Times 25524 - Game, Set & Championship
First, a follow-up on my last blog headline ... Congratulaions, Andy Murray.Today, there's yet another good Times puzzle, complete with all manner of devices. Sorry, I am a bit tardy with this blog as...
View ArticleTimes - 25525 - Back to Basics
A very pleasant, mostly straightforward puzzle that came as something of a relief after my last blog and several subsequent offerings. It still delayed me longer than it should have, taking me 47...
View ArticleTimes Jumbo 1042
41:49 on the Club timer, which rightly suggests something a bit trickier than usual. This was a tremendously good puzzle, I thought, with very smooth surfaces, some tricky definitions, a wide range of...
View ArticleSaturday Times 25520 (7th July)
22:46 for this one, another tired solve on the Monday morning train (when will I learn that I'm no good on Mondays). Anyway, once again I'm working today and have been trying to put this together in...
View ArticleMephisto 2758 by Tim Moorey
Standard, middle of the road, Mephisto. I have one query at one across, where I'm not happy with the definition.Across1RAMILLIES - ARMIES switching right to left=RAMIES; insert heart from...
View ArticleSunday Times 4545 (7 Jul 2013) by Dean Mayer
Solving time: About 45 minutes.It took me an age to see the long anagram at 10/12, plus I put COALSACK at 4a (although I was never entirely happy with it) which stopped me getting 5d. 13d had confused...
View ArticleTimes 25527 - Maybe you do need a weatherman....
Solving time: 65 minutes elapsed, about 30 solvingGolf: 5-hole playoff in IowaI'm making a bonus appearance tonight as a substitute for Ulaca, who is traveling this week. Usually, when I get a puzzle...
View ArticleTimes 25,528 - not necessarily in the right order?
Just under 10 minutes, for a puzzle which I thought had a pleasantly old-fashioned feel to it. In line with that, I could be wrong, but my instinct suggests this will be a puzzle where experienced...
View ArticleTimes 25529: Voici l’Anglais avec son sang-froid habituel*
Solving time: 27:44Third puzzle this week I’ve found quite difficult; particularly, in this case, on the left-hand side — though with a few simpler clues on the right to compensate. Wonder if it’s the...
View ArticleTimes 25523: Third Qualifier
As the convention has it, no specific time for this. Simply to say, I found this the hardest of the three by far. This may have to do with completing the 1973 puzzle first and then readjusting to the...
View ArticleTimes 25530 - a different kind of setter
Solving time : 16:52 - there's some very very well hidden definitions in here (and one where I can't get the wordplay just yet) so I think there might be some who struggle with this. It may also be a...
View ArticleTimes 25531 - A placeholder
My apologies. I just remembered it was my turn to blog as I was heading to bed. I've made a start on it, but I need to tackle it when I'm fresher, so I shall endeavour to get up early and finish it then.
View ArticleSaturday Times 25526 (13th July)
Solving time, probably over half an hour in the end, but only because of the infamous 12ac which seemed to catch most people out. As usual I was solving this on the Monday morning commute and it was...
View ArticleJumbo 1043
Nothing particularly noteworthy or controversial in this - regular Saturday Jumbo fare.However, having said that, I made a rather silly mistake with 1D which I thought I had solved as my first one in...
View ArticleMephisto 2759 - Paul McKenna
I was a test solver for this puzzle, so I got to have the week off last week. My main comment on the original was that I thought that solvers would get a number of answers from definition alone. In the...
View ArticleSunday Times 4546 (14 Jul 2013) by Tim Moorey
Solving time: 21:41I did this one online for a change, and recorded one of my fastest times in recent memory. I don’t know if this one was particularly easy, or if I just found myself on Tim's...
View ArticleTimes 25533 - Hail Phil!
Mickelson may not be everyone's cup of tea but he's one hell of a golfer. As for this puzzle, I finally got a clear run at it, only to come unstuck in the NE, where, despite multiple attempts to cheat,...
View ArticleTimes 25,534 - It Takes Two To Get One In Trouble
Solving time 15 minutesAn easy puzzle on the day we celebrate the birth of a new royal baby - congratulations to Kate and William.Across1BOFFIN - B-OFF-IN; Q perhaps; 4MALARKEY - MA(LARK)E-Y(orkshire);...
View ArticleTimes Crossword 25,535 - welcome back to blogging edition
Solving Time: Hmm, is it just me or is this quite a hard crossword? I am out of blogging practice, and it took me over forty minutes to solve this. However it felt like a top class crossword, with some...
View ArticleTimes 25536 - Baby Gaga
The English-speaking world cannot help but be overwhelmed by the massive media hoo-ha surrounding the birth of a royal who will be king. Good for you, GB and the piece that got my biggest cheer was a...
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