Category: Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 19 minutes I found this quite a breeze, really. Glancing at 1A as I sat down to have a go over breakfast, I thought this might be quite easy. I think I was … Read more “Times 24073”

Solving time: 8:35, two mistakes (20ac, 21ac) I enjoyed several clues in this puzzle and it was going swimmingly until I got to the bottom left corner, which went rather badly, especially 20ac which got … Read more “ST 4302 (Sun 9 Nov) – Red noes day”

Solving time: 7.51. I’ve been moping around with toothache since late last night, and the crossword gods have been merciful, providing a straightforward puzzle with easyish long answers, and entirely free of words like “throb”, … Read more “Times Crossword 24071”

Solving time: 27:18 (with two wrong) Just as well the District Line was slightly slow this morning, or I would not have finished this before reaching work. And I might well have one wrong, as … Read more “Times 24,070”

Solving time: 6.08. This must be another puzzle from the second heat of the semifinals, which I recall Peter saying was a very fast heat indeed. Seemed like a straightforward enough puzzle – the two … Read more “Times Crossword 24069”

I must confess I thought I would kill two birds with one stone here, and do a midnight solve on the PC while watching BBC4’s How To Solve a Cryptic Crossword on iPlayer in another … Read more “Times 24,068 – How Not To Solve A Cryptic Crossword”

This is later than I had hoped. I am currently in a rotten mood. A normally one-and-a-half hour car journey took four hours. Then I arrived home to find part of my lounge flooded. I … Read more “24067 – Right then”

Solving time: 4:20 Nothing too difficult in this – would have been one of my fastest times but for a struggle with 9ac at the end. Generally accurate clueing, and very concise which must be … Read more “ST 4301 (Sun 2 Nov)”

This took me an hour with most of the lower half completed in 15 minutes. I don’t know why I found the top half so difficult.  I certainly thought this the most difficult of the … Read more “Times 24065 – Solver’s Block”

Solving time : After 23 minutes I’m left with a dilemma on 5D – it’s a guess, and after I write this up, I’m not going to be near a computer for some time, so … Read more “Times 24064 – I’ll take a Scottish town for 5”