Category: Daily Cryptic

18 minutes today, so for the second consecutive blog, this wasn’t necessarily the most difficult puzzle, but was again one of the more inventive efforts of recent times. At the risk of re-opening the debate … Read more “Times 24,307”

dd = double definitioncd = cryptic definitionrev = reversed or reversalins = insertioncha = charadeha = hidden answer*(fodder) = anagram A lovely puzzle of normal degree of difficulty with plenty of clever word-play and I … Read more “Times 24,306 – Having a Guinness in County Down”

Solving time: 7:18 One or two strange cryptic definitions here (13ac, 11dn) but some good clues as well, 9ac (MOON SHOT), 15ac (ATHLETE’S FOOT) and 14dn (FLORIST) among them. I nearly slipped up on the … Read more “ST 4341 (Sun 9 Aug) – Amber grease”

Time taken to solve: 32 minutes again. A fairly straightforward puzzle to solve which required a bit more thinking about in order to write it up with a degree of confidence, however after all that … Read more “Times 24304 – OOH ER!”

Solving time : 27 minutes with one phone call distraction. I found this the hardest of the week so far, grinding to a halt with 9, 17, 16 and 23 unfilled. The break for a … Read more “Times 24303 – getting wet all over again”

Solving time: 12:38 Found this quite tricky, with a minute or so of mild panic before getting 19 to start the SE corner clean-up (followed by 27, 15, 25). Answers entered without full wordplay understanding … Read more “Times 24302”

Solving time : about 12 minutes A very easy and rather corny puzzle with little to commend it. Across 1 PALL,MALL – PA’LL + MA’LL; famous Westminster street home to gentlemen’s clubs as well as … Read more “Times 24301 Oban Viaduct”

Solving time: 32 minutes (one answer corrected while blogging) Music: Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot This one was a little trickier than the most of the previous Monday puzzles that have fallen my way. Some of … Read more “Times 24300: But is he below the Mendoza Line?”

Solving time: 8:48, one mistake (17dn) Not the easiest Sunday Times puzzle although a better grid than usual, with only 1dn and 18dn breaking the rule that half or more letters in a grid entry … Read more “ST 4340 (Sun 2 Aug) – Ugandan discussions”

Solving time: 11.29. I had this whole thing done in about 6 minutes apart from a cluster of 5 clues in the SW corner (22A, 25A, 15D, 21D and 22D), and thought I was heading … Read more “Times Crossword 24298”