Our setter, Kenny, has put a few gold coins in the Christmas Pudding. A couple of clues were unexpected and bright but easy to break your teeth on.
Month: December 2023
Times Cryptic 28796
I found this mostly straightforward but I lost time over the Scottish team.
St John Daly Christmas Political Crossword
For the past few years I’ve helped our TfTT contributor St John Daly (aka astonvilla1) with test solving, editing and publishing his annual political crossword for the site politicalbetting.com (which he has been producing since 2006). I thought people here might enjoy it too. You can find the crossword here
Times 28795 – Passencore rearrived from North Armorica
This was a relatively mild crossword for skilled solvers, but there were a few I had to think about. Fortunately, I have the skill to handle words I never heard of, whether in the definition, the cryptic, or the answer.
Times Quick Cryptic 2555 by Izetti – Meowy Catmas!
Merry Christmas everyone.
This was similar to Izetti’s last for me, difficulty-wise. I think my COD is 4a, but 9a and 6d were also lots of fun. Thanks Izetti!
Sunday Times 5090 by Dean Mayer – I’ll be right here
12:54. I thought this was excellent even by Dean’s exalted standards.
Mephisto 3303 – Robert Teuton
Greetings barred-grid fans. It is the eve before Christmas Eve here. With the crazy holiday schedule, I think I did this puzzle on Wednesday morning, so it should be fresher in my mind. I remember … Read more “Mephisto 3303 – Robert Teuton”
Times Cryptic Jumbo No 1647
I thought this a none-too-tricky Jumbo Cryptic, despite the smattering of words I didn’t know and some rather old-fashioned or foreign girl’s names.
Times Cryptic 28788 – Sat, 16 Dec 2023. In another century, and besides the wretch is dead!
At first glance I thought this was going to be hard. But, once I started, I fairly flew through it. There were two or three obvious answers, where I later had to search for details to explain the wordplay.
Quick Cryptic 2554 by Hurley
Nothing to scare the horses from Hurley this morning.