Category: Daily Cryptic

Across 1 SCATTERBRAINED – how do you make it? You ‘scatter’ BREADIN* is how. 12 WATERMARK – W(ith) A TERM ARK. 13 ESCARGOT – true, not much is slower than a snail – CARGO in … Read more “Times 23,840 – A late Valentine”

I did this in a few installments over the day. Probably about an hour altogether – I never really got going.I did really enjoy it, although I think it was one of the harder Mondays … Read more “23839 – Testing”

Solving time: 6:30 Some good clues in this. As usual, this puzzle contained ERRATA, but for once only as a clue answer (15ac) – there were no editorial howlers this week (that I spotted, anyway). … Read more “ST 4263 (Sun 10 Feb) – Pro errata”

 This took me a good hour but I probably spent longer working out the clues whilst solving than I normally would. There was some lovely stuff along the way and only a couple of queries or … Read more “Times 23837 – Phew!”

Solving time: 9:44 Good fun. I filled in about three quarters of it pretty quickly but slowed for the north-east corner. If only I had been able to solve the anagram at 6 (ORCHESTRATE) on … Read more “Times 23,836”

Solving time: 12:54 Hardest of the month so far I think, but also one of the best. Had to wait until about 14A for my first answer, and then needed a minute or two on … Read more “23,835 – challenging but still lovely”

Solving time : 40 minutes Some obscure stuff today and one or two clues such as 24 down that would not be out of place in Mephisto. We have two old alphabets and an old … Read more “Times 23834 Ancient Arcane Alphabets”

Solving time: 36 mins Not too bad today – I had to look up a couple of unfamiliar words. A few made me smile – and that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Across 1 … Read more “23,833 – some flowery words”

Solving time: 8:45 Unless I am very much mistaken there are two faulty clues in this puzzle, 23ac (OSIERS) and 20dn (ESSAYED). That a Sunday broadsheet crossword with a wide circulation and significant prize should … Read more “ST 4262 (Sun 3 Feb) – Essay crisis”

Solving time – 16:34  I enjoyed this very much but it was one of those puzzles that I looked at when I’d finished and wondered why it took so long to solve. On reflection, I … Read more “23831”