As I write this summary somewhat belatedly, I seem to remember that I didn’t find it overly hard, but there were a few unknowns I had to trust the wordplay for. No time recorded but … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo No 1392 – 20th July”
Author: Johninterred
Times Quick Cryptic No 1409 by Breadman
On my holidays in the Scottish Borders at the moment (apologies for the self-indulgence, but see the end of the blog for a couple of related bonus clues) and travelling home today, so I may … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1409 by Breadman”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1399 by Breadman – Stormy petrel on a breadstick
A lovely puzzle from Breadman today with an interesting array of vocabulary and General Knowledge. It helps to know your Old English alphabet, Scottish towns, ancient highways, paper sizes and Arthurian legends, for example, but … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1399 by Breadman – Stormy petrel on a breadstick”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1389 by Izetti
A typically smooth and entertaining puzzle from Izetti for us today. One or two trickier clues, but I raced through this faster than usual in just over 4 1/2 minutes. I enjoyed the lovely surfaces … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1389 by Izetti”
Times Cryptic Jumbo No 1387 – 15th June
Today’s Jumbo is a bit harder than usual, I think, with a number of quite chewy bits that got me grinding my teeth. Some devious definitions and tricky wordplay in places held me up at … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo No 1387 – 15th June”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1379 by Hurley
A well-constructed and entertaining end of the QC week today. I breezed through this finishing in a sub-average time of less than 6 minutes, but maybe I was just on our setter’s wavelength. A nice … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1379 by Hurley”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1369 by Pedro
I find Pedro has the knack of combining the straightfoward clues needed to get you going with some that need a bit more thought, and today’s crossword did just that for me. Nothing too obscure … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1369 by Pedro”
Times Cryptic Jumbo No 1382 – 18th May
Today’s Jumbo continues the series of fairly easy puzzles, although there is the usual smattering of less familiar words. In all it took me about 32 1/2 minutes. Having finished describing the parsings, I can’t … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo No 1382 – 18th May”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1359 by Mara
A gentle Friday offering from Mara today. Nothing too difficult, I think, as I was all done and dusted in 4:40. Lots of neat surfaces added a bit of extra fun to the solving and … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1359 by Mara”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1349 by Izetti
It’s Friday and today we have a puzzle from Izetti. “Goody”, I thought when I saw the name at the top, anticipating we would get a nice end-of-the-week test, and I wasn’t disappointed. Unusually, I … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1349 by Izetti”