Times 26,117: Vicisti, Crucigramma
Tackled: 5th June 2015, 12.30am (?)Handicaps: 1 x dodgy fast food burrito from near Clapham Junction station, 1 x margarita, 3 x small tins Tiger beer, 1 x small tin Hobo beer, 3 x eardrum-throbbing...
View ArticleJumbo 1150
This seemed harder than the solving time (15m 42s) would indicate, mainly because I had difficulty in expanding out from any of my entries and thus ended up with chunks of disconnected answers all over...
View ArticleSaturday Times 26112 (30th May)
Solving time: 19:06. Yes, I struggled a bit with this one, not sure why after going through it again for the blog. Yesterday's felt harder, although this one had its moments, e.g. the definition for...
View ArticleMephisto 2857 - Tim Moorey
I struggled a fair bit with this one, though in the end everything makes perfect sense, this time around there seemed to be a number of obscure words clued by obscure wordplay elements, or obvious...
View ArticleSunday Times 4644 by Dean Mayer
33:22. I started quickly on this, and had the first third or so done in about five minutes, but things changed dramatically after that. The rest of the clues proved much more resistant, particularly...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 325 by Hurley
My crosswording ability seems to have taken a dive over the last few weeks, perhaps due to a self-imposed reduction in chocolate intake, and this was a very patchy solve for me, despite three of the...
View ArticleTimes 26119 - Where does the village smithy stand?
Solving time: 15 minutesMusic: Shankar, Nobody Told Me.I believe this is a personal best, as I am not a fast solver and I had a feeling of writing in the solutions as fast as I could. The top half was...
View ArticleJumbo 1151
Its that time of year where the Jumbos come around that much quicker with all the bank holidays. Completely missed this one until I noticed this weekend was already 1153! Cue crossword club, printer...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic 26120
This one presented me some problems with a few unfamiliar words and meanings, however there were a number of really easy clues to make up for these difficulties and I never doubted that I would get...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 326 by Flamande
The word play of 1dn and the definition of the crossing 12ac caused minor talking points in an otherwise gentle romp which I hope everyone can enjoy. On holiday last week (and thanks to William for so...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic Number 327 by Mara
A mainly straightforward solve, with just a couple of clues at the end requiring a bit more rumination. I especially liked 13dn for its mental imagery! Most seemed very succinct clues, too, with...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic 26121 - spinning a web to deceive
I don't have an exact time for this, as it was done over the usual tea and toast intermixed with a modicum of chat with Mrs K. Overall it flowed well, from the bottom upwards mainly, with only...
View Article26122 Something slightly spooky
My run of moderate times continues with a 26.26 for this assemblage of all 26 letters of the alphabet. If you add the number of Es and the number of Us, it's 26, as is the simple numerical total (5+21)...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 328 by Orpheus
This one took me 12 minutes. I'm standing in at the very last minute for macavity who has been summoned for a hospital scan and I wish him all the best. I'm sorry that time available did not allow me...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 329 by Rongo - crazy, nuts, raving, and missing.
Apologies to all who expected to see my blog in good time. Today's Quickie is not appearing online on the Times site (although all the other links work and I'm logged in) and it wasn't there (as a...
View ArticleTimes 26,123: And So's My Wife!
Having a terrible crossword week this week - we're trying to buy a house (well, this being London, we can only afford 25% of a house, but "we're trying to buy about three-quarters of a bedroom" sounds...
View ArticleSaturday Times 26118 (6th June) - placeholder
Solving time was 10:00 to the second! Unfortunately I won't be around to post the rest of it until this evening.
View ArticleTimes Jumbo 1152 - A Puzzle for Georges Perec
Solving time of 29:19, which is smack in the middle of the 25-35 minutes I usually expect to take on a Jumbo, so overall not of extreme difficulty, barring a couple of clues which seemed to belong in a...
View ArticleSunday Times 4645 by Tim Moorey
An enjoyable puzzle at the easier end of the spectrum, but with a few curly ones to keep the scratch players on their toes. For those of us playing off 18 or worse, this was a great opportunity to post...
View ArticleMephisto 2858 by Paul McKenna
My first crossword after a Spanish holiday during which I was too busy catching up with old friends to do any solving - so not as quick as I might otherwise have been. There should be no major problems...
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