Category: Daily Cryptic

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”

Solving time – 16:53  Quite tricky in places, and from the comments received so far it looks like the literary stuff (3, 22, 28) slowed a few people down. Luckily this is one of my … Read more “23891 – Morning campers!”

Solving time: 10:48 Was heading for a fast time then came to a dead halt on 22 and 27. Tempted by LOTI for 27 (can’t now see why), but eventually “physician” sparked the thought of … Read more “Times 23,890”

Solving time 8:10 After finding the Mad Hatter at 1D and the March Hare at 6D I was waiting for the dormouse to turn up, but he (or she? – I can’t recall whether its … Read more “23889 – party animals”

22 minutes, of which an unwontedly large proportion was spent on 13 down. Across 4 MAINSTAYS – guys as in guy-ropes. 9 AGINCOURT – NCO + ‘U’ inside A(rea)GIRT. 10 VERGE – (EG+REV) backwards; possibly … Read more “Times 23,888”

Solving time: 33 minutesFound this pretty easy to get into. Held up at the end by 27 and 16 – I should know by now what ‘distressing’ means in a crossword! Also briefly held up … Read more “Times Crossword 23,887”

Solving time: 3:16 A pretty straightforward puzzle – I think I’ve already seen another member of this site’s blogging team claim a much-improved PB for this. Would any Estonians in the audience like to comment … Read more “ST 4271 (Sun 6 Apr) – Bo selecta”

Solving time: say 25 minutes linxit is busy, so you’ve got me for this one. Solved in bits during the orchestral rehearsal for the South Bucks Choral Society performance of Samson last Saturday. I like … Read more “Times 23880 – Sat 5th April”