Category: Daily Cryptic

As is my wont, total time a little over 20 minutes, but an inexplicably long part of that spent spotting the last two (9 down went in very slowly, after which I slapped my forehead … Read more “Times 23,900 – Temporary word blindness and an old friend”

I received an email from the Crossword Club yesterday, saying that the site would be down today. I had planned to do the crossword later today, but finding it online this morning, I had a … Read more “Times 23899”

Solving time: 10:30 A rare gem from the Sunday Times, the like of which crops up about every three to four months. Some inspired clues, very tight wordplay and first class surface readings throughout. I’ll … Read more “ST 4273 (Sun 20 Apr) – O tempora! O mores!”

I struck lucky with an easy one today and polished it off in about 20 minutes which is as good as things get for me. I can’t see there’s much that could cause others problems … Read more “23897 – Winding gently down for the weekend”

Solving time:13:49 This was good but seemed quite tough, with lots of answers that are on the borders of the level of obscurity one would expect in a daily puzzle. Fortunately, I have recently re-read … Read more “Times 23,896”

Solving time 5:40 Started quickly and hoped to dip under 5 mins for a while, but didn’t quite make it. Maybe easier for the geographically savvy, with three place names. Across 1 HORS(D)E,COMBAT = “to … Read more “23895 – toponyms”

Solving time : 25 minutes A largely straightforward, enjoyable and very fair puzzle unusually without homophones or a hidden word but several multiple meaning clues. Nothing held me up although I guessed ESURIENT and for … Read more “Times 23894 Spencer Thingumabob”

Solving time: 54 mins I really enjoyed this overall. Quite a few tricky words, but generally all quite gettable from the clues. Last to go in were HASSOCK, OLID and BLACKCAP. For 29A, I wasn’t … Read more “Times 23893 – eh?”

Solving time: Would have been under 3 minutes but for an extra 10 or so on 14ac! Even easier than last week, although frustratingly I stalled on 14ac (despite being fairly confident of the answer) … Read more “ST 4272 (Sun 13 Apr) – Brain Teeser”

Had to lookup ALICE BAND to check it as well as GRASMERE. Other than that, I thought that this was relatively easy for a Saturday. Probably finished it off in about half an hour. Across … Read more “Times 23886”