Category: Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 6:12 Not too bad overall but I have doubts over ‘of power’ in 4dn (YIELDING) and ‘documents’ in 5dn (TOTEMS). I think EMOLUMENT caused me the most trouble because of the dodgy use … Read more “ST 4362 (Sun 3 Jan) – Power corrupts”

Solving time: somewhere around 16 minutes, interrupted by a coughing fit, for I’ve been struck (as happens most Januarys) with one of those nagging coughy snivelly sniffy things that seem to drag on for weeks … Read more “Times Crossword 24429”

A very do-able puzzle for a Thursday, compared to the last few when I was scheduled to blog. There were, however, a few new words for which my Chambers became extremely useful. Challenging in parts … Read more “Times 24428 – Fun In Acapulco”

Solving time: 37:01 A real battle this one – after 10 minutes I had 15 answers left, and panic was setting in (knowing you have to write a report doesn’t help, and neither does seeing … Read more “24427 – a blogger’s nightmare”

17 minutes, during which I felt a little out of practice, after a Christmas holiday without access to papers or internets. One answer correctly guessed at rather than known, though it was scarcely a leap … Read more “Times 24,426 – Romanes Eunt Domus”

Solving time: 75mins Mushy brain syndrome persists in Australia, in my mind and in those of its cricketers (what was Ricky thinking?). At almost every step of the solving process I thought I’d never get … Read more “Times 24425 – Virgin territory, STDs and fat owls…”

Solving time: 4:59 Reasonably straightforward this week with accurate clues, although I think there is a mistake at 1dn. The four long (13-letter) answers are all decent anagrams. * = anagram, “X” = sounds like … Read more “ST 4361 (Sun 27 Dec) – Sofa so bad”

I haven’t worked since 18th December and I think my brain must have turned to mush because this took me the best part of an hour to unravel. Admittedly there are one or two less … Read more “TIMES 24423 – The year can only get better….”

Solving time : 18 minutes with an embarrassingly long 5 of them on 6 down alone. I really enjoyed this crossword – while not too difficult, there was some really nifty wordplay, and a lot … Read more “Times 24422: so much for this decade…”

A puzzle of about average difficulty for me, solving time, 29 mins, top half very easy but lower half quite hard, esp SE corner. 4 across has to be right, I think, but I do … Read more “Times 24421 – 30 December 2009”