Mephisto 2877 - Don Manley
On the gentler end of the Mephisto scale this week, I thought - I managed to get all but a bit of the right hand side out without needing to check in on the dictionary (though I made a mess of things...
View ArticleSunday Times 4664 by Jeff Pearce - an embarrassment of hitches
24:19. I always used to associate Jeff Pearce with straightforward, plain vanilla puzzles. There's nothing wrong with that, of course: variety is the spice of life, need to cater to all abilities,...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 425 by Orpheus
A puzzle that I thought was at the tougher end of the scale, with some less than commonplace vocabulary.The crossword can be found here if the usual channels are unavailable:...
View ArticleTimes 26239 - A day at the races? Just the opposite!
Solving time: 33 minutesMusic: Wagner, Die Walküre Act III, Furtwängler/VPOIt took a few minutes to get started, as I ended up having to begin operations in the bottom half, but I soon got rolling. My...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic No 426 by Mara
This looks like a decent challenge for a QC - no unusual vocabulary (well, except for polled maybe) but not a breeze through either. No time here due to distractions but an enjoyable solve.7. Owlet -...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic 26240
A somewhat strange puzzle that took me the best part of 45 minutes to solve as there were a number of words or meanings unknown to me and I have detailed these below. On the other hand some of it was...
View ArticleTimes 26241 - what day is it?
Feeling somewhat doped and sluggish after yesterday's tooth implant job, I expected to struggle this morning with the usual Wednesday fare; but no, it seemed more like a Monday, I flew along and had...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic Number 427 by Hurley
I struggled with this one much more than usual. The type of legal hearing was new to me, and I was on a very different wavelength at 5dn and 19dn, which all held me up. Also the abbreviation at 24ac,...
View Article26242 In which quick grown hoaxes junk ogre lazy dogs
A 22.35 solve for me, which puts it in the mildly tricky class, possibly stretched a bit by needing to be sure of understanding everything before submitting in case any of you had queries. The presence...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 428 by Flamande
8 minutes for this one which was the easiest for some days, I thought. I am doing an emergency blog for Macavity so no clues today and comments are minimal. If further help is required please...
View ArticleClub Monthly 20181 October 2015 - moscatel, malaga, zibibbo, zihibbo
Solving Time: About 40 minutes in only one session, which is unusually fast for me. I infer that this is an easier example than most in recent months. I notice that at the time of writing there are...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 429 by Teazel
All seemed to be going swimmingly and I thought I was on for a fast solve until I came to 8d. Determined not to be tricked by the setter into thinking linesman was anything to do with football, I tried...
View ArticleTimes 26,243: The Name's Bond... Ybounden In A Bond
Once again a uniformly excellent Friday puzzle that I did on paper, possibly depriving the Crossword Club of witnessing my off-by-one downfall for the second time in a row. I finished the whole grid...
View ArticleJumbo 1173
I could blame the Crossword Championship Finals which were on the same weekend as this one, but that would not be fair - I made a couple of silly errors when submitting this. One I spotted, but the...
View ArticleSaturday Times 26238
Okay make that "tomorrow". I was kept away a lot longer than I expected, then there was the rugby final, then something else happened, then my PC crashed and I had to type it up again from scratch this...
View ArticleSunday Times 4665 by Dean Mayer
As ever, a highly enjoyable puzzle from Dean, but not as mind-bending as some - and I'm certainly not complaining, particularly as this was my blogging week! The trademark elegance and economy of...
View ArticleMephisto 2878 by Tim Moorey - absurd week on a rabbit (4,3)
This is the third very easy Mephisto on the trot, with this one the easiest by far. As a solver I look to Mephisto to provide a challenge and this one failed in that respect completely. To add insult...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 430 by Juno - One for the uccelli
This is only Juno's third puzzle so far and she (?) last appeared a year ago last week. I think most will find this fairly straightforward as long as they have a working knowledge of musical...
View ArticleTimes 26245 – Health and Efficiency Issue
A trickier than usual Monday number, in which the right-hand side gave up its secrets before the somewhat more recalcitrant left. Lots of nice stuff, if rather a plethora of insertion-style clues, but...
View ArticleTimes 26,246
I officially pronounce myself uncertain how to assess this puzzle. I started slowly, so I thought it was going to be tricky, then I had a bit of a sprint in the middle, and changed my mind, then I...
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