Category: Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 9 mins The worst clue this week is probably 7dn, which is either faulty or just awful. There’s also an incorrect enumeration at 1dn. Actually, I’ve just had a thought. In the same … Read more “ST 4350 (Sun 11 Oct) – Miseducation”

Solving time: 7.20. This seemed like a very straightforward puzzle and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some lightning fast times. It was also very straightforward to blog, the only holdup being the construction of … Read more “Times Crossword 24358”

Solving time: 12:57 Fairly quick start, then held up on a few, 15 and 22A being last in. Especially galling to be caught out by a hidden word (METHOUGHT), but I do like long hiddens. … Read more “Times 24,357”

Solving time: 7:48, one mistake I’ve got 4 reports to write today – this one and the conversion of biro scribble to typed text for the three puzzles from round 1 of the championship prelims. … Read more “24,356”

A very unevenly divided 17 minutes today, the first two-thirds falling very quickly indeed, before some more substantial thinking was required, especially in the NE corner, to finish it off. One new word which I … Read more “Times 24,355 – A Puzzle of Two Halves”

Solving time: 40mins A curious mix of the easy, the should have been easy and the impossible; much like life itself. Whilst checking up on Horus, a theme began to emerge. I’ve no idea what … Read more “Times 24354 – Wooden Blinds”

Solving time: 4:28 A distinct improvement this week, with no mistakes that I noticed and some very good clues. This, plus some speculative schedule analysis, suggests that this may have been written by Tim Moorey. … Read more “ST 4349 (Sun 4 Oct) – Status report”

 Is this one of the new grids? It doesn’t look familiar and I don’t remember one being so dominated by 8-letter answers , 8 of them across and another 8 down. And even the one … Read more “Times 24352 – Pieces of Eight”

Solving time : 19 minutes, found this a struggle, though the words are not that unusual, I had a tough time justifying a few and held back on pulling the trigger a few times. At … Read more “Times 24351 – something tasty, something naughty and one old king”

Solving time: 7:20 A fairly smooth run, with 6A and all three of its danglers solved on first sight. At least three stock wordplays here, and two of the three fooled me on first reading … Read more “Times 24350”