Category: Daily Cryptic

Solving time 25 minutes Many happy returns to The Times. This puzzle is not for the young and faint hearted. The first time I did this puzzle I was 17, two pints and a curry … Read more “Times 9281 of 1st February 1960 on the Crossword’s 80th Birthday”

Today’s puzzle will almost certainly be a bit different, as today is the 80th anniversary of the publication of Times Crossword No. 1, on 1/2/1930 – report now filed below. There’s an article about current … Read more “24449 – 80th anniversary puzzle + links for today’s historic puzzles”

Solving time: 4:40 A much better puzzle this week, as the schedule suggested, plus a couple of slight quirks (not inaccuracies) that probably give away the compiler’s identity. I didn’t know the Brazilian state of … Read more “ST 4365 (Sun 24 Jan) – Pará lacks”

This took me exactly an hour. I printed it off last night and then settled down to solve it which was probably not a wise decision. By the time I had finished I was wide … Read more “Tines 24447 – Dejas Blue”

Solving time : 20 minutes, looked like I was in for a pretty slick solve and then crawled to a halt with three to go – 13, and 15 down and 25 across. All of … Read more “Times 24446: A quid for your Turkish port”

Solving time: 7:44 – with one careless mistake A fairly easy puzzle for me, with quite a few double defs – I counted 6, along with a couple of cryptic defs. Of these 8, I … Read more “24445”

Solving time 25 minutes This is mainly good sound stuff, an average Times puzzle even down to the author and obscure poet. I worked steadily through it without too much trouble except for my last … Read more “Times 24,444 Why is it always Liverpool?”

Solving time: 38 minutes Music: Schubert, Wanderer Fantasy, Richter I thought my time was a bit slow for this puzzle, which is only of medium difficulty. Some of the vocabulary repeats recent puzzles, and some … Read more “Times 24443, The secrets of the hoary deep……”

Solving time: Lost, but about 6 or 7 minutes, I think, with the last few on STRETCHER, CONCRETE, RETRENCH and finally KISMET. No howlers that I spotted, but a few strange ones. * = anagram, … Read more “ST 4364 (Sun 17 Jan) – Smike analysis”

I didn’t time this one because I was solving it while watching a tennis match, but I was left with the impression it was distinctly tricky, confirmed by the difficulty in finding answers that could … Read more “Times Crossword 24441”