Category: Daily Cryptic

This is the first of a handful of “guest appearances” from me. It is a fortunate baptism into daily blogging as I’ve solved it previously.  It was the first puzzle in the second session of … Read more “24063 – It’s AXIS you half-wit!”

Solving time : 40 minutes Not as tough as it could have been but a little harder than of late with some fairly obscure stuff tucked away. Edwardian hats; blood sucking eels; some cricket to … Read more “Times 24,062 Trivial Pursuits Anybody?”

Solving time: didn’t look at the clock, but guessing around 40 minutes. Not too bad a start to the week. Got quite a few on first read and I don’t think there were any new … Read more “24061”

Solving time: 4:19 I found this a straightforward puzzle with some good clues and one answer word I didn’t know (MOSHAV). * = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’. Across 1 ESCARPMENT; (A RECENT PM’S)* … Read more “ST 4300 (Sat 26 Oct) – Ayr rage”

Solving time: 7.45 I found this pleasant enough to solve, but there was nothing in it that held me up for long. The SW corner was the last to be finished – mainly because I … Read more “Times Crossword 24059”

Solving time: 9:47 I enjoyed this. Good constructions and excellent surfaces. Nothing that seemed particulalry obscure to me, though if you didn’t know Tarsus was “no mean city” it might be a hold-up. Across 1 … Read more “Times 24,058”

Solving time on the day: about 8 minutes. This puzzle is probably just as easy as last week’s (the literary/artistic references are are gentle), but I found it a bit tougher as neither of the … Read more “25,057 – 2008 Champs Prelim 1, Puzzle 2”

Solving time : 26 minutes, so slower than a normal Tuesday. On the other hand I have the dreaded Man Flu, and am far from my sharpest, so I suspect this is a lot more … Read more “Times 24,056 – Meat and Drink”

Solving time: 24 minutes That was good fun – lots of good clues and nothing too tricky. A few words I didn’t know, but the wordplay was always very helpful.I don’t expect many complaints about … Read more “24055”

A bit of an overload of cryptic definitions, of varying quality, but otherwise some good bits this week. I have a question mark by 20ac, and I’m not at all sure MOLE is the right … Read more “ST 4299 (Sun 18 Oct) – A mountain marathon out of a mole-hill”