The Times - UK (2022-04-08)

the times | Friday April 8 2022 19

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;

16, good; 22, very good; 28, excellent

  



 

 


 


 
 


  

 


  


 

  

ACROSS

LU

SMIME

OBO

LS

EASY

GS

TUM A

CE D

HAS D

ISELL

PE

Kakuro 3148

Futoshiki 4189 Lexica 6298

Cell Blocks 4439 Set Square 3151 Lexica 6297

Suko 3458

Train Tracks 1600

Word watch

1 Alice in Wonderland 2 Ben

Affleck and Jennifer Lopez

3 Kylie Minogue 4 Bitcoin

5 EL James 6 Achilles — in

The Shield of Achilles 7 Jane Wyman

8 The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. It was founded in

1683 9 Submarine 10 Alicia Markova 11 46th Academy

Awards or Oscars 12 Henry the Fowler or Henry I

13 Luoyang 14 Wrestling 15 Isabel Marant

1 ... Re1! is a brilliant saving

move, the main point being

2 d8Q Rxf1+ 3 Kxf1 Qc1+ 4 Ke2

Qc2+ and White must allow

perpetual check with 5 Ke1

Qc1+ as 5 Kf3 actually gets

mated after 5 ... Qd3+ 6 Kg4

Qf5+ 7 Kxh4 Qf4+ 8 g4 Qxf2+

9 Kg5 f6+ 10 Qxf6 Qxf6 mate.

White tried 2 Qe8 but 2 ...

Rxf1+ 3 Kxf1 Qc1+ 4 Qe1 Qc7

5 Qxb4 Qxd7 was equal

Talion (c) The principle of

punishment fitting crime

(Collins)

Whid (c) A rapid noiseless

movement (Chambers)

Déménagement (b) Moving

house (OED)

Chess — Winning Move

1 Vivid

2 Mimic

3 Cocoon

4 Cucumber

5 Two-faced

Quintagram

Quiz

Easy 63; Medium 798; Harder 5,432

Brain Trainer

Yesterday’s answers

anal, anna, annal, anti, hail, halt, hiatal,

inhalant, ital, lanai, lath, lathi, liana, naan,

naiant, nail, nana, natal, taal, tahina, tail,

tala, tania, tannia, thali, than, thana, tian

times2 Crossword No 8873 Brain Trainer

ANSWER

EASY 26

ANSWER

MEDIUM 93

ANSWER

HARDER 241 x 6

x 2

x 4

+ 12 x 3 + 5

+ 87

+5

x 2 – 49

+ 337

• 8

80%

OF IT

• 773
  
  
  • 6
  
  
  
  

+ 84

÷ 2

/ 2

OF IT

1

/ 4

OF IT

+^1 / 3

OF IT

2

/ 4

OF IT

3

/ 3

OF IT

+^2 +

+ 79 /^5

OF IT

+^1

/ 4

OF IT

+^1

• 577 /^8
  OF IT

7

Across

8 Lover of fine food and

drink (7)

9 Labourer (originally on a

canal) (5)

10 Maker of false statements

about another (9)

11 Dull routine (3)

12 Jewish scholar (5)

14 Connection (7)

15 Enclose; restrain (7)

17 Place of entry (5)

19 Uncooked (3)

20 Consequently (9)

22 Prevent, ward off (5)

23 Alfalfa (7)

Down

1 Not so great (6)

2 Silicate mineral (4)

3 In four parts (13)

4 Seabird (6)

5 Unwillingness to

compromise (13)

6 Examine and repair (8)

7 Evergreen shrub (6)

13 Convolvulus (8)

15 US pen for livestock (6)

16 Sewing instrument;

annoy (6)

18 Ancient Greek or Egyptian

city (6)

21 Rowing blades (4)

Solution to Crossword 8872

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9

10 11

12 13 14

15 16 17 18

19 20 21

22 23

BESTOW SWIVEL

O A I C H E I

OTHELLO ERNST

T A N A A U

SCRUM TITULAR

A E R G G

FEN NIECE PRY

R T T R I

ESQUIRE MIGHT

E A O M T A

SITIN PERHAPS

I A E S H I T

ABRADE MOULDY

Cell BlocksNo 4440

© PUZZLER MEDIA

Polygon Set SquareNo 3152

Please note, BODMAS does not apply

KillerModerate No 8245 Solutions

KillerDeadly No 8246

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).

Similar ... but different

As a defender leading from the

king and one accompanying low

card, you should lead the king. Fail

to do so and you’ll block the suit.

With more than one accompany-

ing low card, you should lead low,

keeping back the king. This applies

whether or not partner has bid the

suit.

It was clear for West to lead a

spade given her partner’s 1♠ over-

call. And she selected the one card

in her hand to scupper the game

— the top of two ♠K. After ♠K

held, she led ♠2 to ♠A, East then

leading a third spade, lose to win.

Declarer won ♠Q and had no

choice but to play on diamonds,

hoping West, with no spades, held

♦A. It was not to be — East won

♦A and cashed her two long

spades. One down.

Note, if West had erroneously

led ♠2, East winning ♠A and

returning a second spade, West

would have won ♠K but had no

third spade to clear the suit.

Declarer would win any return

and peacefully force out ♦A, still

with her spade stopper — game

made plus one.

On our second deal, West must

lead ♠2, leading low from three

cards. East wins ♠A and returns

♠J (to pin dummy’s ♠10).

Declarer does best to withhold

♠Q but, after ♠J wins, East leads

♠4 (sophistication warning — this

should be a suit preference signal

for the lower-ranking clubs). After

winning ♠K, West duly leads a

club, East winning ♣A and cashing

two long spades. Two down.

Note, if West erroneously kicks

off with ♠K (from the dare-I-say-

it old-fashioned school of “I always

lead top of partner’s suit”), followed

by a second spade to East’s ace,

declarer wins the third spade with

♠Q, now a stopper. She cashes

♥A, crosses to ♥KQJ, then runs

♦J. With East holding ♦K, she

scores all five diamond tricks and

romps home with an overtrick.

[email protected]

♠A10743

♥ 976

♦A6

♣K97

♠ 986

♥KQJ3

♦Q103

♣Q62

♠QJ5

♥A5

♦KJ974

♣AJ3

♠K2

♥ 10842

♦ 852

♣ 10854

1 ♦ Pass 1♥ 1 ♠

1NT Pass 3NT End

(1) Showing 15-17.

S W N E

Deal One

Dealer S

N

W E

S

♠AJ974

♥ 976

♦K6

♣A97

♠10 8

♥AQJ3

♦J103

♣J642

♠Q53

♥K5

♦AQ974

♣KQ3

♠K62

♥ 10842

♦ 852

♣ 1085

Deal Two

Dealer S

1 ♦ Pass 1♥ 1 ♠

1NT Pass 3NT(1) End

(1) Upgrading as J10x in partner’s dia-

monds is worth more than one point.

N S W N E

W E

S

Bridge Andrew Robson

PAPERBACK

VISTA A A P I

E T SIMPLETON

GLOSS P L D

G P ATANYRATE

I D G S M R

ELEVEN AWNING

B A C R C A

UNDERTAKE A R

R E M AMB I T

GOESTOPOT L E

E F R U HAYDN

RETROUSSE

Sudoku 13,122

Killer 8243

Sudoku 13,123

Killer 8244

Sudoku 13,124

Quick Cryptic 2108

KenKen 5548

Codeword 4556

15 + 7 39 x 3 27 + 11 4 x 24

15 x 7 24 + 4 27 x 11 8 + 35

3+398x356+173x87

3 + 87 21 x 2 17 x 6 21 + 2

23 261

90 42 102 23

42 280

38 96

105 28 297 43

22 117

Tetonor 246