Yesterdays was a cracking example of a puzzle in which the difficulty was created not by the arcane vocabulary but by the devilry and misdirection of the cluing. Today’s cluing is a lot more straightforward, … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27022 26th April 2018. Out of Date, Out of Mind?”
Month: April 2018
Times 27021 – not Dante, the chap with the Idyll.
Another cracking Wednesday job, not too easy but not too difficult or too spiced with obscurities. 4d got me on the ice and I’d finished the RHS in good time. The LHS proved more intractable … Read more “Times 27021 – not Dante, the chap with the Idyll.”
Quick Cryptic 1077 by Flamande
A touch harder than the previous puzzles this week, but not by too much. I was slowed down by the Hampshire town and the Russian house (but not the noisy party or wine from castile… … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1077 by Flamande”
Times Cryptic 27020
I needed 46 minutes to complete the grid. Much of it was straightforward enough but there were a few unknowns along the way and these slowed me down. As usual definitions are underlined in bold … Read more “Times Cryptic 27020”
Times Quick Cryptic 1076 by Tracy
I can’t remember such a fast start to the week – two 7 minute solves in a row.Today wasn’t plain sailing though – FOI 6ac and LOI 9ac showing how much I had to jump … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1076 by Tracy”
QC 1075 by Orpheus – Comic Strip?
This is going to be a quick ‘in and out’ for me this week as I have a very full day (and week) ahead. It was not a difficult puzzle for me, although I found … Read more “QC 1075 by Orpheus – Comic Strip?”
Times 27019 – The rhythm of fate, or the helpless lion
Time: 24 minutesMusic: Coltrane, Giant Steps After failing to complete either the Saturday, or the Sunday, or the Guardian Prize, I thought that I was either slipping, or these puzzles were damned hard. But when … Read more “Times 27019 – The rhythm of fate, or the helpless lion”
Mephisto 3007 – Don Manley
Very strange to see two variations of the same word in the one puzzle, and I was wondering if there was a theme forming from this, but I couldn’t see anything else. I thought this … Read more “Mephisto 3007 – Don Manley”
Sunday Times 4794 by Dean Mayer
14:51. I didn’t find this particularly difficult but I enjoyed it immensely. Lots of witty and consummately elegant clues, as we have come to expect from Dean. It’s always hard to pick a favourite, which … Read more “Sunday Times 4794 by Dean Mayer”
Times Cryptic No 27012 – Saturday, 14 April 2018. A walk in the park?
This was a straightforward exercise, although in several cases I had to stop and think twice about well-disguised definitions. Finished in under 30 minutes, so I expect some fast times from the experts. My clue … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27012 – Saturday, 14 April 2018. A walk in the park?”