Category: Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 10 mins I thought a couple of the cryptic definitions in this were as good as anything (27ac, 15dn). A couple of pairs gave me problems at the end, 29ac/23dn (INFERIOR and SERAI) … Read more “ST 4338 (Sun 18 Jul) – Simple interest”

Solving time: 14.50. I thought this was a good mixture of tricky clues and more straightforward ones. Had some problems with the wordplay in a few places but the definition and/or crossing letters were usually … Read more “Times Crossword 24286”

Solving time: 7:52 Very quick on the top half, this morning. And only slightly slowed in the lower half. Excellent clues today, I thought. I started listing a couple with amazingly natural surfaces (1, 9, … Read more “Times 24,285”

Solving time: 11:29 I made a good start to this puzzle but got bogged down fairly soon afterwards. All four of the long answers were pretty tricky, and so was the SE corner. The last … Read more “Times 24284”

26 minutes this morning, which in my world translates as “really quite tricky”, and I use the word ‘tricky’ in a complimentary way: the hold-ups stemmed mostly from well-disguised definitions. While some knowledge of grammar … Read more “Times 24,283”

Solving time: 30mins + ? I cantered around this one as much as a late night watching the TdF (a well done to Bradley Wiggins) and Ashes (well done those rebirthed English bowlers) and a … Read more “Times 24282 – New Age Detox?”

Solving time: void (see 8dn) jerrywh commented in last week’s blog about the incorrect enumeration at 8dn (and the mistake at 14ac, PARABOLA), but I completely forgot when solving and had to work it out … Read more “ST 4337 (Sun 12 July) – Parabollocks”

I read through all the clues without solving one today. At first I put this down to apprehension knowing it was my turn to write the blog at the end of a difficult week, but having … Read more “Times – 24280 – They’ve had it in for us this week”

Solving time : I did this in breaks during a rehearsal so didn’t get a time. It was a very slow start, particularly on the acrosses (I need to start using my Mephisto tactic and … Read more “Times 24279: Don’t 1D 2 without a 16”

Solving time: 25:05 This felt like the toughest puzzle for a few weeks – maybe since a very tough Saturday puzzle. Only 7 clues fell at all easily – 9, 10, 11, 4, 5, 8, … Read more “Times 24278”