Category: Daily Cryptic

Solving time : 10 minutes. Blistering start, and a few proper names snagged me towards the end that had to be worked out using wordplay. Found this one fairly straightforward, clues needed a little thinking … Read more “Times 23830 – the winner was abstergent”

Solving time: 7:01 One musical mafia clue at 10. The main trouble for me was 4D. COD 5A for me. Across 1 DE TROP = ported rev. 5 SO (ME)WHAT 10 KNIGHT – ref. Sir … Read more “23,829 – another fairly easy one”

I’ll be honest, haven’t voted yet. But the polls are open until 9pm. Of course, by the time I actually vote it will no longer be relevant… In any event, nothing dropped until 20A and … Read more “Times 23828 – aha!”

Solving time: 32 mins A very enjoyable puzzle today – lots of interesting clues with a mixture of wordplay, but nothing too difficult. I just looked up a couple of words to confirm. Across 1 … Read more “23827 – Grace Cathedral Hill”

Solving time: 12:50, about half of which spent baffled by 14ac and 2dn (which I think contains an error). Much better than usual, some good clues in this; 2dn is a bit baffling though. If … Read more “ST 4261 (Sun 27 Jan) – Scrawls of residents”

Time taken to solve: A little over 30 mins. I found this mostly straightforward but uninspiring after some rather exceptional puzzles earlier in the week Across 1 PAC(IF)Y 4 EPI(DEM,1)C – (1,MED) rev. that is, held … Read more “23825 CHAR-CHAR-ARCH!”

Poll awaiting ticks now: http://www.bestfreeforums.com/forums/timescod.html 

Solving time : headed to the reference books after 30 minutes of head-scratching. This has not been my week (at least for the Times…). Across 1 CROC(U)S – crocs are dangerous beasts, but I’ll still … Read more “Times 23824 – a lot of 16 down”

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?”