The Times - UK (2022-03-15)

the times | Tuesday March 15 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;

21, good; 26, very good; 31, excellent

142 67 21

321 598713

1742 59

13 21 21

689531 879

897 457698

97 89 13

13 6824

432197 489

21 89 137

T H I N G

U L A

N L L

A P A W

E E

T O W A R D

B I B

O U K

W I N E I

L D L

S A L O O N

E

1 f6! Rxd4 2 fxe7 and Black

cannot stop promtion. He can

wriggle with 2 ... Rdd2 which

threatens mate but White wins

with 3 Rh8+! as he can then

promote with check. 1 ... Qf7

loses to 2 Qe4+ g6 3 Qa8

Protospatharius (a) An official

in the Byzantine imperial guard

(Collins)

Sooterkin (b) A spurious kind

of birth once said to be

achieved by Dutchwomen after

sitting on a stove (Brewer’s)

Autoclave (b) A vessel for

chemical reactions at high

pressures (OED)

Kakuro 3130

Futoshiki 4171 Lexica 6262

Cell Blocks 4418 Set Square 3133 Lexica 6261

Suko 3437

Train Tracks 1579

Chess — Winning Move Word watch

1 Lore

2 Bleach

3 Splice

4 Deflect

5 Completed

Quintagram

1 Sydney 2 Twenty Four Hours 3 Tea 4 Smallpox

5 Symphony No 9 or the New World Symphony

6 Royal Engineers 7 Albert Speer 8 Daffodil

9 Ramsay MacDonald and Tony Blair

10 Günter Grass 11 The Passion of the Christ

12 Spontaneous generation 13 SS Utopia

14 Francis Ouimet 15 HMS Belfast

Quiz

Easy 44; Medium 367; Harder 6,381

Brain Trainer

Yesterday’s answers

eon, nor, nose, nosey, nosy, one, oner, ore,

oyes, roe, rone, rose, rosy, sensor,

sensory, snore, son, sone, sonsy, sore,

soy, yon, yore

times2 CrosswordNo 8852 Brain Trainer
Just follow the instructions from left to right, starting with the number given to reach an answer at the end.

ANSWER

EASY 19

ANSWER

MEDIUM^23

ANSWER

HARDER 214 x 7

x 6

+ 4 – 6 + 7

+ 78 + 97

70%

OF IT

/ 2

OF IT

1

50%

OF IT

• 68

+ 694

x 2

• 97

x 3

50%

OF IT

(^7) / 8
OF IT
SQUARE
IT
x 3

• 882 + 50%
  OF IT


• 19
  (^1) / 2
  OF IT


• 
  

• 418

÷ 13

+ 994 x 3

Across

1 Ponderous; oppressive (5)

4 Come safely through (7)

8 Helium nucleus given off

by radioactive substances

(5,8)

9 Arm joint (8)

10 One of seven deadly sins (4)

12 Mother or father (6)

13 Deep river gorge (6)

16 Drawback; sharp

projection (4)

17 Servant; fee (8)

20 View (7)

21 Earthy pigment (5)

22 Source of illumination (5)

23 Transport system (7)

Down

1 Tip-off (5,2)

2 Taking without permission

(13)

3 Young racehorse (8)

4 Lose strength (6)

5 Sparkling Italian wine (4)

6 London borough; cab (7)

7 High and thin in tone (5)

11 Variety of pasta (8)

14 Children's room (7)

15 Banknote (6)

16 Cylinder for winding (5)

18 Not in any way (5)

19 Loose earth; obscenity (4)

Solution to Crossword 8851

T2 CROSSWORD No 8852

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8

9 10

11

12 13 14

15

16 17 18

19

20 21

22 23

SAFETYCURTAIN

O E O O O W O

CARAMEL YEARN

I M O A I E

AXE SENIL ITY

B N W Y B E

LI TTER FL IGHT

E E S U L H

OBSTACLE AGE

I U E H C R

RERAN OUTL INE

A M E O A E A

QUADRILATERAL

Cell BlocksNo 4419

© PUZZLER MEDIA

Polygon Set SquareNo 3134

Please note, BODMAS does not apply

KillerModerate No 8206 Solutions

KillerTough No 8207

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).

Here’s a gem sent in by Steve

Conrad of New York. West leads

the jack of his partner’s spades v

your 4♥, winning the first trick. At

trick two, East overtakes West’s

continuation of the ten of spades

with the queen, and you ruff.

At the table, declarer tried a heart

to the jack. This lost to East’s bare

king and there was no recovery,

declarer losing a trick in every suit.

“Drat. I should have played to

the ace,” said declarer. “It was

unlikely West would hold the king,

given his pass of 1♠.” Unlikely, yes;

impossible, no. I think declarer

should have faffed about a bit —

there’s no rush to guess hearts.

At trick three, lead a club to the

king, and (subtly), choose ♣5, so

that, after ♣5, ♣3, ♣K, East will not

risk ducking, for fear you have led a

singleton, and West is showing a

count (high-even) ♣3 from ♣J832.

East beats the king with the ace and

(say) leads the ace of spades.

You ruff and continue clubs —

after all, ♣J10 may fall in three

rounds, promoting ♣9 for a dia-

mond discard. You cross to the

queen and ruff a club (no short

♣J10). You now cash the king of

diamonds and cross to the ace,

noting East’s queen-jack, and and

lead the nine of clubs.

This apparently dangerous play

is pretty safe. If East discards, you

can ruff low. If (as here) East fol-

lows with the ten, you discard your

remaining diamond, West also

throwing a diamond.

East now has to play a spade (or

the bare king of hearts — err no).

You ruff low (say with the eight)

and West discards (overruffing

with the ten gains nothing).

Now stop and count. Assuming

East’s ♦QJ are true cards, East is

marked with a 6♠ 1 ♥ 2 ♦ 4 ♣ shape.

With hearts 3-1, your only hope is

East’s heart is the king. You cross

to the ace and, hey presto, the king

is felled. You cash the jack, ruff a

diamond, and cash the queen of

hearts, drawing West’s ten. Game

[email protected]

Contract: 4♥, Opening Lead: ♠J

Dealer: East, Vulnerability: North-South

N

W E

S

1 ♠

Pass(1) Pass Dbl(2) Pass(3)

2 ♥(4) Pass 2NT(5) Pass

4 ♥ End

(1) Wrong vulnerability for a frisky pre-empt.

(2) Too strong for a protective 1NT (11-16) and

not strong enough for a protective 2NT (19-21).

(3) There’s a case for a 2♣ or 2♠ bid here

but (i) East’s partner is bereft, and (ii)

East’s hand is so impure with those short

red holdings, better suited to defence.

(4) Jumping would imply more strength.

Partner is likely to have a strong balanced

hand as East-West have not been too vocif-

erous in their spade bidding, so probably

has another bid in him.

(5) In the protective seat, doubling and bid-

ding notrumps shows 17-18 balanced.

S W N E

♠AQ9532

♥K

♦QJ

♣A1074

Pairs ♠K74

♥AJ

♦A653

♣KQ96

♠ 8

♥Q986543

♦K72

♣ 52

♠J106

♥ 1072

♦ 10984

♣J83

Bridge Andrew Robson

H O S T A G E F A S T

U A N P L O

Y E S M A N S H I E L D

U I I N I

S T R E E T L I G H T

U A O A

S P R I N T N I T W I T

E R A R

R E N A I S S A N C E

N A C E G

D O A B L E P R E T T Y

V O P I N O

G A R B S P A R T A N

Sudoku 13,065

Killer 8204

Sudoku 13,066

Killer 8205

Sudoku 13,067

Quick Cryptic 2090

KenKen 5527

Codeword 4535