Author: Curarist

Something of a gothic feel to this what with all the vampires and eternal damnation. Heavy use of the double definition. It took me 9 minutes, though looking back I seem to have made unnecessarily … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1004 by Wurm”

I enjoyed this. Mostly straightforward, but with a couple of decent teasers. I’ll be interested to hear what others think. I Came in at just under 10 minutes. Across 1 Referring to Conservative and Green, … Read more “Quick Cryptic 994 by Hurley”

Slightly more challenging than usual, I’d say. I came in at just under 10min. There are a couple of good examples of the compound anagram, which is important training for the 15 x 15. Some … Read more “Quick Cryptic 984 by Felix”

Six and a half minutes for a fairly straightforward one. The answers were sometimes more obvious than the parsing, and there are a couple I’m not entirely happy with. I will be interested to hear … Read more “Quick Cryptic 974 by Oran”

Sorry this is a bit late. I managed to fat finger my nearly-completed blog into oblivion, and had to do it all again. Interesting puzzle today, providing a few examples of the double definition and … Read more “Quick Cryptic 964 by Wurm”

Perhaps the easiest quickie I’ve blogged for, came in at just over 5 minutes. I think my favourite is 11dn, mainly because I was pleased with myself for knowing the word, as a result of … Read more “Quick Cryptic 954 by Teazel”

I enjoyed this despite the ungodly hour. Good mix of clue types, nothing particularly fiendish. Came in at just over 9min. My favourites are 20ac and 15dn. LOI 16ac, for no obvious reason Across 1 … Read more “Quick Cryptic 944 by Flamande”

Very straightforward today, but still some nice clues. 15ac my favourite. Still took me over 10min. I shall never be a neutrino like Verlaine (Neutrino: something that passes through absolutely everything at light speed) Across … Read more “Quick Cryptic 934 by Hurley”

Right. Hmmm. Difficulty: high, I would say. Took me 11min. Some distinctly postgraduate wordplay mixed in with some very obvious write-ins, like the setter wanted to compensate for the harder clues. 19dn has given long … Read more “Quick Cryptic 924 by Tracy”

So, in my last blog (25th Aug Quick Cryptic) I pulled an absolute blinder by failing to spot the Nina. I blame the low oxygen tension in the mountain air, plus the fact I had … Read more “Quick Cryptic 914 by Rongo”