Hurley has served up an excellent lesson in cryptic crosswording containing positioning instructions in the clues and plenty of standard abbreviations. The only unusual vocabulary is a religious movement which is gettable from the anagram. … Read more “Quick Cryptic 546 by Hurley”
Month: April 2016
Times Cryptic 26384
There were one or two unusual words or meanings but on the whole the wordplay was very precise (if somewhat convoluted in a few cases) and given sufficient time everything was gettable one way or … Read more “Times Cryptic 26384”
Times 26383 – Off to the races!
Solving time: 18 minutes Music: Dvorak, Cello Concerto, Starker/Dorati Well, it looks like we’re back to easy Monday again. All you QC graduates, now should be your opportunity to finish your first regular puzzle. The … Read more “Times 26383 – Off to the races!”
Quick Cryptic 545 by Teazel
It took me a while to get going on this one, with several of the across clues in particular bringing nothing to mind on first reading. Looking back, I’m not sure why that was but … Read more “Quick Cryptic 545 by Teazel”
Sunday Times 4688 by Jeff Pearce – a sting ray in the tail
26:52. Another fine effort from Jeff Pearce, and one that gave me a good deal of trouble. Most of it went in reasonably smoothly, but then I found myself badly stuck in the south-east corner … Read more “Sunday Times 4688 by Jeff Pearce – a sting ray in the tail”
Mephisto 2901 – Don Manley
It’s been a long week, so I don’t remember too much about solving this one. I think I started it over coffee and finished it off during breaks in a show I was rehearsing (we … Read more “Mephisto 2901 – Don Manley”
Times Jumbo 1199 – Easter Monday
A not-too-tough Jumbo (I thought), with quite a high anagram count, for the bank holiday Monday. As always, * indicates an anagram. Across 1 SPRING – triple definition 5 MUSTANG – MUG, around S + … Read more “Times Jumbo 1199 – Easter Monday”
JUMBO 1198
Nothing too taxing on this one, but in 18A there is an inconsistency that I am unsure about. All the references I found show a different spelling for the cryptic part, and I don’t think … Read more “JUMBO 1198”
Saturday Times 26376 (2nd April)
13:44 for this, which seemed about average until I looked at the stats on the Crossword Club and found that there were no genuine times under 10 minutes. Now having blogged it, I still can’t … Read more “Saturday Times 26376 (2nd April)”
Jumbo 1197 March 19, 2016 – Shebangabang
Have to admit I struggled with this one for more than an hour and a half, possibly because of the ten (count ’em) unknowns. Still, that’s one of the joys of crosswords, and since solving … Read more “Jumbo 1197 March 19, 2016 – Shebangabang”