Time Quick Cryptic 1016 by Breadman
A thoroughly enjoyable slice of crossword fare here in this far from bread and butter puzzle. Our setter obviously used their loaf to cook up 4dn, 5dn and possibly 1ac - I hope you rise to the...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic 26948
33 minutes for this one with no major problems along the way. Having three cryptic definitions in the Down clues is a little unusual.As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 1017 by Corelli
This puzzle was as much fun in the unpicking as it was in the solving! It took me a bit longer than average, owing mainly to the handful of clues where my general knowledge was not secure enough. So I...
View ArticleTimes 26949 - oh God it's Scottish but not a God
To say I struggled with this would be an understatement. As usual, ninety per cent of it went in pleasantly in fifteen minutes or so. I was left with a few blanks scattered around the grid, notably at...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic No 26950 Thursday, 1st February 2018 Don't Panic.
I sauntered through this in 21 minutes, not troubled too much by the golfing references which didn’t require me to know anything about golf, and relieved that the Latin references, of which there are...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic No 1018 by Tracy
A bit of an animal theme going on - we have bulls and birds and rodents and a marine mammal or two. Also, after double-checking the history of "rook", I found a bonus, animal-related verb : "to roo",...
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Monthy Club Special 20,208: Explosion in the Scrabble Tile Factory!
Greetings all, the appearance of a new Club Special reminds me that I need to post up a blog of the last one. This puzzle is a curious beast (I find): the wordplay is scrupulously fair, and would not...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic No 1019 by Joker
I always enjoy Joker's puzzles and this is no exception. Nothing too 8a or 23a, I think - I got home in well under my average time, but there were a couple of tricky ones along the way. 5a may include...
View ArticleTimes 26,951: Reverend Spooner's Free Hosiery
Another really straightforwardly clued puzzle (for a Friday); you may begin to understand why my tastes have started to branch out to more exotic meats like Club Monthlies and Magpie subscriptions....
View ArticleTimes Cryptic No 26946 - Saturday, 27 January 2018. Everything old is new again.
Well, that was hard. After about two and a half times as long as last week, I finally felt reasonably sure I knew all the answers, but now as I submit the blog five days later I am still be far from...
View ArticleJumbo 1305
A puzzle that was on the easier side, with perhaps only one unusual word (6D) and even that came with some helpful wordplay. COD to 34D for the nice surface and a favourite expression of mine.I was...
View ArticleSunday Times 4783 by David McLean
I thought this was good fun and not too tricky - thoroughly enjoyed it. Some nice laconic touches, particularly with the second rate crossword at 9ac and the happy tale of Lucky Les at 13ac. I also...
View ArticleMephisto 2996 - Tim Moorey
I was more on form than I’ve been for a while and romped through this one. It was always interesting and contains some nice clue constructions.In the blog, the definition in the clue is underlined and...
View ArticleTimes 26953 - Great is Truth, and mighty above all things
Being a bear of average brain, I rather like puzzles that are on the easier end of the scale. They make me feel a little brighter, and they reduce my SNITCH, while also reducing the difference between...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic 1020 by Flamande
I needed 12 minutes for this but am at a loss to explain why I failed to hit my 10-minute target as it all seems perfectly straightforward in retrospect. There are a few UK-centric references which may...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic 1021 by Izetti
I don’t want to talk anything up here, but there seems to have been a change in the puzzles produced by that once most fearsome of setters - our great friend, Izetti. Time was, when, much younger and...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic 26954
I found this quite tricky and needed 10 minutes over the hour to complete it. No doubt that 10 minutes will have been enough for some to solve the whole puzzle, but as I never struggled to the extent...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 1022 by Teazel
Not too tricky, but no pushover either - I thought this was a very good QC. In particular I felt it gave newcomers exposure to a number of frequently recurring conventions / tricks of the trade, so a...
View ArticleTimes 26955 - Italians, and not the Trump White House (although it's a idea!)
Another cracking Wednesday puzzle to blog; unravelling some of the parsing took a bit of the oldlateral thinking, although there was plenty of scope for BIFD. [I once heard speak the good Dr de Bono,...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 1023 by Pedro
A lovely little QC this morning from Pedro, taking me less than 10 minutes to solve, so my best time for a while, but full of interesting stuff. Following yesterday’s discussion of first letter...
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