Category: Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 9:59 A mixture of easy clues and some old-fashioned touches which I suspect I’d have seen through faster a couple of decades ago when they were more common. The SW corner was tricky … Read more “24511”

Solving time: About 25 minutes. Apologies for the late blog. Pete sent an email to my work email address at midnight last night telling me I had the job, so of course I only picked … Read more “24510 – Very straightforward (thank goodness!)”

Solving Time: 32 minutes With a run of bad solving experiences last week, I was quite pleased to draw this relatively gentle one from the hat. The two straightforward long anagrams were particularly welcome. I … Read more “Times 24509 – Peas and Corn”

Solving time: 3:01 A fastish time usually means a decent crossword, and by and large this was. The clues were straightforward but mostly read fairly smoothly with concise and accurate cryptic indications. A couple of … Read more “ST 4375 (Sun 3 Apr) – Antre matter”

I didn’t do too bad with this one, only having to look up maybe three or four answers in order to finish it, but there was a lot of inspired guesswork too, which took quite … Read more “TLS 825 (March 19th)”

A very steady 30 minute solve which I imagine will prove extremely easy for the speed merchants. There’s very little if any specialist knowledge required and I doubt if anyone’s GK will be stretched by … Read more “Times 24507 – A Walk In The Park”

Solving time : 12 minutes, but should have been under 10 easily. I did this from the print version, and 1 down was listed as (5,5). An answer to the cryptic definition came readily, but … Read more “Times 24506 – online difficulty added”

Solving time: 10:31 Mostly a puzzle of about average difficulty from the speed-merchant’s viewpoint, with one answer that I took an extra minute or two to find – 9A, where the E?O??R?I?R pattern didn’t suggest … Read more “24505”

Solving time 20 minutes After a run of difficult puzzles I expected an easy one today. This was on the easy side of average without being a total give away. I have three clues perhaps … Read more “Times 24,504 Send Her Victorious on a Wing and a Prayer”

Solving time: 53 minutes Music: Elgar, Enigma Variations, Previn/LSO Some solvers may find this a bit tricky. Very specific general knowledge, and a good vocabulary, will come in most handy. I was slowed down at … Read more “Times 24503 – Where are Muckram Wakes when you need them?”