Category: Daily Cryptic

I started this last night but soon found it too difficult for my tired brain and gave up with about a quarter completed. This morniing it didn’t seem so bad but I reckon I must have … Read more “24124 – Cats and Dog”

Solving time : 13 minutes – I didn’t get any until the long anagram at 12 across and then things fell into place pretty nicely. A good crossword for wordplay, not many hidden words or … Read more “Times 24123 – eternal torment, multilation and a squishy bug”

Solving time 10:53 Some of this should have been quicker – 1A should have been a first-look answer, which would have got several downs and a good start. Felt very humbled by 3D where the … Read more “24122”

Solving time : 15 minutes We are in a run of easy puzzles. Mephisto last Sunday took less than 30 minutes and of late only last Saturday’s daily had any meat to it. This is … Read more “Times 24121 A Dim Sum Puzzle”

Time: about 35 minutesNot a lot to say – quite easy but it took me a while to get CORKSCREW, ASCEND and WAGNER at the end. Not sure why they would hold me up – … Read more “Times 24120”

Solving time: 12 mins, most of which on 3dn. I found this mostly straightforward and rattled through until I was left with C_N_E_L_ for 3dn. The only sensible word I could see that fit was … Read more “ST 4310 (Sun 4 Jan) – Vexing”

Solving time: 11.04. A pleasant enough workout that started with CYBERSPACE – nice to see PHISHING turn up in the same puzzle. I felt I should have been able to do this one in 10 … Read more “Times Crossword 24118”

Solving time: about 18 minutes Four minutes in to this (when I thought things were going well) a friend got on to the tube and sat next to me. Once she’d settled down to read … Read more “Times 24,117”

…and it’s also good to be back. Radiotherapy and post-treatment taking things easy are now complete, with some interesting hair loss which is mainly restricted to the back of my head. Solving time 11:16 This … Read more “24116 – Oh brother, it’s déjà vu …”

Some nicely misleading definitions in this puzzle such as “pieces”, “sporting” and “scholarship”, and a couple of unusual ones – “apostle spoon”, “corner bacon” – made this a slightly more testing proposition than it first … Read more “Times 24,115 – Pieces of Eight…and Bacon”