to improve his or her solving skills could do a lot worse than...
View ArticleTimes 26,807: Art For Art's Sake
I solved this puzzle feeling somewhat under duress last night, in the wee small hours after a convivial evening, and while my run of sub-10-minute times has not been shattered, the relative...
View ArticleTimes Saturday Cryptic No 26802 – 12 August 2017. Very relaxing.
I got through this in just over an hour, so quickly for me. And all done without paper on the new site, since I’m travelling. It was the sort of puzzle I like, with clever word-play leading to...
View ArticleJumbo 1278
This is my first blog since the update to the Crossword Club, and as such I cannot be sure that all my analysis is correct, typing this before the solution is available. Previously I could tell by my...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic 891 by Felix - it's a gas...
Four long answers look daunting but break down quite simply. With these in, the rest ought to follow reasonable easily. I took 12 minutes but spent some time chewing on some word play. I quite liked...
View ArticleJumbo 1278
This is my first blog since the update to the Crossword Club, and as such I cannot be sure that all my analysis is correct, typing this before the solution is available. Previously I could tell by my...
View ArticleSunday Times 4759 by David McLean
It's always encouraging when you spot 1 across in a heartbeat - particularly when it gives you the entire top row - and sure enough I found this to be one of Harry's less demanding offerings, albeit...
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