Category: Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 21 minutes with six missing; 24 minutes with aids A slow start going through the across clues. Nothing until 23A. Then steady progress from the bottom up, helped by the two, straightforward, long … Read more “23,771 – well beaten”

Solving time: 18:37 The curse of the Times crossword club certainly strikes again – no online puzzle and I left home before the papers landed on the doormat, so had to buy a paper at … Read more “23,770 – the curse of the 17 strikes again?”

Fortunately I read the comments before writing this up so my concerns about CURLICUE and HASP have been resolved. Overall, a good puzzle which went rather quickly largely because the long 1A fell at first … Read more “Times 23769 – not bikini nor jerrycan”

Time: 43 minutes An enjoyable crossword in the end but I was completely flummoxed by the NW corner – and greatly hindered by a typo in entering the answer to 5D (I do the interactive … Read more “Times 23768: Outphoxed”

Solving time: 6:39 (one mistake – 13dn). Yet another anagram error in this puzzle (16dn). Also a missing letter in the online version. * = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’. Across 1 LOST CAUSE; … Read more “ST 4251 (Sun 18 Nov) – Dessert storm”

 Solving time: Longer than it should have taken. I put this down to nerves on my first blog and attempting it late at night after a busy day.. Nevertheless it was a very enjoyable puzzle … Read more “23766 – My first blog, blow by blow”

Solving time : 22 minutes. For my first attempt at blogging a solution, I was off to a rough start. Printed off the puzzle after midnight, and after a few minutes all I had filled … Read more “23,765 – A tease?”

My first chance to report on a completely unseen Times puzzle since the championship, and I have to record … Solving time: 26:43 … which means that I found this very tough indeed, especially the … Read more “23,764 – I thought I was supposed to be good at this?”

Solving time : 30 minutes This is my first analysis and I have been dreading getting the hardest puzzle in twenty years.In the event it’s relatively straightforward but with several homophones, which are not my … Read more “Times 23763 Sounds Familiar”

Solving time – 7:24.  Easy start to the week but there were a few answers here and there where I waited for some checking letters before filling anything in. If I’d trusted my instincts and … Read more “23,762 – some fast times expected, 21A”