Times 2 - UK (2020-11-09)

the times | Monday November 9 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 13 words, average;

18, good; 21, very good; 24, excellent

  


 


 



 


 

 
 


 


  

  


 
  

1 Falklands conflict 2 Nose 3 Mecca 4 Henry VIII

5 Bambi 6 Peanut (Arachis hypogaea). It is actually a

legume 7 Po 8 Hilaire Belloc 9 That ’70s Show — set in

the fictional Point Place, Wisconsin 10 Shiva 11 Hublot

12 Nicolas Mathieu 13 Chess 14 Norway. It has been held

at Frognerbadet pool, Oslo since 2008 15 Bar Refaeli

Seston (a) Particulate

matter suspended in

water, such as plankton

Volplane (b) To glide

towards the ground with

no engine power

Regmaker (b) A hangover

cure taken as a drink (SA)

Kakuro 2779

Sudoku 11,

Killer 7433

Futoshiki 3820

Suko 3016

Train Tracks 1168

Word watch

Quiz

Easy 3; Medium 330; Harder 357

Cell Blocks 3997 Set Square 2782

Saturday’s answers

adapt, adit, arid, aspidistra, dais, dart,

data, diapir, diarist, dirt, diss, drat, drip,

pard, raid, rapid, riad, sadist, said, sapid,

sard, staid, trad, triad

times2 CrosswordNo 8431 Brain Trainer

AN

S

WE

R

MEDIUM 9 –^354 +^96

(^33) / 44
OF IT
HHALF OF +
IT
SQUARE x 4
IT
(^222) / 33 x 6
OF IT
÷ 5
A
N
S
EASY 4 DOUBLE WER
IT

• 6 – 4 CUBE
  IT
  (^11) / (^33) + 5 ÷ 6
  OF IT
  TREBLE
  IT

• 8

AN

S

HARDER 91 7 ÷^3 WER

(^666) / 7
OF IT
DOUD BLE
IT

• 466 – 243 TREBLE
  IT
  (^222) / 33
  OF IT
  +^777 / 88
  OF IT

• 1 083

Across

1 Ancienttwo-handledjar( 7 )

5 Temporarilystop( 5 )

8 Eg,gelignite( 4 , 9 )

9 Deliiiverytruck( 4 )

10 Sailingffforpleasureor

racing( 8 )

113 Haaawaiiangarland( 3 )

14 Ellipses( 5 )

15 Finish( 3 )

16 Holliness(( 8 ))

17 Enclosedspace;measure( 4 )

20 Parkingofffffficial( 777 , 6 )

22 Inbaseeight( 5 )

23 Makebigger( 7 )

Down

1 Gardenpest( 5 )

2 PlaaaybyShaaaw( 9 )

3 Dowhatoneistold( 4 )

4 Heliumnucleus( 5 , 8 )

5 Predict( 8 )

6 Uniiiversity( 3 )

7 Cameintoexistence( 7 )

11 Natiiveofff,eg,Reykkjaaavik( 9 )

12 Seeminglyyoung( 8 )

1113 EnclaaavedAfffrican

kingdom( 7 )

18 Crowdedclosely

together( 5 )

19 Two-mastedboat( 4 )

21 Partofplaayoropera( 3 )

SolutiontoCrossword 8430

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8

9 10 11

12

13 14 15

16 17 18

19

20 21

22 23

CULDESAC DID

D I T A U E

DISCONNECTED

E P P A P

URDU WHISTLER

T A L S

ASSENT LEANTO

H C O R

HEDGEHOG SOFA

L L I E L

FLUORESCENCE

A O R A I E

CAM ALLOCATE

Cell Blocks No 3998

© PUZZLER MEDIA

Polygon Set Square No 2783

Please note, BODMAS does not apply

Killer Gentle No 7434 Solutions

Killer Tricky No 7435

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).

Winners of the world-class online

Minor Alt Invitational II were the

predominantly-English team cap-

tained by Jonathan Harris. They

nearly didn’t show up for the quar-

ter-final as they didn’t think they’d

made it through the round-robin

stage (they scraped through their

group of eight in 4th place with a

below-average victory point score).

The hero of today’s deal from the

semi-final was Andrew McIntosh

(“Tosh”) of Sussex — from the

other English team to reach the last

four, captained by Andrew Black.

Tosh would have done slightly bet-

ter by passing partner Tom Paske’s

take-out double of 3 ♦, converting it

into penalties. But a fine piece of

declarer-play held the loss to a

mere 7 0 points.

At the other table, Muller - de

Wijs had made light work earning

500 points defending 3 ♦ doubled

(after 1NT- 3 ♦-Dbl-all pass). North

had led the king of spades, declarer

(West) winning the ace and leading

a diamond to the king. South had

won the ace and switched to the ace

of hearts (North encouraging with

the ten), a heart to the king, and a

third heart ruffed. South had cashed

the ace of clubs and led a second

spade to North’s queen — six defen-

sive tricks in about six seconds.

West led a diamond v Tosh’s thin

3NT, declarer beating East’s king

with the ace. East was now the

danger hand, as he would be lead-

ing a second diamond through

declarer’s jack-low.

At trick two, declarer led a

spade, pleased to observe dummy’s

queen win. He now led a club (cru-

y

cially from dummy) and, when

East played the ten, he ducked

(key play), knowing West would

y

have to overtake (unless void).

yy

West’s bare queen won the trick

and he cashed the queen of dia-

monds and led a third diamond.

Winning the jack of diamonds,

declarer cashed the ace of clubs,

felling East’s king, and ran his long

clubs. On the last club, West had to

discard his final winning diamond

to retain♥QJ3 and♠A. After dis-

carding a heart from dummy,

declarer could now afford to lead

up to the king of spades and secure

a cheeky overtrick — +430.

[email protected]

Contract: 3NT, Opening Lead: ♦ 5

Dealer: North, Vulnerability: East-West

N

W E

S

Pass Pass

1 ♣( 1 ) 3 ♦(2) Dbl(3) pass

3NT( 4 ) End

(1) Playing Strong Notrump. Lest you think

most top pairs play Strong, Muller-de Wijs

at the other table opened a 9-14 1NT (!) —

logical facing a passed partner as game val-

ues are not present.

(2) Pre-emptive but dubious given the bro-

ken suit and unfavourable vulnerability.

(3) Negative (ie take-out).

( 4 ) Tempting to pass given his three-and-a-

half defensive tricks but the odd -670 is

hard to swallow. A clear pass at Pairs.

S(McIntosh) W N(Paske) E

♠J 984

♥ 98762

♦K 9

♣K1 0

Teams ♠KQ 52

♥K 105

♦ 7

♣J 9652

♠ 1073

♥A

♦AJ 6

♣A8 743

♠A 6

♥QJ

♦Q 1085432

♣Q

Bridge Andrew Robson

CB

LAUNCH

OR I

SO I L K

EA E

DUL L

F

LIST

NE

LADDER

AEU

GSWUM

1 Crawl

2 Paddle

3 Breast

4 Stroke

5 Butterfly

1 Qxg7+! Bxg7 2 Rxg7+ creates the

so-called “windmill”. After 2 ...

Kh8 3 Rxf7+ Kg8 4 Rg7+ Kh

5 Rxa7+ (unnecessary as 5 Rg6+

at once is easier) 5 ... Kg8 (better

is 5 ... Rf6 but 6 Rxa8 still wins for

White) 6 Rg7+ Kh8 7 Rg6+ Rf

8 Bxf6+ Qxf6 9 Rxf6 and White

emerges a rook up

B W N E S T

FREEHAND CURT

O A P D E U

SCARCE OUNCE

C RYE A

COWBOY STRIPE

L R I R

SIRIUS BOOBOO

N LEO F

VAGUE REASON

I O U I L U

BEAU TENTOONE

W T H G T D

Lexica 5560

Lexica 5559

Chess — Winning Move

Quintagram

Brain Trainer

Quick Cryptic 1739

KenKen 5106

Codeword 4114

Square Routes

87

Tredoku 1655

M P D R O

U R T E F

C A G A M

L N O B H

I N T U S