Author: rolytoly

Well well, Orpheus got the better of me this week. It was Rongo last time round, where I gave up at the 15 minute mark after a blank stare at two unyielding clues. This time … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 798 by Orpheus”

Well well, Rongo got the better of me with this one: all wrapped up nicely by the 10 minute mark, thank you very much, bar a blank stare at 11ac and 25ac… for five minutes, … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 788 by Rongo: is 3ac a 1d of 9ac?”

I’ve come in under 7 mins a couple of times, but at 6.27 this is my quickest blog time by quite some way. My times for the rest of the week have all been at … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 778 by Flamande”

Very enjoyable, as always, from Izetti. There was a bit of an animal theme. The grid presented a couple of other nice ideas as well – for those adorned with excessive levels of outsize jewellery, … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 768 by Izetti”

This was my slowest time after a few speedyish days, coming in at 12-and-a-half minutes, so maybe slightly harder than average. Bonus new word (or re-learnt word), which is always nice, and one I’ll try … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 758 by Rongo”

A bit north of tipsy when doing this, I gave up after 16 minutes. In retrospect, I would have been a while getting 12d, but I really should have got 13ac without… well, it’s not … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 748 by Joker”

I think this was towards the harder end of things, so I was happy to come in at the 13 minute mark. Some tricky clues, some generous checker-providers, some cracking clues, and lots of lovely … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 738 by Mara”

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve had a bit more crossword practice of recent or if today’s was a gentler offering than most, but I was satisfyingly quick today. Would have been 8 minutes … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 728 by Flamande”

I was a bit under the 11 minute mark today, making it one of the quicker ones I’ve tried in a while – helped out by a few easy clues, a few familiar clues, and … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 718 by Hawthorn”

Well that wasn’t a great performance – a DNF with 3d remaining (and 2d unparsed, and 21ac queried) at the 18 min mark, after which I gave up and checked the answer. In fairness I … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 708 by Mara”