A Teaser from Teazel

Times Quick Cryptic No 1929 by Teazel

I enjoyed today's Quick Cryptic from Teazel a lot. Teazel at his teaziest. It's a bit tricky in places with a couple of cryptic definitions and a few cryptic hints; a good test of lateral thinking. It helps to know your old masters and your computer network devices too. Plenty of places to get stuck, then, so well done if you came through unscathed. This took me a good 2 minutes longer than yesterday's, finishing in 5:38. How did everyone else get on?

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword, entitled "Staycation Time", here. Enjoy! And if anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to them here.

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Barrow Walk

About 10:15 this morning  Dawn said she wanted to do a walk before lunch to catch the best of the weather today.. I hurriedly picked on that wasn't too long and not to far away. I chose this one I had led for the Ramblers last July; a circular route from Barrow via Denham Castle and Desning Hall.

Weekend Quick Cryptic 30 - Staycation Time by Johninterred

Click here to read about the origin of this series of crosswords.

A brief history of the origins of these crosswords for those who are new to them. As a blogger of the Times Quick Cryptic Crossword on Times for The Times every other Friday, I have often had comments on the blog bemoaning that The Times only provides a Quick Cryptic on Mondays to Fridays. When I finally gave up work at the end of February last year, I decided that I would try my hand at compiling crosswords. It was with some trepidation that I published, in May, the first of these Weekend Quick Cryptics to fill the gap. Well it seemed to go down well so I did another. And then my fellow crossword solver and commenter on Times for the Times, Phil Jordan, volunteered to produce some too! So now we alternate, publishing each new crossword via my Friday Quick Crossword blog. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.

This time it is my turn to provide the fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic crossword. As is hinted at by the title, there is a bit of a topical theme. 

Stutton and Holbrook Walk

Today all 4 of us went for a walk. I decided to show William and Sarah this walk I had done with Dawn in May, which is a favourite walk of the year and one we could do in the afternoon and return in time to cook the evening meal.

Felixstowe Ferry Walk

Sarah is suffering from hayfever so today we took a trip to Felixstowe Ferry for a circular walk to Falkenham and back, in the hope that the sea breeze would have blown the pollen away.

Festal Evensong

It was the last service for Saint Michaels Singers as resident choir at Southwell Minster for now,  A Festal Evensong celebrating The Feast of St James the Apostle. This was the music...

• Introit : Ubi Caritas,  Maurice Duruflé (1902 -1986)
  
• Preces and Responses : Anthony Gray (b 1996)  (who was in the congregation)
  
• Canticles : Collegium Magdalene Oxoniense, Kenneth Leighton. (1929 - 1988)
  
• Anthem : And When the Builders, Richard Shepherd (1949 - 2021)

The service was broadcast via live stream and the recording made available on the Minster website. Here we are singing the Introit.

A Great Jumbo Crossword

Times Cryptic Jumbo 1507 - 10th July

I seem to have got lucky again. After a few run-of-the-mill Jumbos this was a great one to get to blog with barely an easy clue in sight. Lots of wit and cleverness gave me several Penny Drop Moments as I finally worked them out. It did take me 1hr 39 minutes to crack, though, with my last 5 clues taking over 20 of those; which would give me WITCH of about 200 if there was a SNITCH for the Jumbos. Appreciative ticks all over my copy, together with several with questionmarks showing they needed head-scratching to crack the wordplay. It's hard to pick a favourite. I loved the unusual but neat combination of 12 and 18D, the "going to N Ireland" at 10D, the "wound daily" at 32A and "make a start on this puzzle" at 33D. But the one that gave me the biggest chuckle was the cause of the booking for dissent at 52A. Great stuff! Thank-you setter. And more like this please, editor. Well I liked it. How about you?

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Southwell Bramley Apple Heritage Trail

Three years ago I did the shorter of the two Heritage Walks (described here). Despite the heat, I decided to do the longer one this afternoon. This was my route..

St Michaels Singers/Tudor Singers Reunion

This week it is time to catch up on some friends and music making. Postponed from last year, it was three years since our previous reunion in 2018 (read about it here). Once again we met in Southwell to sing at the services in Southwell Minster - this time from Tuesday through to Sunday. Here are the Service and Music lists for while we are in residence..

Serpent

 My fellow Jumbo Crossword blogger Jerry thought he'd follow up on the answer to one of the clues in his next crossword to blog... the odd old musical instrument that is the Serpent. What does it sound like? His googling came up with this...

Ghanian Groundnut Curry

 Time of another Spicery concoction last night to celebrate Sarah coming home... This time the Ghanian Groundnut Curry with Chilli Sauce.

Dad's Taxi In Action Again

 

Look who I brought home today. The boot was full, the car was full and there wasn't much room left in the roof box! But enough room for Sarah in the passenger seat. Lovely to have her home after her year of working for the ONS at the MoJ in Leeds. Back to York in 2 weeks time.

A Jalna Quick Crossword

Times Quick Cryptic No 1919 by Jalna

This is, I think, only my second Jalna Quick Cryptic to blog. On the tricky side, I thought and my time of 7:25 is my slowest for 4 weeks. 8D was a new word for me and my LOI was 5D. Some great clues, though - I particularly enjoyed 11A, 6D and, my favourite for the great surface, 16D. Quite a few anagrams, but I'm not complaining. Thank-you Jalna! How did everybody else get on?

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is Phil's turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword here. Enjoy! And if anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to them here.

( Read all about it... )

Weekend Quick Cryptic 29 - by Phil Jordan

Click here to read about the origin of this series of crosswords.

A brief history of the origins of these crosswords for those who are new to them. As a blogger of the Times Quick Cryptic Crossword on Times For The Times every other Friday, I have often had comments on the blog bemoaning that The Times only provides a Quick Cryptic on Mondays to Fridays. When I finally gave up work at the end of February 2020, I decided that I would try my hand at compiling crosswords. It was with some trepidation that I published, in May 2020, the first of these Weekend Quick Cryptics to fill the gap. Well it seemed to go down well so I did another. And then my fellow crossword solver and commenter on Time for the Times, Phil Jordan, volunteered to produce some too! So now we alternate, publishing each new crossword via my Friday Quick Crossword blog. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.

This time it is Phil's turn to provide the fortnightly weekend quick cryptic crossword. You can try and solve it interactively here on MyCrossword or here on crossword.info, or download a PDF to print here. Alternatively you can copy and print the image below. Comments and queries welcome here or with the solution post here. I will respond to them as soon as I can.

More Wordplay

What with all the cow puns from Cows About Cambridge (Part 1 and Part 2), we've seen plenty of inventive wordplay recently. And here is another one, from one of my friends on Crossword Central...

Cows about Cambridge Part 2

 

Today we had another meander around Cambridge looking for the cows in Cows About Cambridge. This time we toured those on the south side of the city. This was the invite from Joyce...

Konkani Curry

This was another of the selection from The Spicery that I got from Laura for Fathers' Day. I made it last night for the evening meal.

Imperial Stout

Bottled, labelled and packed away in the garage to bottle-condition this should be ready for Christmas...

Cows About Cambridge Part 1

Have you "herd" about them? Today we went to find some Cows About Cambridge. What fun! This was the invite from Joyce...

Saxmundham Walk

Today it was Glen's turn to lead a walk for the group. This was the invite.

RSPCA?

 Not Bury St. Edmunds, I hasten to add. Perhaps they need to rethink their sign?

Sloggers and Betters October 2021

S&B York 2021 – Friday 29th and Saturday 30th October 2021

I'm hoping this goes ahead this year. This time I'll be able to claim I am both a blogger and a setter. Here is what John Henderson had to say...

"I’ve had a number of enquiries about whether there will be a Sloggers and Betters event in York this year. The answer is: “Er…yes, probably”.

It’s of course too early to make firm arrangements. Things are bound to change in the next days, weeks and months – but there are certain aspects of the normal York weekend that I’ve ruled out, others that I’m gradually pencilling in. For example, I’m thinking of running the events of both Friday evening and Saturday daytime in and around the pubs and hotels near the racecourse. This area includes Stableside (our usual accommodation venue) and The Fox and Roman (our normal Saturday venue), and I’ve started making enquiries at the nearby Cross Keys (pub) and the Marriott and Holiday Inn (hotels) about availability as further function venues."

Read more about it here. I've got my room booked at the Stableside 😀

Regents Canal Walk

 

What a day out yesterday!

This was the invite.....

A Neat Quick Cryptic from Teazel

Times Quick Cryptic No 1909 by Teazel

An enjoyable puzzle from Teazel to end the week. I liked the cryptic definitions, the neat hidden and the misdirection in a couple of clues, but COD to the clever 14D. 1A went in straight away and I finished with 3D in an about an average time for me of 5:17, but there is one word that I only knew from other crosswords. Thank-you Teazel! How did everyone else get on?

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword, entitled "Anyone for tennis?", here. Enjoy! And if anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to them here.

( Read all about it... )

Weekend Quick Cryptic 28 - Anyone for Tennis? by Johninterred

Click here to read about the origin of this series of crosswords.

A brief history of the origins of these crosswords for those who are new to them. As a blogger of the Times Quick Cryptic Crossword on Times for The Times every other Friday, I have often had comments on the blog bemoaning that The Times only provides a Quick Cryptic on Mondays to Fridays. When I finally gave up work at the end of February last year, I decided that I would try my hand at compiling crosswords. It was with some trepidation that I published, in May, the first of these Weekend Quick Cryptics to fill the gap. Well it seemed to go down well so I did another. And then my fellow crossword solver and commenter on Times for the Times, Phil Jordan, volunteered to produce some too! So now we alternate, publishing each new crossword via my Friday Quick Crossword blog. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.

This time it is my turn to provide the fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic crossword. As is hinted at by the title, there is a bit of a topical theme.