Times Jumbo 1124, December 20
Happy New Year, everyone!I didn't find this puzzle too difficult (apart from - as usual in my case - the cricket-related clues). There were one or two somewhat obscure answers, such as the American...
View ArticleSaturday Times 25980 (27th Dec)
A sluggish 23:33 for my last puzzle of the year, but it was another good one in a string of top quality Saturday puzzles I've blogged recently. I expect verlaine enjoyed it too, what with all the...
View ArticleThe Sunday Times Christmas crossword by Tim Moorey.
39:15. I wasn't expecting a Jumbo when I opened this puzzle, and I might have waited for a better moment if I had known, because I was feeling decidedly under the weather. However having started I...
View ArticleMephisto 2835 - Don Manley
We close out 2014 in Mephistos with Don Manley, and a puzzle that had me stumped for a while, particularly in the bottom right corner, where I had to look most of the answers up in Chambers to be...
View ArticleSunday Times 4622 (28 Dec 2014) by Jeff Pearce
Solving time: 32:17This seemed quite a straightforward post-Christmas offering from Jeff. A reasonable number of easy starters, but a few slightly tougher ones as well. One or two words I wasn't...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 215 by Pedro
This is my first crossword blog of 2015 and the Quick Cryptic gods have seen fit to give me Pedro's fourth offering to get my teeth into. There's nothing particularly obscure here, though the first...
View ArticleTimes 25987 – 60s Retro
The first Monday of the new year and very much a typical Monday, straightforward as long as you lived through the 1960s, have watched Austin Powers or know your short-service British PMs. And the...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic - 25988
This one took me 33 minutes so I just missed my 30 minute target. There was nothing unfamiliar here apart from 21ac but there were a couple where I lost time working out wordplay. Other than those the...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 216 by Hurley
I found this considerably more difficult than yesterday's - with the crossing clues at 5dn and 8ac causing particular problems. Going over the clues again, post solve, they all hang together well - so...
View ArticleTimes Crossword 25,989 - Penguin Edition
Solving Time: About 13 minutes. I thought I was heading for a really fast time, but then got a little held up in the NE corner, with 6dn and 8dn last to go in. Some lovely clues here, (I did like...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 217 by Rongo
An 11ac, well balanced puzzle with some amusing anagram indicators I'd not seen used before; "fidget" and "pants". 9 minutes with the parsing understood, except for 18ac in part, see below. The first...
View ArticleMIND Charity Cryptic Quiz
Richard Cleaver has once again produced a Cryptic Quiz in aid of MIND - The Mental Health Charity. The subject this time is food and drink, and there are 100 definitionless cryptic clues to solve which...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic No 218 by Joker
Solving time: Intermediate (due to a couple of self-induced problems).Happy new year everyone. Back from my week away and redy to carry on the battle with the evil masterminds Mr Rogan keeps locked in...
View Article25990 The one with a mission to the Gentiles.
An odd feel to this one: it felt harder than is was, and I disposed of it in 15.12, about 2 minutes sub par for me. Mostly somewhat lengthy clues, of the kind which conjure up rather pleasing, but also...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 219 by Flamande
Another fine puzzle, perhaps a touch easier than two days ago (it took me ten minutes); nothing too obscure except maybe the name of a 'correctional facility' and a chap who wrote 'Living Doll' as well...
View ArticleTimes 25,991: Nursery Crimes
Enjoyed this one a lot. With a busy Friday morning schedule to contend with, I elected to stay up till midnight on Thursday to do it online, and was able to hit the submit button 16 and a half minutes...
View ArticleBoxing Day Times Jumbo 1125
Solving time: 1:40:36 - spread over a couple of sessionsI found it quite easy to get going with this one. An enjoyable puzzle with no quibbles from me. Some very good clues amongst this lot, like 18a,...
View ArticleSaturday Times 25986 (3rd January)
First one of the new year, and we're off to an easy start. 11:10 for me on the Monday morning train, and 4th of the journey after Monday's Times and Guardian and the Sunday Times, so perhaps I was...
View ArticleSunday Times 4623 by Dean Mayer
I don't have a time for this. Being called upon to repair a cello halfway through doesn't half mess with solving speed, don't you find? By the time I'd done that I didn't have time to finish before we...
View ArticleMephisto 2836 by Tim Moorey
A fairly gentle opening to 2015 with a pleasant if undemanding puzzleAcross1EARD - (h)EARD; see yird in C - to plant in Perth; 4MESOCARP - (some)*-CARP; a layer of cells within a fruit; 9FLARE-UPS -...
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