The Times - UK (2022-02-03)

the times | Thursday February 3 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

four 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;

17, good; 20, very good; 24, excellent

689

214 897 421

13869 82713

98 19

56798 94812

98 79 79 31

79456 86124

21 72

42135 68479

213 124 698

312

S U R G E

K E

F I G N

D Z I P

U

B R O W S E

B S

B E G U N

H E

I N D E X

N Z

D I M E

1 American Civil War 2 Hairballs or trichobezoars

3 Harley-Davidson 4 State Hermitage Museum aka The

Hermitage — as in Hermitage Amsterdam 5 Juniper

6 Lindisfarne 7 Tabby — from the al-’attabiya quarter

of Baghdad where attabi cloth was made 8 Johannes

Kepler 9 San Francisco 10 Frederic Raphael 11 Hacks

12 Milkfish or bangus 13 354 days 14 Stockholm. They

weren’t held in Melbourne due to Australia’s strict

quarantine laws 15 Holy Roman Empire

After 1 Bxd5! Qxa1 Black is

ahead on material but 2 Qd2!

leaves the black queen trapped.

White will continue 3 Nc3 and

obtain a decisive material

advantage

Uvula (a) The fleshy tissue at

the back of the throat (Collins)

Williwaw (a) A sudden squall

(Chambers)

Heat-drop (b) Rain ushering in

a hot day (OED)

Kakuro 3102

Futoshiki 4143 Lexica 6206

Cell Blocks 4384 Set Square 3105 Lexica 6205

Suko 3403

Train Tracks 1545

Chess — Winning Move Word watch

1 Bhaji

2 Habit

3 Eschew

4 Fidgety

5 Sheffield

Quintagram

Quiz

Easy 7; Medium 340; Harder 4,444

Brain Trainer

Yesterday’s answers

abbé, able, babe, babel, bake, bale, balk,

beak, blab, bleak, bleb, blob, bloke, boab,

boak, boke, bole, bolo, boob, book,

bookable, kabob, kebab, kobo, lobe, lobo,

oboe, obol

times2 Crossword No 8818 Brain Trainer
Just follow the instructions from left to right, starting with the number given to reach an answer at the end.

ANSWER

EASY 59

ANSWER

MEDIUM^145

ANSWER

HARDER 21

+ 13

SQUARE

IT

x 4 + 68

+ 871 x 3

• 8
  
  
  • 662
  
  
  
  

50%

OF IT

• 9

/ 3

OF IT

(^1) 50%
OF IT

• 468 + 881

+ 11

/ 16

OF IT

(^7) / 3
OF IT
1

• / 12
  OF IT
  7
  ÷ 18
  x 2 ÷ 4


• 87


• 
  

  70%
  OF IT

  
  

• 66 + 58 x 4

x 2

Across

1 Rich fabric (7)

5 Set of cards (4)

8 Anatoly —, Russian chess

grandmaster (6)

9 Otic secretion (6)

10 Chinese currency (8)

12 Masticate (4)

13 Operated by air pressure (9)

17 Wild cat (4)

18 Natural aptitude (8)

20 Yearly book; plant (6)

21 Dig up (a corpse) (6)

23 Witticism (4)

24 Street charity fundraiser (7)

Down

2 Proof checker; lecturer (6)

3 Drinking vessel (3)

4 Bed; sofa (5)

5 Having a narrow outlook (9)

6 (Of glaze) finely cracked (6)

7 Part of the eye (6)

11 Very small painting (9)

14 Spread out; reveal (6)

15 Semi-public body (6)

16 Frustrate, thwart (6)

19 European national (5)

22 Tight embrace (3)

Solution to Crossword 8817

T2 CROSSWORD No 8818

1 2 3 4 5 6

7

8 9

10 11 12

13 14

15 16

17 18 19

20 21 22

23 24

H A U I P A

ONION DECRYPT

M R C I E R O

INSULAR CREAM

L T E T U I

YARN SYMBOL IC

I P T E U

EXPOSURE STAY

N Y I S H E

MEDIC CONCEAL

I O H K U R L

TURNIPS BEANO

Y M C S N W

Cell BlocksNo 4385

© PUZZLER MEDIA

Polygon Set SquareNo 3106

Please note, BODMAS does not apply

Killer Gentle No 8144 Solutions

Killer Tough No 8145

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).

The contract was 4♠ at all but two

tables on today’s deal from

OKbridge, kindly sent to me by my

expert friend Harold Schogger

from northwest London. Given the

foul spade split, this contract was

(channel John Laurie in Dad’s

Army ...) doomed.

Two maverick North-Souths

reached 6♦. One West very reason-

ably (normally even) led the ace of

hearts and switched to a diamond.

Declarer won (East discarding) and

drew trumps in four rounds.

It appears declarer needs either

the jack of clubs to fall in three

rounds or, more likely, West to

have the queen of spades (unless

he decides to play to drop East’s

short queen). Given East’s void

diamond, declarer judged that East

would have both the guarded

queen of spades and the guarded

jack of clubs. How right he was.

Declarer cashed the king of

hearts, crossed to the king of clubs

then cashed the fifth diamond (key

play), discarding a spade from

dummy. East had to discard from

♠Q109 and ♣J98 and whichever

black suit he let go was fatal,

declarer making an extra trick in

that suit. Slam made.

At the other 6♦ table, West

kicked off with a club. Declarer

won in hand and crossed to the

king of diamonds, East discarding.

He hurriedly cashed the ace-queen

of clubs, discarding his two hearts.

He then ruffed a heart with the ace

of diamonds. He led the ten of dia-

monds, overtaking with dummy’s

jack, and ruffed the king of hearts

with the queen of diamonds.

At trick eight, declarer led his

remaining low diamond finessing

dummy’s seven, and cashed

dummy’s nine felling West’s eight.

In the four-card ending, dummy

held ♠KJ8 and ♣10; declarer held

♠A543; East had no choice but to

reduce to ♠Q109 and ♣J.

At trick ten, declarer cashed

dummy’s king of spades to test the

lie of the land. When West dis-

carded, the way was clear.

Declarer exited with the ten of

clubs. East won the jack but at

trick 12 had to lead from ♠Q10.

Declarer ran the ten to dummy’s

jack and scored the last trick with his

ace. Slam made via a truly elegant

dummy reversal and strip squeeze.

[email protected]

Contract: 6♦, Opening Lead: ♥A/♣ 7

Dealer: South, Vulnerability: Neither

N

W E

S

1 ♠ Pass 2♣ Pass

2 ♦ Pass 2♥(1) Pass

3 ♦(2) Pass 4NT(3) Pass

5 ♠(4) Pass 6♦ End

(1) Fourth suit forcing, setting up a game

force and asking for more information.

(2) Showing the fifth diamond.

(3) Roman Key Card Blackwood agreeing

the last bid diamonds.

(4) Two of “five aces” (incl ♦K); plus ♦Q.

S W N E

♠Q10976

♥J1063

♦-

♣J984

Teams ♠KJ8

♥K4

♦KJ97

♣AQ102

♠A5432

♥ 95

♦AQ1063

♣K

♠-

♥AQ872

♦ 8542

♣ 7653

Advanced

Bridge Andrew Robson

C P S S A R

R O U L E T T E S H U T

N U R V T B

S C A M P I E L E G Y

E P I N R

G R A N G E S P O U S E

T E I I

M O T O W N A R D E N T

P A S S I

U S H E R T H R A S H

N Y R U A T

E D I T O U T S I D E R

O E W E D R

Sudoku 12,975

Killer 8142

Sudoku 12,976

Killer 8143

Sudoku 12,977

Quick Cryptic 2062

KenKen 5493

Codeword 4501