Saturday Times 26046 (March 14)
Temping for linxit for the next few weeks while he takes a well-deserved break and ministers to Mrs. L's torn knee ligament. No big pitfalls here and I clocked in at 19.19 which makes it about average...
View ArticleJUmbo 1137 - placeholder
This weekend involves some travelling and a wedding (not mine) so while I shall definitely find time to post, I can't say exactly when.
View ArticleSunday Times 4633 by Tim Moorey
Eric caused trouble today. In one instance he was clearly present, but I could not quite understand how he had got there. In the other, it turned out he was there, but I struggled to recognise him.An...
View ArticleMephisto 2846 by Paul McKenna
I thought this a decent puzzle parts of which needed some concentrated effortAcross1SURA - S(o)UR-A; out of=removal indicator; 4SMEAR-DAB - S-MEAR (sounds like mere) - (BAD reversed); 10ATTENDANCE -...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 270 by Flamande
I don’t think there's much to frighten the horses in this one, but we'll see. It took me 8 minutes with the last minute spent on 14dn alone whilst I worked out what was going on there.This is the first...
View ArticleTimes 26053 - Not particularly Harrowing.....
Solving time: 30 minutesMusic: Mozart, Piano Sonatas, Andre TchaikowskyThis one seemed to be very easy at first, as I rapidly filled in the top half without even bothering to parse the clues. It looked...
View ArticleTimes 26,054
My run of tricky puzzles on alternate Tuesdays continues; oddly, this one didn't feel like too arduous a struggle as I solved it, but the clock tells a different story with a time of 26:45 (I guess...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 271 by Orpheus
Sadly unable to prepare this yesterday due to numbering changes, no time today. Clues broken up briefly below.Definitions underlined, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.Across1 Snooty-sounding...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 272 by Mara
I think this one will prove reasonably straightforward, but you never know...Quite a few anagrams today, which give you a good way into the puzzle if you are struggling to make headway. Some neat...
View ArticleTimes 26055 - "At least you'll get your blogging done!"
Solving time: 28 minutesMusic: Thelonius Monk Quartet, MisteriosoYes, I'm back again after only two days. Pip Kirby is tied up this week, so I have taken on a little extra work. I seem to have gotten...
View ArticleTimes 26056 - was a placeholder, now a holder place
I'll put this here just in case. I'm traveling again, and if I had left on time, I would have been home and awake enough to solve and write up (famous last words), but it appears I am delayed in...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 274 by Ferbot - musical mystery tour
In a year of blogging quickies I haven't come across "Ferbot" before, he or she sounds like an anagram on "Pointless" or a cuddly automaton, who knows. Another coded alias for one of our regular...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 273 by Joker
It looks like the scheduled blogger has not been able to produce a blog today so here's a quick one. Some of the surfaces in this were great, in particular 2D and 11D. 13A and 1D may not be in...
View ArticleClub Monthly 20174 March 2015
I thought this was a little harder than recent months, but managed to plough through it in a little over the hour - in three sittings, which I find helps. Mind you, it is still 4 Magoos.. There were a...
View ArticleTimes 26,057: Slowly Walking Down The Hall
Perhaps it's just that the existential dread that fills any parent on the first day of the holidays is getting to me, but I'm not sure I have *too much* to say about this very serviceable Friday...
View ArticleSaturday Times 26052 (March 21)
Music, history, geography, literature and Old Testament, giving rather a Times Lit. Supp. feel to this, so I was surprised not to be more en rapport with the setter. In fact, a bit of a tussle...
View ArticleJumbo 1138
Quite straightforward. A couple of definitions that were more cryptic and a couple of unfamiliar words, including a slang word, but everything was clear from the wordplay and confirmed by crossing...
View ArticleMephisto 2847 - Don Manley
Found this one a bit trickier than the last few, particularly the top right hand corner which was the last one to fall. In the end everything makes perfect sense with tricky and clear wordplay.And...
View ArticleSunday Times 4634 by Jeff Pearce
12:33, including a brief interlude to flip over some grilling bacon, so a pretty straightforward solve. Jeff Pearce gets some stick for producing these straightforward puzzles, but I found this one...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 275 by Hurley
This was a straightforward puzzle with only a couple of non-standard bits of vocab, specifically 1A and 19A. There are plenty of charades in the clues - a charade is where the answer is built up from...
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