A gentle one to start the week.
Quick Cryptic 3292 by Oink
A mostly straightforward solve for me.
Mephisto 3426 – Alcohol free!
This is as easy as Mephisto gets – I filled in most of the answers without cracking my Chambers. I would expect many of the regular Mephisto fans to be a bit disappointed, but we do need to refresh the pool of Mephisto solvers, and you have to start somewhere.
Sunday Times Cryptic No 5213 by Robert Price — fateful decisions, insights grasped
Another top-notch performance from Robert… no surprise there!
Quick Cryptic no 3291 by Hurley
A fine puzzle from Hurley this morning, rather tougher I think than many of his.
Site Outages
Apologies for the extended site outages over the last day or so. We are working to identify a cause.
Times Cryptic Jumbo 1785 – 18 April 2026. A dish perhaps not best served anagrammed
Hi all. This didn’t take me too long (about 45 unhurried minutes) but I did use aids for my last answer: I was clueless as to the order of unchecked letters in 2d. I bet I’ll see it all the time now. Nothing much to add other than thanks to the setter. Thanks setter!
Times Cryptic 29526 – Sat, 25 April 2026. Go east, young solver.
Not to say this was hard, but the ones that challenged me were all in the west. 1dn and 24dn, particularly.
Times Cryptic 29531 – ebbing, indeed, but not by mine own fear
Looking back, I think I made a meal of it; most of the clues are pretty straightforward.
Times Quick Cryptic 3290 by Tilt
We have a new Quick Cryptic setter going by the name of Tilt today. Welcome!
Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the crossword entitled “A Cry For Help?” here.