Times 27015 - first TCC qualifier published 18 April - it's 26 across.
These qualifiers tend not to be too tricky as presumably the organisers want to encourage entries and check out times rather than put people off. This was no exception and I had all but 16a and 17d...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic No 1079 by Izetti
Another lovely puzzle from Izetti today. This one took a bit of work to crack with one or two clues rather more devious than the usual QC affair, but there are enough relatively easy ones to gives us...
View ArticleTimes 27,023: And May There Be No Moaning Of The Bar
I'm running late this morning but have a quickie. This seemed like a fun puzzle from a setter who was really enjoying themselves - a quick scan down my parsings reminds me of numerous "cryptic defs",...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic No 27018 - Saturday, 21 April 2018. A classic beauty – but...
I think that barring some quibbles this is the best Saturday puzzle I have had the privilege of blogging. Clue after clue was a gem of the setter’s art. Sadly, it was beyond my abilities so I don’t...
View ArticleJumbo 1318
Sorry for the slight delay in posting this - I was going to set it to post automatically early this morning but other tasks intervened. Apologies for any errors due to haste.Nothing to quibble about in...
View ArticleSunday Times 4795 by David McLean
A pleasant, fairly gentle puzzle from Harry this week with some nice twists and sleights of hand. I particularly enjoyed the neat construction of 10ac with the Ts removed from two words, and the...
View ArticleMephisto 3008 - Tim Moorey
Some GK required for this one: ski resort; Greek island; school attended by UK politician; Chicago railway; old film star. Most curious is the docked US town for which there are several candidates,...
View ArticleTimes 27025 - Lessons to Learn
Today I will be doing something that I have never done in my six years of blogging, namely, offering advice to the setters and the editor. This is something that I am loath to do, and I do it not...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic 1080 by Teazel
I needed 17 minutes to complete this, held up by a few things bordering on the obscure. On edit, perhaps I should have said 'bordering on the obscure even in the main puzzle, but definitely so in a...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic 1081 by Corelli
1081 by CorelliSmiles all round today starting at 1ac, again at COD 7dn and finishing with LOI 13dn - a 'doh' to end the puzzle. I spent 11 enjoyable minutes completing this so I’d judge that as medium...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic 27026
I've no solving time to offer for this one but it was somewhere off the scale, though not as far off it as yesterday's. All the clues seem fair enough in retrospect with only two unkown words that were...
View ArticleMonthly Club Special 20,211 (1/4/2014): Isn't Nature Wonderful
Let us first address the loxodont in the room: there was a lot, and I mean a lot of obscure natural history in this puzzle. If you are the kind of person who can see the terms silkworm, dandelion,...
View ArticleQC 1082 by Hurley
Good puzzle for the newer solvers today - nice variety of clue types and all pretty straightforward, I believe. One obscure bird at 23ac, but the wordplay was very generous and (if one regards the QC...
View ArticleTimes 27027 - pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga...
A bit of a curate's egg for me, this one, some quickie-standard write-ins and a few with devious wordplay, but nothing much to start an argument about. Except the lack of science-y clues, of course....
View ArticleTimes 27028 - when a spirit fails to possess you
Solving time: 17:11, with about three minutes of it on the last entry, which was 19 down. I thought I was off to a good start on this one, but really slowed down for the last dozen or so answers,...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 1083 by Izetti
13 minutes for this little cracker from Izetti. This does require a modicum of General Knowledge, 1a, 12a, 18a, 20a, 9d and 13d, but nothing too difficult (and well short of Teazel’s 100th on Monday!)....
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 1084 by Wurm
I enjoyed this. A little more challenging than usual, but all the better for it. Some of the answers are obscure (to me) but presented with straightforward wordplay, so fair enough. Took me around 12...
View ArticleTimes 27,029: All The News That's Fit To Print
Very easy for a Friday I thought - I had this done in under 6 minutes, and that was after a disgusting gin that I mixed with plain water instead of lovely tonic by mistake and had to gulp down as...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic No 27024 - Saturday, 28 April 2018. Definitions, definitions...
Well there were some tours de force in this puzzle, capped by the quadruple definition at 25ac – yes, four of them in a surface that reads naturally! And supported by a triple definition elsewhere to...
View ArticleSunday Times 4796 by Jeff Pearce
13:26. Nothing too taxing here, but for the second time in a row I have the blogger’s nightmare of being unable to explain something. In fact this week there are two clues I don’t understand so I've...
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