The Times - UK (2022-02-23)

the times | Wednesday February 23 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; 22, very good; 28, excellent

879 5123

25316 3241

431286 31

95 98 97

685 79568

89765 789

97 79 79

13 861327

9421 82149

5213 968

F L U E A

E W A S

I C E S

O A U

L A N G U R

D E

A S S E T

Q Y

U L T R A

E A

C A N I N E

L T

Kakuro 3116

Futoshiki 4157 Lexica 6234

Cell Blocks 4401 Set Square 3119 Lexica 6233

Suko 3420

Train Tracks 1562

Astolat (c) Guildford in Surrey

(Brewer’s)

Banausic (b) Merely

mechanical (Collins)

Sowl (a) To pull by the ears

(Chambers)

Word watch

1 Exodus 2 Johnnie Walker

3 Nicosia 4 Home Office

5 Robert Vaughn 6 Edward

IV 7 Benjamin Disraeli 8 Sri Lanka 9 Colour blindness

or red-green colour blindness 10 Madagascar 11 Duke

of Hamilton or Duke of Hamilton and Brandon — as

in Alexander Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 16th Duke

of Hamilton, 13th Duke of Brandon 12 Borsalino

13 Leave Her to Heaven 14 Jack Buckner 15 Africa. It is

in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital

1 ... Kc3! is the only move to win.

There is no way to stop the

pawn, eg 2 Ne7 f2 3 Nd5+ Kd4

and the pawn promotes. 1 ... Ke4

(not 1 ... Kd3 2 Ne5+ and 3 Nxf3,

nor 1 ... Ke3 2 Ne5 f2 3 Ng4+

and 4 Nxf2) also seems to shut

the white knight out but White

has the sneaky 2 Ne7! f2 3 Nf5,

when 3 ... f1Q (3 ... f1N will still

draw) loses to 4 Ng3+

Chess — Winning Move

1 Adage

2 Large

3 Lentil

4 Prestige

5 Temporal

Quintagram

Quiz

Easy 19; Medium 155; Harder 1,923

Brain Trainer

Yesterday’s answers

est, gel, gelt, get, glue, glute, guess,

guest, gules, gulet, gusset, gutless, leg,

less, lest, let, leu, lues, luge, lute, set, slue,

sue, suet, teg, tule, tussle, use, ute

times2 CrosswordNo 8835 Brain Trainer
Just follow the instructions from left to right, starting with the number given to reach an answer at the end.

ANSWER

EASY 11

ANSWER

MEDIUM^38

ANSWER

HARDER 79

30%

OF IT

+ 822 x 4

x 7 + 87

• 681

x 3

SQUARE

IT

+ 52

x 2

/ 6

OF IT

5

/ 2

OF IT

+^1

• 895

/ 3

OF IT

(^2) + 8

• 11
  / 6
  OF IT
  5
  ÷ 4 – 8

• 61

/ 6

OF IT

(^5) / 8
OF IT
5

• 9 25%
  OF IT


• 15

80%

OF IT

+ 727

Across

1 River; — Flow(Enya) (7)

5 Small flake of soot (4)

9 River giving name to 1916

battle (5)

10 Visit a restaurant (4,3)

11 Protection; maintenance (12)

12 Wooded (6)

13 Assembly, convention (6)

16 Senior bishop (12)

19 Underground prison (7)

20 Leg joint (5)

21 Unit of length (4)

22 Gave; gave in (7)

Down

1 Drive out (4)

2 Unethical; sinful (7)

3 Eclipsed, outshone (12)

4 Commands (6)

6 Aotearoa language (5)

7 Bacterial disease (7)

8 Disable (12)

12 At an unspecified future

time (7)

14 Split; crazed (7)

15 Eg, Kent or Cheshire (6)

17 Male singing voice (5)

18 Unwanted plant (4)

Solution to Crossword 8834

T2 CROSSWORD No 8835

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8

9 10

11

12 13 14

15

16 17

18

19 20

21 22

SUCCESS TACIT

U O S W I A H

CYNIC ENLARGE

K I A E T D F

ESCALATE TINT

R O N M A

STREPTOCOCCUS

E E T O I

EASE THINNEST

R C E I B T T

NEUTRON EXUDE

I E N G A D R

EYRIE SIMMERS

Cell BlocksNo 4402

© PUZZLER MEDIA

Polygon Set SquareNo 3120

Please note, BODMAS does not apply

KillerTricky No 8175 Solutions

KillerDeadly No 8176

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).

Five Instructive Themes (FIT)

13. Declaring Notrumps

(b) Don’t FLaP, think

Force, Length & Position

The three basic methods of estab-

lishing extra tricks in Notrumps are

Force, Length and Position (finesse).

(A) Force. You use sequences to

force out higher cards.

(i) ♦KJ4 facing ♦Q32

(ii) ♠J4 facing ♠Q1092

In (i), you use one of the three

sequential high cards to force out

♦A and so promote two winners.

In (ii), you use two of the sequen-

tial high cards (preferably ♠J first

— high from the short hand) to

force out ♠AK and promote two

winners.

Note, provided you can afford to

lose the lead (once in the first

example, twice in the second), suc-

cess is guaranteed — regardless of

who holds the higher cards and

irrespective of the opposing split.

(B) Length. Try to exhaust the

opponents of a suit in which you

have greater length, and so pro-

mote your remaining cards, how-

ever small. The opposing split will

be key — a random luck element.

Look for a five-card suit and don’t

be frightened to lose a trick — you

have to lose to win.

(iii) ♣A74 facing ♣K8632

(iv) ♥K4 facing♥AQ632

In (iii), presuming the likely 3-2

split, you can play ♣AK and lose

the third round to establish two

length winners. Perhaps better is to

lose the first round, retaining com-

munication. In (iv), cash ♥K, over

to ♥AQ and, if the suit splits 4-2

(more likely than 3-3), give up the

fourth round to establish the fifth.

(C) Finesse. You lead from the

opposite hand towards a high

card(s) and hope for a favourable

position of the opposing higher

card. You need it to be in the hand

playing second ie before the high

card you are trying to promote.

(v) ♦KQ4 facing ♦ 532

(vi) ♠AK52 facing ♠J4

In (v), hope for two diamond

tricks by leading ♦2 to ♦Q. If ♦Q

wins, return to hand in a different

suit and lead ♦3 towards ♦K. In

(vi), lead ♠2 towards ♠J, hoping

♠Q is playing before ♠J. If so, ♠J

will be promoted — sooner or later.

Don’t make the common mistake of

leading ♠J — for whichever oppo-

nent who holds ♠Q will cover.

Often, a combination of all three

methods is called for.

Win ♥10 with ♥K and lead ♣ 2

towards ♣KQ, finesse technique,

hoping West holds ♣A. After ♣Q

wins, lead ♠2 to ♠K, forcing out

♠A. Win West’s ♥9 with ♥Q and

lead ♣6 to (♣10 and) ♣K. Now

lead ♣3 to West’s ♣A. Win West’s

♥2 with ♥A, cash ♣54 length

winners and cross to ♠QJ. Nine

tricks. [email protected]

N

W E

S

1 ♦ Pass 2♣ Pass

2NT Pass 3NT End

S W N E

♠ 107654

♥ 64

♦AJ93

♣J9

♠ 32

♥A73

♦ 862

♣KQ543

♠KQJ

♥KQJ

♦K1075

♣ 762

♠A98

♥ 109852

♦Q4

♣A108

Dealer: South

Vul: Neither

Bridge Andrew Robson

M A T T R E S S B A K U

V O B U R N

H O S T B A C C A R A T

C A C I V

F A L L I B L E L E E K

D A S L

C O U P O N S L E U T H

R D O R

A C H E S P R I N T E R

H F T O L

L U K E W A R M B I L L

T C N U E I

T E S T D E M O L I S H

Sudoku 13,020

Killer 8173

Sudoku 13,021

Killer 8174

Sudoku 13,022

Quick Cryptic 2076

KenKen 5510

Codeword 4518

20 x 20 6 x 6 40 + 11 12 + 28

6 + 6 11 x 40 10 + 25^102 + 2

(^102) x 2 10 + 5 12 x 28 4 x 9
20 + 20 5 x 10 4 + 9 25 x 10
2 4 5 6 6 9 10 10 11 12 20 20 25 28 40^102
51 40
12 440 35 104
400 36
336 36
40 50 13 250
204 15
Tetonor 233