Quick Cryptic 31 set by Dazzler
Because of the broken link at the Times I've put up today's Quickie #31 here:http://jackkt.livejournal.com/This one took me 11 minutes so was possibly at the easier end of the spectrum for a Quickie,...
View ArticleTimes 25,767
16:06 on the Club timer, so by that measure this wasn't the hardest puzzle of recent times; but in amongst some entry-level clues were a number of very clever ones, so it wasn't the easiest either. I...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 32 Hurley
Little to say about this puzzle. I seemed to rattle through it reasonably quickly and didn't get a kick out of any of the solutions which is most unusual. Definition parts of clues underlined where...
View ArticleTimes 25768: Garçon!
Solving time: 25:14In retrospect should have seen some answers much more quickly. But I was having a bit of a dose of blogger’s nerves, so wanted to check everything against parsings before I put them...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 33 by Flamande
Greetings from New Caledonia, where Mrs. Novice (there's some scope for wordplay in there somewhere) and I are currently holidaying. A delightful piece of France in the South Pacific, here you can sit...
View ArticleTimes Crossword 25,762 - First Championship Qualifier
Solving Time: Apparently there is a tradition that we do not state times for completing qualifiers, as it might be either seen as boasting or off-putting, depending presumably on the time. (query:...
View ArticleTimes 25769: when religion meets maths
Solving time : 15:33, putting me at the top of the Club timer, but I suspect not for long. There's a few that I was kicking myself for not seeing straight off, so there's some nice setter's craft here....
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic No 34 by Teazel
Hi everyone. I'm sorry for being late on parade today. Had an early appointment at the hospital that overran because of IT problems. Time taken was a little over 12 minutes. A nice pleasant solve today...
View ArticleClub Monthly 20163 April 2014 - Value for money edition
Solving Time: About 1 1/4 hrs, though I don't think it was any more difficult than usual. A few in the SW corner took time to arrive, that's all. Actually I don't much care about the time. The clues...
View ArticleTimes 25770
Solving time: 53:20I solved most of this quite quickly, but came unstuck in the NE, and that took me an age to untangle.Some good clues here - 19d was a good spot by the setter, also the notes in 10a...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 35 by Oran
Without the grid-width 1ac, and with only 3 of the 6 first down clues, I found this a bit of challenge to get into. And had a lot of fun as a consequence! Very satisfied to put the last couple in at...
View ArticleSaturday Times 25765 (19th April)
Solving time 14:05, so I found it much easier than the previous week's one, although a lot of people commented on how tricky this one was (and the leaderboard tends to back them up). Good...
View ArticleMephisto 2799 - Don Manley
Most of this went in very quickly, but then I hit a few strange words with general knowledge wordplay, and after finding them from the definition in the dictionary, I had to do a bit of online...
View ArticleSunday Times 4586 and Dave Perry
Bad news I'm afraid. Dave emailed me yesterday to inform me he's had a stroke, so will obviously be unavailable for blogging duties until further notice. I had intended to do his Sunday Times blog...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 36 by Joker
The current link on the Times site is pointing towards last Monday's puzzle - the correct link should be to: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20140428/141/The link on the site is now...
View ArticleJumbo 1086 - April 12th
Definitely my hardest jumbo in a long while. Struggled a lot in the NE corner, mainly with clues in and around 6A. I am always in two minds when there is unknown (to me) vocabulary as to whether it is...
View ArticleTimes 25772 - A Stroll in the Stroller?
A pleasant enough puzzle, but not much more taxing than a Quickie. I never thought I'd be talking about accessible puzzles and Dean Mayer in the same breath, but yesterday's Sunday Times is another...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic no. 37 by Marty
I think this is an excellent crossword - on the harder side of usual (25 minutes for me including the parsing). There is so much play in the word play that I've taken the explanations out of the clues....
View ArticleTimes 25,773 From DOS To Windows
An interesting puzzle that was never dull but which some may find frustrating because of its, at times obscure, references. 30 minutes to solve.Across1HYDERABAD - H-(ready)*-BAD; City of Pearls in...
View ArticleTimes Crossword 25,774 - Steamy Edition
Solving Time: 22 minutes, plus a few to check some parsings. About average for a blooging day, but I was slow to get started and it didn't feel easy. I'm pleased with the time, in the end. I think I...
View Article