The Times - UK (2022-06-13)

the times | Monday June 13 2022 15

MindGames

© PUZZLER MEDIA

Divide the grid

into square or

rectangular

blocks, each

containing one

digit only. Every

block must

contain the

number of cells

indicated by the

digit inside it.

Enter each of

the numbers

from 1 to 9 in

the grid, so that

the six sums

work. We’ve

placed two

numbers to get

you started.

Each sum

should be

calculated left

to right or top

to bottom.

From these letters, make words of

three or more letters, always including

the central letter. Answers must be in

the Concise Oxford Dictionary, excluding

capitalised words, plurals, conjugated

verbs (past tense etc), adverbs ending

in LY, comparatives and superlatives.

How you rate 15 words, average;

20, good; 24, very good; 28, excellent

  

 
  


  


 


  

 
 


  


 



  



 
 

1 The sun 2 Maps 3 Preston 4 Hong Kong 5 Edward

Gibbon 6 Second World War 7 Laurence Olivier

8 Footbridge 9 Denmark 10 Yeti Airlines 11 Syntactic

Structures 12 Joe Loss Orchestra 13 Zynga 14 Eileen Gu.

She won 2022 golds in big air and halfpipe and silver in

slopestyle 15 Barnes Wallis

Predy (c) (Of a ship)

prepared for sailing or

action (Collins)

Unguentarium (b) A

vessel for holding

ointments (Chambers)

Ichor (a) The fluid in the

veins of the Greek gods

(Brewer’s)

Kakuro 3194

Sudoku 13,272

Killer 8346

Futoshiki 4235

Cell Blocks 4495 Set Square 3197

Suko 3514

Train Tracks 1654

Word watch

Quiz

Saturday’s answers

beer, beery, beret, berry, byre, erst, ester,

peer, peery, père, perry, pert, pester,

peter, presbyter, presbytery, preset, prey,

preyer, pyre, reset, rest, rete, retry, retype,

seer, sere, spree, spry, steer, stere, strep,

teres, terry, terse, tree, trey, tyre

times2 Crossword No 8929 Brain Trainer

ANSWER

EASY 15

ANSWER

MEDIUM 42

ANSWER

HARDER 126 + 477

• 6

x 4

+ 14

/ (^2) x 3
OF IT
+^1

• 739 x 2
  SQUARE ÷ 2
  IT


• 27
  / 3
  OF IT
  +^1 x 3

• 8 50%
  OF IT


• 558


• 6 + 6

/ 9

OF IT

7

• 818 /^3
  OF IT

(^2) – 955
/ 5
OF IT
4

• 78 x 2 – 98 /^8
  OF IT

5

Across

6 Switched off (an electronic

device) (8)

8 Commotion; prison (4)

9 Relating to Finland or

Scandinavia (6)

10 Commit to memory (5)

11 Praise for an

achievement (12)

12 Lowest social strata (12)

15 Be in store for (5)

16 Large road vehicles (6)

18 Acorn producers (4)

19 Former prime minister (8)

Down

1 La clemenza di —

(Mozart) (4)

2 Set; make insensitive (6)

3 Killed by shock (12)

4Attack (6)

5 Ringing in the ears (8)

7 Merely dabbling in arts or

science (12)

11 Red mineral,

mercury sulphide (8)

13 (Of time) pass (6)

14 Georges —, French artist

who inspired a Sondheim

musical (6)

17 Oven for firing clay (4)

Solution to Crossword 8928

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8

9 10

11

12 13 14

15 16 17

18 19

MUSED PL IANT

A U E A L W

CHRISTEN IBEX

H R P D B E

IRE OSSIFIED

S N I N Q I

MIDDLE GROUND

O E N O A E

DRAUGHTS LEO

Y N L T I L

LIMO ALFRESCO

N D N U E G

GREEDY MUDDY

Cell BlocksNo 4496

© PUZZLER MEDIA

Polygon Set SquareNo 3198

Please note, BODMAS does not apply

KillerGentle No 8347 Solutions

KillerTricky No 8348

As with standard Sudoku, fill the grid so that every column,

every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9. Each set

of cells joined by dotted lines must add up to the target number

in its top-left corner. Within each set of cells joined by dotted

lines, a digit cannot be repeated.

Need help with today’s puzzle? Call 0905 757 0143 to check the
answers. Calls cost £1 per minute plus your telephone company’s
network access charge. SP: Spoke, 0333 202 3390 (Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm).

Cluelines Stuck on Sudoku, Killer or KenKen? Call 0901 293

6263 before midnight to receive four clues for any of today’s

puzzles. Calls cost £1 plus your telephone company’s network

access charge. SP: Spoke, 0333 202 3390 (Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm).

“Nice lead,” said declarer to West

on today’s deal from the World

Bridge Tour Champions Cup.

It was true. There is little point in

West leading a heart. Given partner

would have raised 3♥ to 4♥ with

three hearts, the (ten-card) level of

the fit, it is hard to construct a heart

layout where the heart lead works

well. If you are not leading a heart,

it is normal to try the other major.

If the opponents had a spade fit,

they may have bid differently and

played in 4♠ not 3NT. East is

marked with spades.

Declarer elected to duck West’s

nine of spades completely. He won

West’s second spade with the

queen and, needing an extra trick,

at trick three led the nine of clubs,

covered by the ten, queen and king.

East led a third spade to declarer’s

ace, West discarding a heart.

With East holding two winning

spades, declarer now tried a club to

the ace, to minimise the chances of

East winning the lead (should he

have started with ♣KJ doubleton).

No king fell and he led a third club,

hoping West, the safe hand, held

his majesty. It was not to be —

East won the king and cashed his

two long spades. One down.

Declarer felt he had optimised

— taking that extra chance of try-

ing to drop East’s king of clubs. But

he had not.

You should win the nine of

spades opening lead with the

queen — don’t duck and lose your

third spade exit card. By all means

try the nine of clubs at trick two,

covered by the ten, queen and

king. But win East’s king of spades

return with the ace.

Now cash four diamonds. When

East turns up with four, you can

count East to be 5♠ 1 ♥ 4 ♦ 3 ♣.

Next cash the ace of hearts, cru-

cially removing East’s safe heart

exit, then throw East in with the

third spade. Let East cash three

spades for, at trick 12, he must lead

from his remaining ♣J6 round to

dummy’s ♣A8. Game made.

Indeed, there is no need to play

a club at trick two. After winning

the queen of spades, simply cash all

your top tricks outside clubs then

exit with a third spade. At trick 11,

East will have to lead from ♣KJ6

round to dummy’s ♣AQ8.

Note, you can succeed even after

the unnecessary spade duck. Win

the second spade, cash all your top

tricks and run the nine of clubs

(ten, queen, king); East must give

dummy two club tricks at the end.

What you can’t do is both duck the

spade and play an early club.

[email protected]

Contract: 3NT, Opening Lead: ♠ 9

Dealer: West, Vulnerability: Neither

N

W E

S

3 ♥(1) Pass Pass

3NT End

(1) Weak (err, yes) with seven decent hearts.

S W N E

♠KJ743

♥J

♦ 10642

♣KJ6

Teams ♠ 1062

♥ 76

♦Q75

♣AQ843

♠AQ5

♥AQ4

♦AKJ3

♣ 952

♠ 98

♥K1098532

♦ 98

♣10 7

Bridge Andrew Robson

WA I L

WO

CURATE

HY I

OJOY

PIN N

WI FE

RA

CHEERY

IM

N

FORGOT

1 Bear

2 Dane

3 Pyramid

4 Grandson

5 Alexander

Easy 20; Medium 655; Harder 3,209

1 Qxh5+! leads to 1 ... gxh5

2 Rxh5+ Kg7 3 Bh6+ Kh7

4 Bxf8 mate

TODATE PROUST

H I U O N H

ARSENAL OFFER

T P I E S A O

CLASS ART ISAN

H S I T H E

SPAGHETT I

T I E O O B

WHOPPER BINGO

I N L E A A W

LEASE DECI BEL

I T A C L E

TRENDY POSEUR

Lexica 6390

Lexica 6389

Chess — Winning Move

Quintagram

Brain Trainer

Quick Cryptic 2154

KenKen 5604

Codeword 4612

Square Routes

169

Tredoku 1737

I N D M A

M U S E G

B O S A L

E R Q T P

P A U E S