Author: Curarist

Not a difficult one, although NW corner took a moment or two to get going. Some real gems – love 1dn, love the use of ‘glance’ as definition in 2dn, and some interesting anagrams. 7 … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1404 by Joker”

This took me 10 minutes, but oon reflection there’s nothing unfair or excessively complex. I havent done one by Bob and Margaret before so maybe it’s just a wavelength thing. Good mix of clues, nice … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1394 by Bob and Margaret”

Mainly straightforward with a couple of stiffer ones. It took me a while to spot 4dn, tried to put a Y in 8ac because it’s too early in the morning and I can’t spell. a … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1384 by Joker”

Whoops, sorry I’m late. Had it in my head that my day was next week. Luckily this is a very straightforward offering from Corelli which I managed in just under 6 minutes. Nice surfaces on … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1374 by Corelli”

A mixed bag of write-ins and more obscure ones. Not sure I am happy with the rule-breaking 2d, especially in the quickie. Favourite has to be the elegant 9a, LOI (last one in) 14d Across … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1364 by Joker”

I made unnecessarily heavy weather of this, but in retrospect I think it is quite fair. One problem is I’m typing in the car while Mrs Curarist drives us down to Folkestone with the sole … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1354 by Hurley”

I have not come across Alconiere before, but this was excellent. Engaging and elegant without being too difficult. 8 min for me. Across 1 Regret turning back on footwear vandal (8) SABOTEUR – Regret is … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1344 by Alconiere”

I enjoyed this, and I don’t think it’s too taxing. A couple of engineered anagrams, a tad of slightly obscure vocab, and some pleasingly corny homophones. I got repeatedly interrupted so I don’t know how … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1334 by Orpheus”

This was not straightforward. I seemed to do quite a lot of biffing* for a QC, with the parsing only coming later. There are a couple which I don’t think quite work, and a few devices … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1324 by Pedro”

This was more of a challenge than I have had in recent blogs, mainly because of defective general knowledge on may part. There is a good range of clues, though. A couple of very old … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1314 by Teazel”