Category: Daily Cryptic

Solving Time: 65 minutes I knew I shouldn’t have stayed up watching New Zealand play Italy, but when they scored the first goal, what was one to do? So it was with brain working at … Read more “Times 24569 – Vuvuzelas 1, Kororareka 0”

Solving time: 22:31 – all correct if the answer to 17A is UKULELE and the answer to 18D is LEGRENZI; but maybe 1 or 2 wrong if UKALELE is expected at 17A (see below) and/or … Read more “TLS 834 (28 May)”

Time taken to solve: Off the map but somewhere in excess of two hours with some resort to aids after the first hour had passed. I feel like pasting in yfyap’s comments about yesterday’s puzzle … Read more “Times 24567 – Labyrinth”

Solving time : 30 whopping minutes. Kismet came and gave me a chomp on the buttocks, since I had planned a meeting an hour after the crossword came out, thinking “Hey, I’m an old hand … Read more “Times 24566: the adventures of 1ac and Obelix?”

Solving Time: 10:50 A reasonably tricky puzzle this, with at least two ‘decoy’ wordplays. Shortish on time this morning, so not many links to related topics. Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed a new link on … Read more “Times 24565”

Solving time 25 minutes A largely straightforward puzzle with a mixture of good, mostly average and a couple of rather weak offerings. All offers on the parsing of 10A gratefully received, no doubt I’ll see … Read more “Times 24,564 Nowt Gnarly”

Solving time: 45 minutes Music: Delius, North Country Sketches, Groves/RPO My time for this puzzle was embarrassing. I raced through most of it in about fifteen minutes, and then got stuck on the last six, … Read more “Times 24563 – Awl’s well that ends well”

ST 4384 (Sun 6 Jun) – Worm hole Solving time: Not taken but I think it was about 5 mins for all but 3dn; one mistake (6dn). [Sorry this is late – my fault entirely, … Read more “Jun. 14th, 2010”

Hmph! It’s hard enough without cock-ups in the enumeration, but this was one of the worst since I’ve been solving it. 10A was (4,5) not (9), 3D was (9) not (4,5) and 12A was (2,1,4) … Read more “TLS 833 (21st May)”

Solving time: 13.09 After a good start, I spent a long time at the end with an otherwise completed grid, gazing at one unyielding clue (see 10 A, below). As I tend not to notice … Read more “Times Crossword 24561”