Jumbo 1013
Published on Boxing Day, so my concentration levels were not at their best when I solved this after a family lunch. I can't remember my time, but it was nothing special. No particular highlights or...
View ArticleTimes Jumbo 1012
49:36 on the club timer - this puzzle is only a fortnight old, but it feels like ancient history after a Christmas break in which there were all sorts of bonus puzzles as well as the usual holiday...
View ArticleSunday Times 4517 (23 Dec 2012) - Dean's Christmas Cracker
Solving time: 1:55:40An excellent Yuletide solve from Anax this. I have no complaints about any of the clues, and some of them were really excellent. 2, 11 & 14 were probably the pick of the bunch...
View ArticleSunday Times 4518 (30 Dec 2012) by Jeff Pearce - Substance abuse
Solving time: 24:33 - with one mistake.Quite a gentle Sunday solve this week, after last week's time-consuming Jumbo. I made one clumsy mistake at 2d due to not spending enough time parsing the...
View ArticleMephisto 2731 - Tim Moorey
One of the more challenging Mephistos I can recall - there's a lot that is way outside of my ken, but may be more familiar to more experienced solvers. Not a lot of giveaways, though everything seems...
View Article2013 - Centenary Year of the Crossword
This year is the centenary of the crossword, the first "Word-Cross" puzzle having been published in the New York World on December 21st 1913. To mark this, John Halpern, a Times setter who also sets...
View ArticleTimes 25365 - He's a peninsula!
Solving time: 40 minutesMusic: Bach, Suites for Cello and Piano, Starker/SybokHere we have a puzzle designed for the better-educated. If words like 'usufruct' do not come easily to mind, and you have...
View ArticleTimes 25,366 The Anniversary Waltz
Solving time 20 minutesAs you now know 2013 sees the centenary of the invention of the crossword in 1913 so I thought we might highlight one or two less important events in that monumental year.Luckily...
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Festive Survey 2012 - Results
Results of the Festive Survey 2012Thank you to everyone who made this what any self-respecting TV presenter (there must be some) would call "a bumper year for the Festive Survey!!!"We had 210...
View ArticleTimes Crossword 25,367 - Homophony
Solving Time: about 20 minutes, in other words about averagely hard. I thought it a pleasant, well constructed crossword, with some clever cluing - a model Times cryptic. Unfortunately I managed to...
View ArticleTimes 25,368 - Supporter of Women
A very enjoyable morning's mental work-out after my early morning run to shed more baggage picked up during the festive season. The only term new to me was 2Down but this was compensated by the simple...
View ArticleTimes 25369 - Yet another sting in the tail
Time taken to solve: 30 minutes for all but 16dn which I never heard of and took some working out. I also spent extra time considering an alternative at 26ac but plumped eventually for my first...
View ArticleSaturday Times 25364 (5th Jan)
Solving time 12:56. First Saturday puzzle of 2013, and it's a largely straightforward solve apart from a couple of very intricate bits of wordplay to unpick (I'm thinking of 3D and...
View ArticleTimes Jumbo 1014
I'd wondered whether the Jumbo for the weekend between Christmas and New Year would be tougher than uual, as a holiday bonus, but that didn't seem to be the case; I managed to time myself properly for...
View ArticleMephisto 2732 by Paul McKenna - Easy-osy
I just don't know what to say about this puzzle. I was reading clues and writing in answers and that just shouldn't happen with a Mephisto. I never once referred to Chambers and solved it in much the...
View ArticleSunday Times 4519 (6 Jan 2013) by Tim Moorey - Toughest of the year so far!
Solving time: About an hour of solving time.I started this online at my desk at work on Friday lunchtime, but printed it out after about half an hour and went to the kitchen for a change of scenery...
View ArticleTimes 25371 - May the Fours Be With You
The presence of two recondite words at 4 across and 4 down means that this puzzle is going to find a few out - including me. I 'resorted to aids', as the saying goes, pleased to have the excuse of...
View ArticleTimes 25,372
28:08 on the Club timer. Sometimes you find yourself absolutely in tune with a puzzle, and can hardly write the answers in fast enough; other times you realise you're just not on the setter's...
View ArticleTimes Jumbo 1015 (1 Jan 2013) - New Year's Day Special - One monkey or two
Solving time: 62:19I found this a very easy solve. Indeed this is probably a record time for a jumbo for me, almost under the hour.There does appear to be a mistake at 39a, however. The setter seems...
View ArticleTimes 25373: From The Merchants of Venice with Food
Solving time: 29:32Probably spent too long trying to construe some clues when the answers were obvious from the definitions (and/or checking letters). By the same token, the only answer I’d never heard...
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