Times Crossword 25,930 - gazetteer edition
Solving Time: 16 minutes, so a bit quicker than normal. I had the left side done in no time, but then got a little bogged down in the East. Something of an overseas feel about today's clues, what with...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 168 by Juno - pot pourri
A nice mixture of clue types today requiring a modicum of general knowledge - dogs, a capital, a composer and a biblical chap, to list a few. Across7REVUE - REV (vicar), U (university), E (English);...
View Article25931. In which Ahmet (God willing) and Pete are told to get married again
Not, I have to say, my best ever solve: a 30 minute struggle against what I hope is subtle and difficult cluing. Either that or I'm losing my touch. My effort was more or less undone by the prodding...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 169 by Orpheus
Solving time: straightforward.Morning all, thanks to my stand-in last Thursday when the good NHS called me for a very late poke and prod appointment. Orpheus is here today and should prove a nice solve...
View ArticleClub Monthly 20169 - October 2014
Solving Time: Not sure, can't get excited about the solving times any more. It took three sessions, so maybe 1 1/4 hours or thereabouts, because after another rapid start - 1ac, 1dn and 11ac all...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 170 by Tracy
Easier than Wednesday's Juno puzzle, I thought (I generally only do these quick cryptics if I'm blogging them); no exotic GK needed except for a town in Nottinghamshire.Across1CHOW - Double def; breed...
View ArticleTimes 25,932: Critique of Impure (Reason*)
It's half-term and the kids are plonked open-mouthed and vacant-eyed in front of Q Pootle 5, so I probably out to keep it brief today! Fortunately this was a quick solve, about 10 minutes on the nose,...
View ArticleSaturday Times 25927 (25th Oct)
Finally got round to solving this on the train on Wednesday, and it was pretty straightforward for a Saturday, knocked out in a fairly leisurely 12:50. Some general knowledge required, but nothing too...
View ArticleTimes Jumbo 1115 (18 Oct 2014)
Solving time: Probably about 3 hours all told, but I wasn't really concentrating a lot of the time.I found this one quite hard going, and I didn't really get on the setter's wavelength throughout....
View ArticleSunday Times 4613 by Jeff Pearce
9:40 for what is largely a plain vanilla puzzle. There's one I can't explain though, which is a bit embarrassing. Doubtless someone will be along to help shortly.Across1Author's strong feelings in...
View ArticleMephisto 2826 by Don Manley
A very easy puzzleAcross2CRIMINATORY - CRI-MINATORY; CRI=Charles Rex 1 = monarch in Civil War; threatening=MINATORY; accusative is definition; 11VEERING - VEE-RING; VEE=V; V-sign=Harvey Smith; 13ELDIN...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 171 by Joker
After several weeks without incident the id code for today's Quickie is out of sequence so I am posting the url here in case solvers are having problems findng it:...
View ArticleTimes 25934 – Everything's bottoms, isn't it?
As easy as it gets [on edit - for me - I seem to have been in the zone today like that bloke who tonked the Aussies about for the world's fastest ton]. 15 minutes.ACROSS1. SAVILE ROW – VILE + ROW...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 172 by Mara
Had trouble finding the crossword earlier today - I was trying the correct address but not getting anywhere but thanks to jackkt for his help nevertheless. The link is now working fine. More than...
View ArticleTimes 25,935
12:04 on the Club timer, which puts me within my daily target of 2 Magoos, so I was clearly on the right wavelength - a sprinkling of classics and religion gave this an old-fashioned feel which I'm...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 173 by Dazzler
Interesting mix of quite a few fairly straightforward ones, and a couple of decidedly tricky affairs (at least, I thought 23ac and 18dn were real doozies...). A bit of cricket knowledge helps, and...
View ArticleTimes 25936 - heat one puzzle one
"This puzzle was solved within 60 mins by 43 of the 74 competitors in Heat One of the 2014 Times Crossword Championship" says the headline. (A bit misleading; you also solve 2 other puzzles within the...
View ArticleTimes 25937 - people, places and things
Solving time : 10:16, which at the moment has me fourth on the Club Timer. It seemed to me there were a lot of proper nouns, names, places, titles in this one, so it may be appreciated more by those...
View ArticleTimes Quick Crossword No 174 by Izetti - brought to you in association with...
Solving time: straightforward.Morning all.The Don is here today with a puzzle that is at the softer end of the scale, and will encourage some of the newer solvers. Nothing too stressful here, although...
View ArticleTimes 25,938: Been Down So Long It Looks Like Across To Me
Thanking the crossword gods for an easyish one this morning - we're moving house tomorrow, so the house is a Rachel Whiteread installation of stacked boxes, I've got to head out and sign my life away...
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