The Times - UK (2022-01-19)

the times | Wednesday January 19 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 11 words, average;

15, good; 20, very good; 25, excellent

89 1235

897 251483

13 413 241

4213 71

2135789 79

97 2568931

21 5312

986 976 98

793186 986

5123 76

D R

C A R E S S

I G W

S N I D E

O E

P L A N E T

A P

A V O W A L

I N

W A N D E R

R I A

Y E N

Locutory (c) A room for

conversation in a monastery

(Collins)

Bethel (c) A seaman’s chapel

(OED)

Clavis (b) A clue or aid for

solving problems (Chambers)

1 ... Qxc3+! 2 bxc3 Ba3 is mate

Kakuro 3091

Futoshiki 4132 Lexica 6184

Cell Blocks 4371 Set Square 3094 Lexica 6183

Suko 3390

Train Tracks 1532

Word watch

Chess — Winning Move

1 Fly

2 Middle

3 Bantam

4 Cruiser

5 Makeweight

Quintagram

1 Gold 2 Harpic 3 Stephen King 4 Guitar 5 Ed

Sheeran 6 Sten gun 7 Eduardo Saverin 8 Louis Wain

— in The Electrical Life of Louis Wain 9 Naomi Klein

10 The Alarm 11 Susan Ross 12 The Burial of Sir John

Moore at Corunna 13 Ratchet & Clank 14 Sonny Liston

15 Rachel Cusk

Quiz

Easy 93; Medium 355; Harder 2,148

Brain Trainer

Yesterday’s answers

berm, bice, bier, bio, biome, biro, boer,

bore, boric, brim, brio, bro, brome, cob,

comb, combe, comber, combi, corbie,

crib, cribo, microbe, mob, mobe, obi,

ombre, orb, rib, rob, robe

times2 Crossword No 8805 Brain Trainer
Just follow the instructions from left to right, starting with the number given to reach an answer at the end.

ANSWER

EASY 13

ANSWER

MEDIUM^56

ANSWER

HARDER 247

+ 4 + 14

+ 78

+ 887

x 2

+ 89

+ 975

+ 16

/ 2

OF IT

+^1

• 13


• 885

x 4

• 77 /^2
  OF IT

+^1 50%

OF IT

/ 6

OF IT

5

/ 6

OF IT

+^1

x 2

/ 6

OF IT

5

x 3

/ 2

OF IT

(^1) – 687
60%
OF IT

• 8 /^8
  OF IT

7

• 76 + 60%
  OF IT

Across

4 Indicate by suggestion (5)

7 Quibble about trivial

points (8)

8 Come down; country (4)

9 Removed contaminants

from (8)

10 Actor (6)

13 Main meal (6)

14 Brain's outer layer (6)

15 Put money into shares,

property, etc (6)

18 Jail (8)

19 Peaceful, undisturbed (4)

20 Becoming visible (8)

21 Tall conifer (5)

Down

1 Spread irregularly (6)

2 (Of food) heavy (6)

3 Fastener (6)

4 Combustion's start (8)

5 Card game for one (8)

6 Over there (6)

11 Plane's velocity (8)

12 Cosmetic (8)

14 Place for treatment (6)

15 Pay no heed to (6)

16 Person harmed by crime (6)

17 Type of fodder (6)

Solution to Crossword 8804

T2 CROSSWORD No 8805

1 2 3 4 5 6

7

8 9

10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17

18 19

20

21

ABSORB BALM

O P A S T N A

REEDS WHISKER

T C T E P L S

AGITATE TEETH

A T O Y

GLOVEPUPPET

A O O N

FI LLY TODDLER

R O A A E A H

INSIGHT PARRY

C E E O T G M

AGRA CHEESE

Cell BlocksNo 4372

© PUZZLER MEDIA

Polygon Set SquareNo 3095

Please note, BODMAS does not apply

Killer Tricky No 8120 Solutions

Killer Deadly No 8121

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)

12. Hand Evaluation

(b) Living In Sin (LIS)

“Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?”

Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry.

You open 1NT with 13 points —

middle of your range — and part-

ner invites game by bidding 2NT.

Do you accept? Do you feel lucky?

It’s more than luck — it’s hand

evaluation. There are good 13s and

bad 13s. There are three main fac-

tors — with the three-letter

acronym LIS as an aide-memoire.

L for Length. If you have a five-

card suit in your 1NT, that’s good.

And 4432 is better than 4333, for

you have two four-card suits with

which to make length winners.

I is for Intermediates. The

point-count method treats the ten

(and the nine) very harshly.

Particularly in the context of two

balanced hands playing Notrumps,

tens are worth about half a point.

S is for sequences. It is so much

easier winning tricks when your

high cards are sequential rather

than “gappy”.

Naturally, the LIS criteria over-

lap, such that a suit of, say,

♦AJ1092 is massive, worth way

more than its five high-card-point

value.

You open 1NT and partner raises

to 2NT. What now with these?

With the first, pass in a flash.

What a dreary 13-count, failing

each of the LIS criteria.

The second 1NT opener contains

only 12 points, however I would

accept the invitation in a flash. I love

my clubs and I have all four tens.

This hand is as good as most 14s.

The third is a decent 13 and,

given the five-card suit, it’s clear to

accept. However, you should bid

3 ♥ to show five cards and offer a

choice of games — if partner has

three hearts, she’ll raise to 4♥.

You win West’s ♠Q lead (not ♠ 6

— giving up a cheap trick) with ♠K

(East signalling with ♠2 — she’d

encourage if she held ♠10). At trick

two, you lead ♣2 to ♣8, the deep

finesse. West wins ♣K and, unable

profitably to lead spades, switches to

♥8. East wins ♥A and leads ♠8.

You win ♠A, cross to ♦K and lead

♣4 to ♣9, West discarding. You

cross to ♦A and lead ♣5 to (♣ 10

and) ♣J. The ♣A fells East’s ♣Q

and you enjoy ♣3 and ♥K. Nine

tricks. [email protected]

N

W E

S

1NT Pass 2♣(1) Pass

2 ♦(2) Pass 2NT Pass

3NT(3) End

(1) Stayman, asking for four-card majors.

(2) No four-card major.

(3) Accepting the invitation, despite the

minimum point-count, because of the five

five-card club suit (the ♣98 are valuable —

indeed made all the difference) and two

side tens.

S W N E

♠ 872

♥AQ102

♦ 95

♣Q1076

♠K4

♥J953

♦AK64

♣ 542

♠A105

♥K4

♦ 1082

♣AJ983

♠QJ963

♥ 876

♦QJ73

♣K

♠KJ2

♥Q42

♦ 8742

♣AQJ

♠A103

♥KJ982

♦KQ4

♣ 102

♠ 108

♥AJ10

♦Q107

♣AJ1093

Dealer: South

Vul: Neither

Bridge Andrew Robson

A D V O C A T E A C H E

M I O A O R

A R S O N R E B E C C A

T I S I L O S

E A T I N F L U E N C E

U D F N U

R A P I E R E D I T O R

L R S E E

C H A R A C T E R E L M

U T T A B X O

P R O V E R B U T T E R

I O L S R S

D O N E S E A S C A P E

Sudoku 12,940

Killer 8118

Sudoku 12,941

Killer 8119

Sudoku 12,942

Quick Cryptic 2051

KenKen 5480

Codeword 4488

41 x 7 9 + 27 7 x 10 7 + 41

5 + 18 27 x 9 10 + 7 18 x 5

(^) 12 x 7 24 + 12 5 x 55 7 + 12
55 + 5 6 x 11 6 + 11 24 x 12
5 5 6 7 7 7 9 10 11 12 12 18 24 27 41 55
275 19
60 66 17 288
84 36
70 48
23 243 17 90
287 36
Tetonor 223