Times 2 - UK (2020-07-21)

the times | Tuesday July 21 2020 1GT 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 12 words, average;

16, good; 23, very good; 30, excellent

  

 

  

  



 


 


 



 


  


  

JIGSAW

AR A

WI N

PEP D

VE

REFER

GR I TTY

EI

LUMP

II

ENIP

FIT

1 Rubik’s Cube 2 Nashville 3 Spain 4 Queen

Elizabeth II 5 60s 6 Hallelujah 7 Judge Dredd

8 Father Brown 9 Jerry Seinfeld — in Seinfeld

10 Dora Maar 11 Givenchy 12 Fafnir 13 Bruno Latour

14 Alun Wyn Jones 15 Bat-eared fox

Astraphobia (a) Fear of

thunder and lightning

Astrantia (c) A hardy,

flowering perennial

Ataraxia (a) Calmness or

tranquillity

1 ... Nd2+! 2 Ka1 and now Black

crashes through with 2 ... Qxa3+!

3 bxa3 b2+ 4 Ka2 b1Q mate

Kakuro 2700

Futoshiki 3741 Lexica 5402

Cell Blocks 3902 Set Square 2703 Lexica 5401

Suko 2921

Train Tracks 1074

Word watch

Chess — Winning Move

1 Bid

2 Dummy

3 Finesse

4 Contract

5 Grand slam

Quintagram

Quiz

Easy 860; Medium 1,044; Harder 1,

Brain Trainer

Yesterday’s answers

age, agin, anger, engrain, erg, gain,

gainer, gar, gean, gear, gen, gin, ginner,

girn, grain, gran, grannie, grin, nag,

neg, rag, rage, range, reg, regain, reign,

rig, ring

times2 CrosswordNo 8336 Brain Trainer

A

N

S

MEDIUM^63 x^5 DOUBLEE÷^22 +^126 x^3 WER

IT

+ 37 8

(^333) / **88
OF IT

• x 9 11 / 33
  OF IT**

-

AN

S

WE

R

EASY 32 ÷^6 x^14 DOUBLE

IT

+ 8 DOUBLE

IT

x 2 33 /^444 +^20

OF IT

(^11) / 444 +
OF IT

-

AN

S

HARDER 32033 DOUBLE WER

IT

÷ 8 DOUBLE

IT

+ 48 ÷ 1^6 + 14^8222 /^33

OF IT

SQUAREE – x 6

IT

Across

5 WWWealthybusinessman( 6 )

7 Gamblingestablishment( 6 )

9 Shortrestbreak( 8 )

11 Eg,Edinburghnatiiive( 4 )

12 Enthusiasticallypraise( 5 )

113 Notice;comment( 6 )

15 Forthemostpart( 6 )

17 Singlle-ddeckkerbbus(( 5 ))

19 USuniiiversity( 4 )

20 Monument( 8 )

22 Fame( 6 )

23 Sittingroom( 6 )

Down

1 Firmlyfffixed( 6 )

2 Shortdistance( 4 )

3 Rare( 6 )

4 Metricalunit( 4 )

6 Sad,disappointed( 11 )

8 Liiivingembodiment( 11 )

10 Claaaw;undealtcards( 5 )

14 Assertiiivelymasculine( 5 )

16 Songofgrief( 6 )

18 Ropeffforleadinganimals( 6 )

19 Enclosedarea( 4 )

21 Unitofdistance( 4 )

SolutiontoCrossword 8335

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

9 10 11

12 13 14

15 16 17 18

19 20 21

22 23

HALFTERM USER

A E H I M E O

WEEPINGWILLOW

K C S H S F D

SHUT TESTI FY

I L O S I

MAIDEN L IGHTS

P N C N M

LICENCE SASH

I E O N T U K

CONCENTRATION

I S L R T T O

TREK VEHEMENT

Cell Blocks No 3903

© PUZZLER MEDIA

Polygon Set Square No 2704

Please note, BODMAS does not apply

Killer Moderate No 7260 Solutions

Killer Tough No 7261

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).

Invitational VI. One of their star

players is Jacek Kalita of Poland, a

very tough competitor and fine

card-player. Most North-Souths

played this deal in 4 ♠, making 11

tricks. One N-S played in a lowly

2 ♣... Kalita-Nowosadzki reached

the dizzy heights of 6 ♣.

Declarer, Kalita, ruffed West’s

heart lead to East’s ace. The knee-

jerk plan is a spade to the ace and a

club to the queen, followed by a

spade to king and a club to the jack.

Provided East holds the king of

clubs and both black suits behave,

you can later force out the ace of

diamonds. Slam made.

Except, as you see, East would

ruff the second spade. You’d then

go an ignominious two down as he

would put his partner in with the

ace of diamonds and score another

spade ruff (with his king).

Declarer placed the ace of dia-

monds with West. Trick one

revealed West’s hearts to be headed

by king-jack at best (he’d have led

the king from king-queen); he

y

needed East to hold the king of

clubs. Therefore, surely West had

to have the ace of diamonds to

justify his 1 ♥bid.

At trick two, declarer led a

sneaky eight of diamonds (key

play). In a moment he will wish to

yy

forget, the Norwegian West played

low and dummy’s queen won.

Declarer could now finesse the

queen of clubs, cross to a top

spade, finesse the jack of clubs,

cash the ace felling East’s king, and

concede only the king of diamonds

at the end. Slam made.

If West rises with the ace of dia-

monds, declarer cannot reach

dummy twice to pick up East’s

king of clubs and must go down.

[email protected]

Contract: 6 ♣, Opening Lead:♥ 2

Dealer: South, Vulnerability: North-South

N

WE

S

1 ♣ 1 ♥ Dbl( 1 )4♥

4 ♠( 2 ) Pass 5 ♠( 3 ) Pass

6 ♣( 4 ) Pass Pass( 5 )Pass

( 1 ) Not a standard negative double showing

precisely four spades. Instead, North’s dou-

ble denies four spades. Without this treat-

ment, North would be stymied and would

perhaps try 1NT despite the lack of a pure

heart stopper.

(2) Presumably showing five spades, for

why else would South wish to play in 4 ♠,

knowing partner holds fewer than four?

(3) Great judgement to invite slam from

Michal Nowosadzki. He presumes partner is

6 ♣- 5 ♠with a void heart. His partnership

are playing with a 30-point pack, in that the

opposing ten high-card points in hearts are

taking no defensive tricks.

(4) Offering a choice of slams.

( 5 ) Another close decision — whether to

pass or bid 6 ♠. How right North was. You

cannot make 6♠on West’s presumed heart

lead. You are forced to ruff down to the same

four-card length as West and, although you

can cross twice in spades to finesse in clubs,

you cannot set up a diamond trick (West

wins the ace and leads another heart).

S(Kalita) WN(Nowosadzki) E

♠ 4

♥AQ 65

♦J 10973

♣K

Teams ♠AK^2

♥ 10984

♦Q 654

♣ 83

♠QJ

♥-

♦K 8

♣AQJ107 4

♠ 10865

♥KJ7 32

♦A 2

♣ 65

Bridge Andrew Robson

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Sudoku 11,

Killer 7258

Sudoku 11,

Killer 7259

Sudoku 11,

Quick Cryptic 1660

KenKen 5011

Codeword 4019