The Times - UK (2022-05-25)

the times | Wednesday May 25 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 15 words, average;

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

  

 


 

 


  

  


 


 

 

  

TIC M

HDO

UAWN

MAG I I

BLEE

SOY D

ARKR

ESA

CARTON

CRT

WHEAT

P

Bycoket (c) A high-crowned

hat (Collins)

Venatic (c) Relating to hunting

(Chambers)

Lycoperdon (a) The puffball

fungus (OED)

1 Qh7+! Kxh7 and now the

white rooks finish off the

king: 2 Rxg7+ Kh8 3 Rh7+

Kg8 4 Rbg7 mate

Kakuro 3181

Futoshiki 4222 Lexica 6364

Cell Blocks 4479 Set Square 3184 Lexica 6363

Suko 3498

Train Tracks 1638

Word watch

Chess — Winning Move

1 Boxes

2 Beetle

3 Hangman

4 Noughts

5 Crosses

Quintagram

1 Heart 2 Jeremy Corbyn 3 Neighbours 4 Vicereine

5 Punch 6 Hanson 7 Fibonacci 8 Chainsaw 9 Roanoke

Island 10 Madame du Barry aka Jeanne Bécu,

Comtesse du Barry 11 Algae 12 The Devil and Daniel

We b s t e r. The film is also known as All That Money

Can Buy 13 Lethal Bizzle 14 Jimmy White — in 1990,

1992, 1993 and 1994 15 Brenda Fricker

Quiz

Easy 3; Medium 445; Harder 9,978

Brain Trainer

Yesterday’s answers

cor, core, corer, corse, cos, course,

courser, crore, cursor, eco, euro, orc, ore,

our, ours, roc, roe, rose, roué, rouse,

rouser, score, scorer, scour, scourer, sore,

sou, sour, source

times2 Crossword No 8913 Brain Trainer

ANSWER

EASY 17

ANSWER

MEDIUM^101

ANSWER

HARDER 85 x 7

75%

OF IT

+ 7

+ 699

• 77
  
  
  • 14
  
  
  
  

x 4 + 84

50%

OF IT

x 3 – 998

• 5

+ 862

÷ 2

+ 12

x 4 + 87 /^6

OF IT

5

75%

OF IT

x 4 /^2

OF IT

(^1) / 3
OF IT
1
/ 8
OF IT
5

• 18

/ 2

OF IT

+^1 / 5

OF IT

+^1

x 2

Across

3 Tip (8)

7 Polar sky light (6)

8 Capital of The Bahamas (6)

9 Weeping (6)

10 Chopping (wood) (6)

11 Egyptian cross (4)

13 Minor road (5)

15 US state (4)

17 Solemn ceremony (6)

18 (They) leave the stage (6)

19 Keeps occupied; tethers

(4,2)

20 Reversals of direction (1-5)

21 Straight ahead (8)

Down

1 Non-competitive athletic

event (3,3)

2 Shine; language (6)

3 Link between ship and

shore (7)

4 Delicate branching

pattern (7)

5 Innate behaviour (8)

6 Fairly immature (8)

11 Drink before a meal (8)

12 Woollen items (8)

13 Great skill and brilliance (7)

14 Watery (7)

15 Very able, competent (6)

16 Sheltering canvas for door

or window (6)

Solution to Crossword 8912

1 2 3 4 5 6

7

8

9

10

11 12

13 14

15 16

17

18

19

20

21

A A B B

DEBTOR ARTFUL

V L T R A U

IDOL ISER ACME

C O N E I

ENDUP SLOWLY

S U T I

STITCH TITLE

R E E A N

NEED NARRATES

O A T O E I

TEMPER LAPDOG

E E L N

Cell BlocksNo 4480

© PUZZLER MEDIA

Polygon Set SquareNo 3185

Please note, BODMAS does not apply

KillerTricky No 8318 Solutions

KillerDeadly No 8319

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)

15. Defence

(e) The Slow Defence

When dummy has no suit that will

provide declarer with discards for

her losers, it’s a slow defence. The

other threat the defence should

look for in dummy is a ruffing

value — a short suit that declarer

can void, then ruff her losers. The

way for the defence to try to

thwart the threat of the ruffing

value is to switch to a trump.

If dummy contains neither a

long, strong suit nor a ruffing value

the defence should play passively,

giving as little away as possible.

Examples of passive defence

include (i) leading suits in which

declarer is void, making her ruff in

the long hand with a trump that

was always going to win; (ii) lead-

ing from rubbish, knowing part-

ner’s holding will not be compro-

mised; (iii) leading trumps when it

will not cost the defence a possible

trump trick. As long as you are not

enabling declarer to do something

she couldn’t do herself, your play is

passive.

On Deal A, East won West’s ♣Q

lead with ♣A, felling declarer’s

bare ♣K and observed dummy.

The diamonds were no threat —

East had them covered with her

♦QJ95. However, the ruffing

value in hearts was a threat.

At trick two, East found the only

winning defence, switching to a

spade. Declarer won dummy’s ♠A

and ducked a heart but, when the

defence led another spade, remov-

ing dummy’s last spade and pre-

venting a heart ruff, declarer had

to concede one down.

On Deal B, West led ♥Q and

East won ♥A — the wisdom of this

play evident when ♥K fell. Dummy

contained no long, strong suit nor

ruffing value. This called for a slow,

passive defence. A spade, diamond

or club lead would all blow a defen-

sive trick. The only safe return was

a second heart — and (after some

huffing and puffing), declarer even-

tually had to concede one down.

[email protected]

Dealer: South, Vulnerability: Neither

N

W E

S

1 ♠ Pass 1NT Pass

2 ♥ Pass 2♠ Pass

3 ♠ Pass 4♠ End

S W N E

♠ 876

♥QJ10

♦QJ95

♣A86

♠AJ

♥ 42

♦K10642

♣ 7542

♠KQ10432

♥A653

♦A7

♣K

♠ 95

♥K987

♦ 83

♣QJ1093

N

W E

S

♠Q109

♥A965

♦Q43

♣K106

♠AJ43

♥ 874

♦K102

♣Q53

♠K8765

♥K

♦A986

♣A87

♠ 2

♥QJ1032

♦J75

♣J942

A

B

1 ♠ Pass 3♠ Pass

4 ♠ End

S W N E

Dealer: South, Vulnerability: Neither

Bridge Andrew Robson

CODP I ECE SEED

A R N A N I

ROADS I DE NOUS

S W O D I R Q

PLA I DCYMRU

S A V E I O I

CASHEW ENDURE

I P N S G S T

MA I NCOURSE

I R Y B U E N

THAWSTAGNATE

A N L A S A

RITE HEARHEAR

Sudoku 13,228

Killer 8316

Sudoku 13,229

Killer 8317

Sudoku 13,230

Quick Cryptic 2141

KenKen 5588

Codeword 4596

6x269+1015x97+28

25 + 6 6 x 25 16 + 7 16 x 7

9x109+169x1621+4

6 + 26 21 x 4 15 + 9 28 x 7

135 35

31 150 23 112

156 19

144 25

32 84 24 196

90 25

Tetonor 259