Saturday Times 25693 (25th Jan)
Quite a tricky one, this, especially (for me) the bottom left corner. Solved in about 20 minutes, with quite a few solved from the definition and crossing letters. I only sorted out the cryptic parsing...
View ArticleMephisto 2787 - Don Manley
I remember doing this in one session, so it wasn't too far to the right on the difficulty-o-meter. As one would expect, clear wordplay with a few crafty tricks in the clues.Just got back from a DVD...
View ArticleSunday Times 4574 (26 Jan 2014) by Jeff Pearce
Solving time: About 45 minutesApologies for the lateness of the blog - I just about got it posted on the right day! I was held up, like many others according to the forum, on 1d & 26a. Also on 17d...
View ArticleTimes 25700 - Oh, MOMA!
Solving time: 35 minutesMusic: Joni Mitchell, Miles of AislesAn easy puzzle with a sting in the tail, I'm afraid. While our Dorset correspondent likes to complain of obscure poets, I am usually stuck...
View ArticleTimes 25,701 - A Pennyweight Puzzle
What can one say about this very strange mixture of a puzzle that requires quite a bit of GK, much of it related to literature. I don't think there's a clever clue or an original definition in the...
View ArticleTimes Crossword 25,702 - sporting no undies?
Solving Time: 24 minutes, once again with one wrong, this time a simple typo. I solve on paper and then tend to be a bit 8dn filling in the online grid, leaving me 27ac when errors flag up. This...
View Article25703 They don't come much easier
This one turned out to be a ten minute romp, which allowing for my clumsy and inattentive typing techniques is about as fast as I can go. A couple of words were not that familiar - 12 for its...
View ArticleTimes 25704 - Not a stinker!
After so many erudite and entertaining blogs over recent days I'm afraid this one's going to let the side down with a bang because I've very little to say about this puzzle. It's a workmanlike effort...
View ArticleSaturday Times 25699 (1st Feb) - 11 12, and a Happy Retirement!
A rare Nina in the cryptic, but I'm sure we all wish the outgoing editor Richard Browne all the best for a happy retirement, and the new editor Richard Rogan the best of luck in his new job. I made the...
View ArticleMephisto 2788 by Tim Moorey
Our run of rather easy puzzles does now appear to have been replaced by a run of middle of the road ones. This is a standard, enjoyable, offering that should assist new solvers to learn without causing...
View ArticleSunday Times 4575 (2 Feb 2014) by Dean Mayer
Solving time: 64:25, albeit amidst distractionsAnother excellent puzzle from Dean. Plenty to titter about for the schoolboys amongst us in BUM, BALLS, PUSSY, and a few others as well, but they're all...
View ArticleTimes Jumbo 1075 (25 Jan 2014)
Solving time: About 1 hour 35 minutes - with one mistake.It seemed quite an easy one, although there were plenty of excellent clues here. I still don't really understand 54a, but no doubt someone will...
View ArticleTimes 25706 - One from the Nursery Slopes
Definitely one for the first-time snowboarder rather than the triple-corking slopestyler. I was only taken over the 20-minute mark by having too much knowledge at 1dn. A first time for everything...21...
View ArticleTimes 25,707
Started slowly, but as I went on I found myself swiftly gathering speed, possibly because this grid is very friendly, thanks to the long clues around each side (assuming you get them, of course...)...
View ArticleTimes 25708: Pulling a few punches
Solving time: 38:44About as hard a Wednesday puzzle as I’ve seen in a while. Trying to get the parsings for the blog slowed things down even more. There seem to be a fair few letter substitutions and...
View ArticleTimes 25709 - a frosty special
Solving time : 24:51 - I was utterly stuck on the bottom left hand side and needed to take a break, answer some text messages and see if things came together. They did, but this is not a puzzle for the...
View ArticleTimes 25710
Solving time: 23:50I half expected some sort of Valentine theme today, then after meeting Macbeth, Richard and Othello in the first half dozen clues, I thought I was in for some sort of Shakespearean...
View ArticleSaturday Times 25705 (8th Feb)
Solving time 22:15, so on the tricky side for me. A bit late posting today as I was up half the night, and also out earlier sweeping tiles from the street which had still been on my roof yesterday...
View ArticleJumbo 1076 - February 1st - and an apology for truancy
Apologies for going walkabout for the my last few jumbos, although I am sure no-one really noticed! I had been led to believe that the blog was winding down at the end of the year as all of my...
View ArticleMephisto 2789 - Paul McKenna
I found this one a little more tricky than recent offerings. Still unsure of one or two of the wordplays, but hopefully they will come as I write this up. As usual, Paul McKenna has me trawling the...
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