Author: rolytoly

Good puzzle from Orpheus, bad solve from me. I got into a flap at 1ac because I remembered the same clue cropping up recently, but couldn’t for the life of me remember what that damn … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1138 by Orpheus”

A lovely puzzle today from Tracy, with lots of simple, natural disguises – the anagram indicator at 9ac and the “country retreat” at 12ac are two I see without having to scroll too far down. … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1128 by Tracy”

A touch on the harder side today from Teazel. I had three blank as my target ten minutes came and went: 1d, 2d and 20ac. The last of these was the first to fall, after … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1118 by Teazel”

Middle of the road from Joker today, I’d say, in terms of both difficulty and quality. The average standard is very high, though, so all good! I started off slowly enough, eventually getting about half … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1108 by Joker”

Somewhat unusual solve for me today: I was getting through the acrosses rightly, with every one solved, so was busy anticipating an extremely rare perfect solve, only to come unstuck at each of the bottom … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1098 by Teazel”

On the gentler side today from Mara. I came in three minutes under my target, with a bit of biffing and help from some familiar clues. There are a limited number of ways of clueing … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1088 by Mara”

Tricky enough one today, I found, taking me nearly four minutes over my target ten – as a comparison, I did yesterday’s immediately before this and came in two minutes under. Not my finest performance: … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1078 by Mara”

A touch on the harder side today from Izetti, which is to say probably average for Izetti, and there was indeed some typical tricksiness going on. Some nicely unusual wording as well – If I’d … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1068 by Izetti”

A tough one today from Rongo, providing a good bridge to the 15×15 crossword (although perhaps less so this week). I came in a bit shy of 17 minutes, twice the time of Tuesday’s QC … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1058 by Rongo”

This is the first puzzle I’ve blogged from Pedro, and a lovely one it was too. I thought some of the surface readings were excellent, adding a rich extra layer to the answer. I particularly … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1048 by Pedro”