Times Quick Cryptic No 74 by Teazel - Double Trouble!
Solving time: Medium.I found this quite a challenge today, with a couple of definitions that were new to me and had to be verified by my dictionary (the trusty Big Red Book - Chambers Dictionary). We...
View ArticleTimes 25818 - Bring The Jubilee
Hello again, it's good to be back. I must first apologise for my no-show two weeks ago today: I happened to be in a hotel room in Berlin, and was quite looking forward to getting clue-stuck over...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic Number 75 by Mara
Off to a quick start in the NW corner, but found the rest a bit more of a struggle. There was one piece of vocabulary that was unfamiliar to me (13dn), but I was relieved to find the plant quickly, as...
View ArticleSaturday Times 25813 (14th June) - much 11ac here!
Wow that was tough! I made the mistake of tackling this late at night when I was too tired to concentrate, and it went well over the half-hour. Quite a few went in just on the definition and checkers,...
View ArticleMephisto 2807 - Paul McKenna
I had a bit of a shock when I came to print this one - I don't know if it was a new version of firefox, but the grid printed across more than half the page, and most of the clues were cut off. I found...
View ArticleTimes Jumbo 1095 (7 Jun 2014)
Solving time: About two and a quarter hours all told - I'm clearly out of practice at these big onesThis should have been published yesterday, but I forgot about it. Clearly, my reliability hasn't...
View ArticleSunday Times 4592 (15 Jun 2014) by Tim Moorey
Solving Time: 1:11:27Apologies for the delay on this one. I did the crossword last weekend, but haven't written the blog yet. I'll rattle one off now - won't be long.Not much to say about this one -...
View ArticleSaturday Vintage "29582"
No reason to wait a week to blog this one, as it's not a prize puzzle (even though the solution hasn't appeared yet). I wish they'd tell us what the original number was - they always used to when...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 76 by Izetti
The puzzle can be found here: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20140623/183/This is Izetti's sixth Quick offering, I think, and has all the smoothness experienced solvers will know from his...
View ArticleTimes 25820 - Can we make that three concertos?
Solving time: 75 minutesMusic: Mozart, Violin Concertos, Grumiaux/Davis/LSO/I found this rather hard, but I suspect most of the usual gang will not find it that difficult. I wasn't sharp at solving it,...
View ArticleTimes 25,821 - Boring
The first puzzle I had printed was a Saturday Jumbo in the then London Evening News. I think it was harder than this offering. Even on blogging day I raced through in well under 15 minutes. Rather than...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 77 by Orpheus
Solving time: Easier end of scaleGreetings everyone.Standing in today after a late-night email from the boss! A nice straight forward quickie from Orpheus that should provide a pleasant solve for most...
View ArticleTimes Crossword 25,822 - What the Dickens?
Solving Time: 24 minutes; about average for a blogging day. When I typed the result into the club website to check it was all correct, I was surprised to find myself in first place, the other early...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 78, by Hurley - not that quick I'm afraid.
This took me eleven minutes with a fuzzy head from last evening's festivities. It seems to me that the Quickies are approaching the easier main puzzles in degree of difficulty, with fewer really...
View ArticleTimes crossword 25823: enough to drive you potty.
21.23 for this one, with a strong feeling that it should have been a lot quicker. The Wedgwood caused the most trouble, probably because I got fixated on gazunders and other products of the...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic No 79 by Marty
Time taken: Middling (Longer by NHS!)Apologies for the delay. Poking and prodding (and tweaking) took longer than expected.Enjoyable stuff from our setter with some nice clues to tease the mind....
View ArticleClub Monthly 20165 June 2014 - a biology lesson
Solving Time: a bit over an hour, a more or less average time for me, though I tend to do a fair bit of parsing and savouring on the way.Because it's about a month since the crossword was published, it...
View ArticleTimes 25824 - Bill Haley, won’t you please come home!
41 minutes for this delightful and lively puzzle. When I first saw the grid with no three- or four-letter words I was expecting a toughie but 1ac went in on first reading and most of it flowed very...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No. 80 by Joker
A fine, well balanced puzzle from Joker again, IMO easier than Wednesday's blog although that might be down to a lack of hangover today. Nothing obscure and a few to make you smile when the penny...
View ArticleNo blog today - my first weekend off for about 8 years!
Just a reminder that last Saturday's puzzle was the final qualifier for the Times Crossword Championships, and as such will be "live" until Monday. Jerry's prepared a blog entry for it which will...
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