Author: Chris

Some challenging clues in an entertaining, medium difficulty (12 minutes) puzzle. The SW caused me more problems than elsewhere but I’m not sure why now. Some of the word play took a little puzzling out … Read more “Quick Cryptic No 331 by Tracy”

The word play of 1dn and the definition of the crossing 12ac caused minor talking points in an otherwise gentle romp which I hope everyone can enjoy. On holiday last week (and thanks to William … Read more “Quick Cryptic No 326 by Flamande”

Two long anagrams, an unusual instrument and a great clue at 20ac add interest and challenge. Congrats to Norwich City for their success yesterday (commiserations to Boro) – I don’t think I can blame the … Read more “Quick Cryptic No 316 by Hurley”

Tougher than yesterday’s (15 minutes) but entertaining nevertheless. 19dn caused problems but when the penny dropped it was awarded my COD. Those with a greater depth of experience in the pronunciation of male Scottish names … Read more “Quick Cryptic No 311 by Orpheus”

This seemed medium to hard but with a medium time of 14 minutes. I have had a question over the clue in 8ac so any comments appreciated. LOI 11dn, 16ac and 13ac caused most problems … Read more “Quick Cryptic No 306 by Dazzler”

This is another Izetti – which I made much harder for myself than it actually was (see 17dn). Apart from 16dn (which should be get-able when the other letters are in place) I’m not sure … Read more “Quick Cryptic No 301 by Izetti”

I didn’t record a time but I guess between 10 and 15 minutes. It started off looking hard but then finished quickly and nothing too tricky. I seem to be reducing my explanations as time … Read more “Quick Cryptic No 296 by Hurley”

At first sight there seem to be a lot of clues at the easier end of the spectrum. I ended up in my medium bracket (12 minutes) – longer than yesterday’s which seemed harder. If … Read more “Quick Cryptic No 291 by Mara”

Something of a teaser from Teazel. Quite a lot of work to do in some of the parsing, a few cryptic definitions and then we get onto old letters. If you’ve got a good grasp … Read more “Quick Cryptic No 286 by Teazel”

Best wishes to macavity123 who is indisposed today – I’m a late stand in and am just about to head off down a motorway (M). Fortunately the crossword only took 8 minutes – many going … Read more “Quick Crytpic No 283 by Flamande”