Author: rolytoly

A tough one today from Izetti, broadly on a par with Monday’s and Tuesday’s 15×15 puzzles, and I bunged in 1d with no great certainty just to creep in under the 16 minute mark. We … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1668 by Izetti”

A bit on the trickier side today, I found – the RHS certainly looked pretty sparse after a first read through of the acrosses, with only 19 and 23 going in. I don’t have an … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1658 by Pedro”

I can’t remember the last time I crept in under the 5 minute mark so I’d put this right at the gentle end of things. I don’t really keep track of the setters’ various difficulty … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1648 by Trelawney”

I found this of very similar difficulty to yesterday’s QC, which I did just beforehand, taking a bit over 7 minutes for each – this was perhaps helped along by doing them after yesterday’s 15×15, … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1638 by Hurley”

Pitched on the gentle side of average difficulty today from Breadman: I stopped the clock at 7.30, hindered at the end by the last bit of 17ac, but helped along earlier in the puzzle by … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1628 by Breadman”

I had most of this polished off by the 6 minute mark, but it took almost as long again to unravel the remaining three (14ac, 22ac and 15d). A large part of that was due … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1618 by Hurley”

Very enjoyable puzzle today, pitched towards the easier end, which Trelawney has been tending to do on about a monthly basis since first setting all the way back in those joyous, carefree, touchy-feely days of … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1608 by Trelawney”

A middling-difficulty puzzle from Oink that I managed two minutes under target. I found this good quality and fun when solving but a couple of the clues look a bit shaky on closer inspection (I’m … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1598 by Oink”

A straightforward-enough puzzle, completed a couple of minutes under target. I was slow to see 1ac, for no good reason, and needed all the checkers for 8ac and several checkers for 10ac, but the rest … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1588 by Hurley”

I found this quite tough, and fared very similarly to yesterday’s, which is to say a DNF around the 17 minute mark, all following a bruising hour with yesterday’s 15x. I was feeling my enthusiasm … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1578 by Izetti”