brianelsey.com

69. Save £10,000

Didn’t take me long to save more than this sum, yay!

Complete 10 x Times Cryptic Crosswords without help

Completed my 10th Times cryptic crossword, #24742, January 10th, 2011.

A couple of favourites from this one:

(12ac) Fortieth sport Times follows (4)
(15ac) Hurry up – fish included in special offer’s beginning to go (5,1,3)

Answers:
(12ac) sport=RU (Rugby Union), Times=BY (This threw me for a while as Time is usually T), answer=RUBY
(15ac) fish=HAKE included in special offer=SALE… S(HAKE)ALE, beginning to go=G, answer=SHAKE A LEG

88. Keep a diary for a year

I managed to write a full page entry for every day of last year and already it’s good to look back several months to see what I did.

It’s been an eventful 2010! I made a New Years’ Resolution last year to pack in work and go self-employed. Thankfully I took the brave step and only wished I’d done it years ago.

Number 66 on my list is to enter 10 postal competitions. I’ve entered 7 to date.

I’ve won one! It was the Sudoku competition in the Lancashire Life magazine. I’ve won a year’s subscription, yay! It’s the first time I’ve ever won anything so will be entering more competitions in future.

Completed my 9th Times cryptic crossword, #24725, December 20th, 2010. Only one more to do!

A couple of favourites from this one:

(1dn) Knowing about 55, for instance (5)
(8db) Oh, folks, be prepared – I support volumes (9)

Answers:
(1dn) for instance=SAY, 55=VV (This threw me for a while as I assumed LV), answer=SAVVY
(8dn) Simple anagram of OH FOLKS BE = BOOKSHELF

Completed my 8th Times cryptic crossword, Sunday Times #4408, November 21st, 2010.

A couple of favourites from this one:

(5dn) Not everything is covered in school (15)
(14dn) Problem beneath the river, at the very bottom (7)

Answers:
(5dn) In=IN, school=COMPREHENSIVE, answer=INCOMPREHENSIVE.
(14dn) Problem=PEST, beneath the river=DEE, answer= DEEPEST.

46. Clear out wardrobe

Filled the boot of the car with junk ready for the tip!

Also filled 2 bin bags of good quality clothes for charity.

Came across all kinds of stuff that brought back memories. Also discovered our marriage certificate and a birth certificate which were ‘lost’ a long time ago!

1. Buy 2 copies of the Big Issue

For those that don’t know, the Big Issue is a weekly magazine sold by homeless people, giving them the opportunity to earn some money.

I’ve bought several recently from a polite lady who sells them outside M&S in Wigan town centre.

There can be some interesting articles to read and I plan on buying more in the future.

Big Issue

Completed my 7th Times cryptic crossword, #24659, October 4th, 2010 – its been a while!

A couple of favourites from this one:

(10ac) After short time at home, a single person takes hold of drill – right tool? (3-6)
(23ac) Flimsy, low quality paper in folder (7)

Answers:
(10ac) After short time=T, at home=IN, a single person=ONE, takes hold of drill=PE – [ONE takes hold of PE=OPENE], right=R, answer=TIN OPENER. Clue=tool? Long winded, love it.
(23ac) Low quality paper=RAG, in folder=FILE, answer=FRAGILE.

54. Tweet for 30 days in a row

Had 2 goes at this as I forgot to tweet after a couple of days on my first attempt!

Will continue to tweet but not on a daily basis, only when I’ve something to say or have something to get off my chest.

twitter.com/wnone