Author: rolytoly

Well this was a tough one all right. There were a number of quite difficult clues cluing quite difficult words, a few of which crossed each other as well, just to compound matters. The top … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 998 by Howzat”

A lovely puzzle from Flamande, a bit towards the harder end of things. I was four minutes over my target ten, having stared blankly at 13 across for a good couple of those before impatiently … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 988 by Flamande”

A slightly tricky puzzle today from Teazel, I found – it took me a good couple of minutes over my target ten to get the cherished “Unlucky!” sign. Presumably an image of Trump was to … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 978 by Teazel”

A most enjoyable puzzle from Hurley today. I blogged a Hurley puzzle a couple of months ago when I was suffering from a self-inflicted sore head, and I was correspondingly jaded in my assessment of … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 973 by Hurley”

A nice gentle one from Rongo today, I think I’m safe in saying, providing a pleasant introduction to the world of cryptic crosswords, with clearly signposted cryptics and definitions. A bit of a biff-fest, then, … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 958 by Rongo”

I see this is Wurm’s third outing, the previous two being June and August of this year. June’s was deemed quite easy; August’s was deemed quite hard. This is decidedly in the latter category, if … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 948 by Wurm”

A very enjoyable puzzle, I thought. I crept in a minute under my target 10, having dithered a bit at the last bit of the Welsh town. So I learnt two things from my last … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 938 by Juno”

If 100 is average difficulty (à la snitch), I’d put this at 100. The four long clues at the borders rather dictated the march of things: the north is an ungainly anagram; the east is … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 928 by Hurley”

I found this quite tough today, finishing with little enough change from twenty minutes, which puts it on a close enough par with Monday’s and Wednesday’s main puzzles. I struggled in the North East, courtesy … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 918 by Hawthorn”

I found this very good. Started off slowly with a first sweep of the acrosses, but it all opened up nicely and I would have finished just within my target 10 minutes had I not … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 908 by Tracy”