Author: Chris

I had thought this might be a gentle, festive offering today – but our setter has finer ideals in mind. Having divined that we’d got a little soft and flabby over Christmas, Izetti has thoughtfully … Read more “Quick Cryptic 731 by Izetti”

Rather like Christmas this was all going along very happily but then I got rather weighed down in the middle. 3dn, 12dn, 13dn but, probably most of all, 15ac causing the discomfort. The latter was … Read more “Quick Cryptic 726 by Orpheus”

The answers didn’t fall into place but neither was I stumped on any clues – so a steady and enjoyable solve in 9 minutes. LOI and COD 14dn for the alternative meaning of lowers. Thanks … Read more “Quick Cryptic 721 by Felix”

16 minutes for this one which included a few chewy clues – rather more complex in structure than most QCs. As I don’t get much time for the 15×15 these days I enjoyed the cleverness … Read more “Quick Cryptic 716 by Mara”

12 minutes. It seemed to me that some answers were easier to come up with than the full explanation of the word play. This made for a fun time blogging – I even have a … Read more “Quick Cryptic No 711 by Pedro”

15 minutes with a wobble in the SE. The two crossing counties and the game (inexplicably) causing a hold up. 12ac was new to me and provided a lot of entertainment. 1. Skating rink – … Read more “Quick Cryptic 701 by Corelli”

A good mixture of easy clues to populate the grid and then some much more interesting constructions to grapple with. Lots of clever cluing – 5ac, particularly, took me some time post-solve before the now-but-not-then … Read more “Quick Cryptic 696 by Tracy”

13 minutes – some of which were taken revelling in some of the clue constructions. A big thank you to Mara for such entertainment. Once again I’m on the road so have little time. Please … Read more “Quick Cryptic 686 by Mara”

This all flowed quite smoothly and enjoyably with some lovely wordplay/surfaces until I reached the bottom section where 15dn, 21 and 22ac caused me some ‘quality thinking time’. Having eventually overcome these challenges, I found … Read more “Quick Cryptic 681 by Tracy”

I’m not if sure Alfie is a new setter but the name doesn’t seem familiar – anyway he (presumably) is most welcome. This was a mixture of easy and challenging clues 4dn/9ac proved enough challenge … Read more “Quick Cryptic 676 by Alfie”