Author: william_j_s

Apologies for the terse blog – not much time for pursuits recently with changes at work and an increasingly complex house renovation… This was a fine puzzle – thanks Oran – a little on the … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1437 by Oran”

Slowed down by the SE corner and a couple of words less familiar to me, but otherwise a normal day at the office. Definitions underlined. Across 1 Bother after company curtailed lord in US State … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1427 by Hurley”

This isn’t the daftly easy one I was hoping for after several days of tricky puzzles, but it wasn’t too difficult either. Only 10ac may be an unfamiliar word to new solvers (it comes up … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1417 by Oink”

This had a different feel from the usual QC fare, and I took a while to get into it. I got almost nowhere with the NW corner on first pass, and had to look several … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1412 by Des”

Wurm has caught me out numerous times in the past, so I was glad to finish this in just a little over my target time: a mid-difficulty puzzle, I’d say. I had a bit of … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1397 by Wurm”

This took me a bit longer than Oink’s 2.2 on jackkt’s hardenss scale might suggest, but not a lot. We have this setter’s trademark porcine clue making an appearance at the top of the bill, … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1387 by Oink”

All the vocabulary known to me today, and the clues were easy enough to unpick, which led to a pretty quick time. I had to return to the two longish anagrams at the top and … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1377 by Oink”

I was not on the wavelength for this one, just escaping my personal red zone, although in retrospect there’s nothing really hard. Even the unusual word at 19dn was quite generously signposted (and preceded by … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1367 by Mara”

Good fun – not a total giveaway for me, as I was held up by the eternal youth and the anagram at 22ac (which for some reason would not come to mind). I was glad … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1357 by Rongo”

A fairly straightforward solve, on the whole, but with some unfamiliar bits and bobs to keep me guessing (that meaning of pet, the paint, the king). Quite a few of the definitions are neatly disguised … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1347 by Joker”