Category: Daily Cryptic

I was a bit disappointed when I stopped the clock – I thought I’d been quick enough to break 5 minutes. As ever, there are ones where I’m now wondering why it took so long. … Read more “23823 – short and 9”

Solving time : 35 minutes A mainly straightforward puzzle that I finished in 25 minutes except for 28 across. After a further 10 minutes without inspiration I decided not to hold the analysis up any … Read more “Times 23822 How Many Prunes?”

I did about half last night and finished this morning – probably about an hour altogether. It seemed pretty difficult last night, but not too bad this morning.There are some interesting clues and a few … Read more “23821 – You Ain’t Going Nowhere”

Solving time: 6 mins for all but 16ac, on which I gave up shortly afterwards. I was let down by lack of cheese knowledge. The puzzle was let down by some pretty terrible clues. * … Read more “ST 4260 (Sun 20 Jan) – Cheesed off”

Solving time: 9:45  This would have been all over in about 6 minutes were it not for 27a and 17d, which between them took me just over 3 minutes. Lots of good solid clues but … Read more “23,819 – Care taken”

Solving time: 13:30 Solved the bottom half first and worked up, partly through getting the wrong answer into my head for 1A. The short cryptic definitions at 1D and 5 also held me up. There … Read more “Times 23,818”

8:48 for this, which felt better than two successive slowish times for puzzles that others found easy. Across 4 SANSERIF = fairness* – type=print 10 MILKS,TOUT 12 CHINO,O.K. – saw something v. similar recently, so … Read more “23817 – a better effort here?”

It’s still morning on the west coast! A fairly quick solve though the Cinque ports (and related towns) required a touch of wikipedia. I was surprised that I remembered that a certain Low had caricatured … Read more “Times 23816 – need a sunny holiday in a villa”

Solving time: 37minutes Quite enjoyable, with nothing too tricky to solve. I didn’t need to look up anything today, during or after, which is always satisfying. I expect some of Peter’s tutees had a good … Read more “Times 23815 – no fog”

Solving time: 5:05 A few difficult words in this but with helpful wordplays; no major gripes. Looking back at 6ac (PASCAL), I believe Don Manley (Pasquale in the Guardian) sets for the Sunday Times and … Read more “ST 4259 (Sun 13 Jan) – Batman returns”