Times 25342 - All I'm looking for is a fair sheik!
Solving time: 65 minutesMusic: Bizet, L'Arlesienne Suites, Martinon/CSOI knew this would happen - three weeks of easy Monday puzzles, and then when I return to blogging, a more difficult offering. Not,...
View ArticleTimes 25,343 - Architecture from Birmingham To Bath
Solving time 15 minutesI had no problems with this and expect some fast times. A puzzle with an arts leaning and two reasonably obscure plants. We have "Albert Square", an imaginary place from a TV...
View ArticleTimes Crossword 25,344 - an explosive event
Solving Time: 26 minutes, about average for my blog efforts. I suspect this may be on the harder side rather than the easier. It calls for some general knowledge (quite right too), a wee bit of...
View ArticleTimes 25345 - frenetic fortunate facility
Solving time : 9 minutes 11 seconds on the club timer, good for top spot for now, but I suspect not for long - my last in being an anagram that I think most of the regulars will see the first time....
View ArticleTimes 25346 - Struggled a bit
I went over the hour by a few minutes on this one. I didn’t have problems starting but I couldn’t get it to flow so I was constantly hopping around the grid putting in odd words here and there. I can't...
View ArticleSaturday Times 25341 (8th Dec)
My last chance for Christmas shopping today so I'll have to do this later. Much later, as it turned out. I was too tired when I got home yuesterday, but here it is. Solving time 11:46, so another...
View ArticleJumbo 1009 (1st Dec)
Posted on Helen's behalf as her PC's playing up.I wasn't able to time myself for this puzzle, but I thought it was on the difficult side, with nicely misleading surface readings for several of the...
View ArticleSunday Times 4515 (9 Dec 2012) by Dean Mayer
Solving time: 1:24:13After last week's walk in the park, Dean's offering this week was always going to be tough.I stared at it for about 20 minutes before I entered my first answer, having read through...
View ArticleMephisto 2728 by Tim Moorey - You Can Squidge My Wink
This was very easy fare and presented no problemsAcross1RICERCAR - RICE-R(ubbra)-CAR; old word for twigs=RICE; an old fugue as used by J S Bach in The Musical Offering; 7PERV - PER-V; a=PER; verb=V;...
View ArticleProblems with the site
Something strange is going on. If you're logged in you'll see this post, if you're not, there's a good chance you won't.Yesterday, my placeholder and Helen's Jumbo blog (as submitted by her and again...
View ArticleTimes 25348 - At the second hole on the final day of the Masters.....
Solving time: 16 minutesMusic: Pictures at an Exhibition - RichterThis is by far the easiest puzzle I have ever blogged. I don't know what got into them, but some of the clues are barely cryptic at...
View ArticleTimes 25,349
19:01 on the Club timer. My initial reaction: after yesterday's almost non-existent challenge, something much more substantial and challenging. I shall wait to see if other people had a similar...
View ArticleTimes 25350: Plucking game birds
Solving time: 20:26Not quite as easy as Monday’s and not quite as hard (or enjoyable) as yesterday’s. Perhaps a couple of bits of vocab (18ac, 24dn) might be unfamiliar; but the clues pretty much give...
View ArticleTimes 25,351 - A Bit Of A Laugh
Had a lovely time in Fujian, China attending the consecration of an ancestral temple, together with thousands of people from all over the world whose surname is Yap and whose forebears originated from...
View ArticleTimes 25352
Solving time: 31:36I didn't have any major problems with this, despite tackling it after midnight and being quite tired, so I suspect it must be on the easy side.A couple of unknown words for me today...
View ArticleFestive Survey 2012
Yes, it's that time again: chestnuts roasting, puddings steaming, family descending, credit cards maxed out and little else for it but to turn to drink. It must be time for the … Festive Survey.This...
View ArticleSaturday Times 25347 (15th Dec)
Solving time 16:05, so about average for a Saturday puzzle. Sorry it's a bit rushed, but I'm lousy with flu this morning. Hope I feel better by Tuesday!Across1DOWNPLAY - L (pounds) inside DOWN...
View ArticleTimes Jumbo 1010 (8 Dec 2012)
Solving time: About 1 hour 40 minutes.On the whole a pleasant solve. I was held up by never having heard of either of the two long ones at 4 & 15. I loved the 'four out of five' device at 10d so...
View ArticleSunday Times 4516 (16 Dec 2012) by Tim Moorey
Solving time: About an hourI did about half of this in a dentist's waiting room, and then on the bus on the way back to work. I finished it the following day over another half-hour or so, concluding in...
View ArticleMephisto 2728 - Tim Moorey - Placeholder
It's been one of those weekends, I completely misread the day of John Halpern's skype call (did anyone else make it?) and when I came to write the Mephisto blog, LiveJournal is down. It came up just...
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