I expected a Pasquale puzzle to be straightforward with good cluing, and for the most part it was. However, I had to use TEA to find the final answer, 14ac. Even with maximum checking in a 13 letter answer I had no idea what the actual answer was despite understanding the word play fully. I found that a little unfair. When I discovered what the answer was I realised it was very clever but that made it no fairer. In addition a handful of obscure words left me feeling less than satisfied despite enjoying many of the clues. Read the rest of this entry »

Fairly straightforward, with the SW corner the slowest. As always with Quixote, everything stacks up unambiguously.

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Solving time 11:07 (if correct)

A theme that kept me guessing for a while, as the crucial no. 5 didn’t fall until I’d got one of the theme answers, most of which are Glenn Miller numbers. Some of these, like Tuxedo Junction, I’ve got a gal in Kalamazoo, and Chattanooga Choo-Choo, are just waiting for a setter like Punk/Paul to find the right stunning anagram or outrageous charade. For variety, we had one work of Henry Arthur Miller, and a false cross-reference at 26. A couple of wordplays eluded me at 12 and 7, so I might have wrong answers there. A nicely-judged thematic puzzle overall, with quite a few easy clues to get you some checking letters. Read the rest of this entry »