I enjoyed quite a few of the surfaces in this one, in particular 24A and 6D, which always makes me feel well-disposed to a puzzle. No difficult vocabulary but the wordplay for 11A and 6D … Read more “Quick Cryptic 485 by Mara”
Author: mohn2
Jumbo 1185 (New Year’s Day)
I thought this one was of about average difficulty, with nothing so devious as to cause much trouble even to those who may have overindulged the previous evening. An interesting mix of clues, though, from … Read more “Jumbo 1185 (New Year’s Day)”
Quick Cryptic 475 by Grumpy
A fairly straightforward puzzle for my first blog of the year. And maybe it’s just a one-off, but the URL numbering was just one greater than for last Friday’s puzzle, meaning it was easy to … Read more “Quick Cryptic 475 by Grumpy”
Quick Cryptic 465 by Pedro
Wikipedia tells me that today is Blue Christmas, a holiday disappointingly not named after the Elvis Presley/Shakin’ Stevens song. Perhaps more relevant to all of us gathered here though is that, on this day in … Read more “Quick Cryptic 465 by Pedro”
Jumbo 1180
On the easy side though there were a few words I didn’t know as well as a few that only seemed vaguely familiar – fortunately in all cases the wordplay didn’t offer any obvious alternatives. … Read more “Jumbo 1180”
Quick Cryptic 455 by Mara
A puzzle that provided a couple of moments of amusement without proving overly taxing, which is generally how I like them. Perhaps only the card game is not in everyone’s vocabulary, but the wordplay for … Read more “Quick Cryptic 455 by Mara”
Quick Cryptic 445 by Hurley
An odd grid, with two clues (11A and 18A) that didn’t actually need to be solved because their solutions could be completely filled in via their crossing answers, which always feels like a bit of … Read more “Quick Cryptic 445 by Hurley”
Jumbo 1175
I thought this was quite a tricky puzzle because of the surfeit of (to me) unusual vocabulary – there were several answers where I took minutes to figure out and trust the wordplay, but which … Read more “Jumbo 1175”
Quick Cryptic 435 by Flamande
I thought this puzzle contained a good selection of surface readings, with the difficulty level on the easy side. The crossword can be found here if the usual channels are unavailable: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20151109/10789/ Definitions are underlined. … Read more “Quick Cryptic 435 by Flamande”
Quick Cryptic 425 by Orpheus
A puzzle that I thought was at the tougher end of the scale, with some less than commonplace vocabulary. The crossword can be found here if the usual channels are unavailable: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20151026/10374/ Definitions are underlined. … Read more “Quick Cryptic 425 by Orpheus”