Not the easiest, but fairly straightforward after the fact. I took a while to spot 7 & 8 down. 9 ac is interesting. Obvious answer, but very unusual parsing, with the definition being dragged into … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1644 by Joker”
Month: June 2020
Times 27,701: 18dn Amazeballs
Once again it feels a bit like the Thursday and Friday puzzles may have been swapped around by a CARELESS EDITOR, but this wasn’t too bad considering, with a couple of fun traps that I … Read more “Times 27,701: 18dn Amazeballs”
27700 – hidden in plain course
Time taken: 25:55, with at least six minutes on the two entries in the bottom right hand corner ending with a truly head-slap moment from what is a rather clever clue. I found this pretty … Read more “27700 – hidden in plain course”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1643 by Teazel
I took 17 minutes including a distraction, so I think that this is just at the tougher end of the Rotterometer. There are a couple of new or unfamiliar devices to grapple with from Teazel … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1643 by Teazel”
Times 27699 – something fishy here; whose fault is it?
Another pleasant Wednesday workout, plenty of anagrams and fairly easy clues and a sprinkling of trickier ones to keep me interested. I liked 14d best. Across 1 Feast keeps old woman in compound (8) DOPAMINE … Read more “Times 27699 – something fishy here; whose fault is it?”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1642 by Felix
Introduction Finished in 9:23. I had hoped for something a bit faster as I’ve been working on improving my speed. But when the pressure’s on, I seem to slow down! In any case, a tricky … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1642 by Felix”
Times Cryptic 27698
Solving time: 35 minutes. I found this reasonably straightforward but had one or two minor misgivings about a couple of clues as detailed below. But these may be down to me not fully understanding the … Read more “Times Cryptic 27698”
Times Quick Cryptic 1641 by Pedro
9 minutes – so a little trickier than yesrterday’s but not much. A fair few anagrams, a couple of not too obvious double definitions and lost of fun deciphering the parsing. Very enjoyable – thanks … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1641 by Pedro”
Times 27697 – Pyrrhic Victory
I made a right old horlicks of this, coming home in 62 minutes, that’s considerably slower than Friday’s puzzle, which is rated ‘Hard’ on Starstruck’s Baby (Monster?). Notwithstanding, my mishaps, I thought this was a … Read more “Times 27697 – Pyrrhic Victory”
Times Quick Cryptic 1640 by Mara
Solving time: 7 minutes. Solvers who enjoy anagrams will have a field day with this puzzle as it contains 8 pure anagrams and 2 partials! There’s a convention that the 15×15 puzzle should have no … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1640 by Mara”