Times 26,009: Thomas Love Peacock's Holiday Home
Extremely straightforward today I thought - resulting in a near-PB for me of 8m 47s. Don't know about the rest of you but I would always rather have more stumbling blocks thrown in my path, more...
View ArticleSaturday Times 26004 (24th Jan)
Solving time 14:20, so a pretty average time for me. To get 10ac, 22dn and 24dn it helps to be an opera buff I guess (but then that is part of the "assumed knowledge" required of Times solvers). Hands...
View ArticleMephisto 2839 - Tim Moorey
I did this one pretty early on in the week so I'm trying to remember the solving process. I seem to recall having two pretty short sessions, one with Chambers and not being too held up along the way.In...
View ArticleSunday Times 4626 (25 Jan 2015) by Dean Mayer
Solving time: 54 minutesAll manner of sensibilities seem to have been ruffled with this one. Probably a combination of 11d & 20a that did it. Personally I think these people need to get out more....
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 235 by Dazzler
I can't currently access the puzzle from the Times site - if you're having a similar problem, you can find the puzzle here: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20150202/622/Edit: 10 minutes...
View ArticleTimes 26011 - How it got here I haven't a clue!
Solving time: 43 minutesMusic: Sibelius/Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos, Chung/Previn/LSoThis was not a difficult puzzle for the most part, and I had finished all but two clues after 30 minutes....
View ArticleTimes 26012
50 minutes with time lost getting started and at the end where I was stuck with most of the SW corner missing for far too long. In between, this was a steady and enjoyable solve with only a couple of...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 236 by Hurley
Several clues went in on a first pass and I thought this was going to be an easy one - I was wrong! Some clues were really satisfying - requiring building up sections of wordplay to eventually see the...
View ArticleTimes Crossword 26,013
Solving Time: Started this off in fine form and had the whole bottom half done in no time, but really struggled in the NW, and took almost 20 minutes to finish in the end. Some very nice clues though -...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 237 by Des - très français aujourd'hui
Mostly straightforward, an elegant puzzle, but with three or four clues worthy of higher level cryptics I thought, with a French writer, a French region, and a French domestic feature to discover....
View Article26014 Not just a bog standard crossword
Knocked off in 20.47, including a last minute change of heart over the ending of 9 across, where I suspect we might see a few error messages today. A decent arraty of clue types on display, with just...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic No 238 by Izetti - Earworm Day!
Solving time: extremely straightforwardMorning all.We are graced by the presence of the Don today and it's one of his usual elegant and user-friendly puzzles, ideal for this slot.Nothing too...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 239 by Pedro
There's not a lot to say about this; a pleasant puzzle, easier than my Wednesday duty, a couple of 'chestnut' clues.Across1RUMPLE - RULE (government) around MP; def. disturb.4TRAGIC - T = time, then...
View ArticleTimes 26,015: Eyeless In Gaza...
A puzzle very worthy of its Friday slot, I thought. A couple of clues (4D, 6D) went in in short order, and this coupled with the punslinging likes of 11A and 23A made me think I might be in more for...
View ArticleSaturday Times 26010 (31st Jan)
Solved in 13:10, so on the easyish side but with some great clues. I was surprised to find 10D isn't in any of the dictionaries I possess - or (dons tin-foil hat) maybe it was removed... My COD goes to...
View ArticleSunday Times 4627 by Tim Moorey
I don't have a proper time for this, because I got interrupted half-way through, but I spent a total of about 15 minutes on it. This included a few minutes at the end puzzling over 6dn, until I...
View ArticleMephisto 2840 by Paul McKenna - quid sit bisextilis babe?
There's a rather old fashioned feel to this puzzle with references to Frank Buchman, bits of Latin, women waiting for a given time to propose and a defunct TV detective series amongst other features....
View ArticleJumbo 1131 - Saturday January 24th
Above average difficulty, although this may have been personal as I did not know a few words/phrases. Last four in were Lantern Jawed, Lebensraum, Aha moment, and Teuton, mainly as was lacking in the...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 240 by Teazel
11 minutes for this one which I think is fairly straightforward though there are a couple of less than familiar words, one of which (at 7dn) could catch out the unwary solver. Also 1dn might cause a...
View ArticleTimes 26017 – A Most Quirkful Offering
This rather appealed to me as it had something about it I rarely run across in the Monday slot – a little oddness. Okay, more than a little. Despite messing up 11a (which is Eminently gettable – oh,...
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