Does anyone know why the half-term holiday has been taken so early this year?
Shrove Tuesday is not until next week and Easter starts 6th April so it's most unusual....
Another debut! I am usually not one for Listener's where there's no PDM etc but I enjoyed this one. Difficulty enhanced by the difference in definition and wordplay together with some tough clues....
I think I have it, though one element, the two letter replacement, and one additional word entry are as yet unconfirmed. I'm still trying to justify everything, which looks like being a bit of a slog,...
I don't get it! (the joke that is) I am glad it was easy this week compared to last week, but I am not impressed. The title, the rejoinder, the connection between the quotation? I suppose none of it...
Tricky start to this numerical with a preamble that initially confused me as I misunderstood what was going to be English and German. I now have all the letters, a completed left hand grid and the two...
A rapid grid fiil brings the reward of a visit to the sherry decanter before attempting to make sense of the preamble. It's a risky strategy, but someone has to try it. On reflection, I think I boobed...
An enjoyable Listener debut from Nod A concise preamble for once, straightforward clues and a nice finish to round it off. A few of the clues I had the wrong letter, despite being perfectly acceptable...
Having seen the setter(s) I thought that this would be a real problem. Surprisingly, despite some tricky clues, it all fell into place quite quickly. I notice that these days they omit the instruction...
Having seen that this has a Playcode code, I was intending to put it to one side. Having failed at that, I now find myself within an ace of finishing. Much easier than I expected, but I realise that...
A pretty straightforward solve this week, as 6 or 8 cold solves revealed the likely method of entry. But, a well constructed puzzle, and a nice break after last week's brainbuster. Thank you Waterloo,...
I posted a perfectly polite notice on the Times website creating a discussion about this week's puzzle - along the lines of: "I am getting a bit fed up with the preponderance of cartes blanches,...
Despite only solving 2 of Shackleton's puzzles before (the Jackson Pollock puzzle and the Morse code/Beethoven prize winning puzzle of last year), I have been eagerly awaiting the next. This does not...
Not so much a Listener Crossword, more a plea for sanity. A neatly put together grid with an eye less to the difficulty of solving than to the transparency of the message. Nothing too difficult here -...
Is 12 across blessed with the correct clue? I've seen the same clue (31 across in this case) leading to a different answer on occasions, but I can only work out one single word answer which doesn't...
Grid fill is proceding quite quickly and smoothly, especially when compared to last week. However, I know that this will rapidly slow down as I know nothing about either the two adversaries or the...
Not even close yet: I have almost all the "outside" clues and most of the ones that start on the outside, but tracking them through the knight moves is pretty desperate at the moment. I'm...
I spent a long time staring at a grid with the source filled in and a knowledge of the letters that had slipped before I started cracking the clues. Having basically solved it in the reverse order I...
I looked down the list of letters thinking: no clue lengths, no clue numbers, no idea which is across or even, 26 numbers to choose from. Aargh! Luckily, once it gets going, things speed up and to a...
An enjoyable Listener début from Ifor (although a setter that I have solved in the Magpie, EV and IQ). I was wondering why this needed to be a carte blanche as I was solving it, but the little...
