Category: Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 13:34 Although there are some very clever and tricky constructions here, most of the clues are very economical with few padding or link words, meaning that the structure tends to be easy to … Read more “23,741 – lean and fit”

Solving time: 7-9 mins on the day There’s just a hint of a theme here – two symmetrically placed nervy answers at 11 and 21. There are a few snippets of literature and music, but … Read more “23,740 – Championship Prelim 1, Puzzle 3”

My last two clues were 16D/21A — and I still wonder about the latter. Had to guess that ORATORIAN was yet another priest (after yesterday’s flamen somewhere). Not sure about PERON’s wordplay yet either. Peter … Read more “Times 23739 – Ian Eddy”

Solving time: 50:24 A few unfamiliar words to ponder over. Some anagrams that came pretty quickly. Although I wrote in NEATEN and HANDICAP quite quickly, it took me a while to decipher the wordplay for … Read more “23738 – Ancient Rome”

Solving time: 15:10 After a quick start in the top left and the two long anagrams I struggled with this one, especially in the bottom left and on the two central down answers, both of … Read more “ST 4246 (Sun 14 Oct) – Plenary session”

Solving time: 12:51 The right hand side went fairly fast, with its easy SHRINKING VIOLET at 6D. But the clever cryptic def of AUTOBIOGRAPHIES at the other long down held me up on the left … Read more “23,735 – a game of two halves”

Solving time: about 10 minutes on the day, in two stages This puzzle included one of the clues that made me sweat a bit at Cheltenham. After completing all but one clue in this puzzle, … Read more “23734 – Championship prelim 1, puzzle 1”

NE corner held me up for quite some time — not sure of overall timing since had many interrupts but total elapsed time <1h. I found 9A, 11A and 13A to be rather fiendish or … Read more “Times 23733 – wipers”

Solving time: 55m30s Off to a good start. Mostly straightforward with a few easy clues for beginners. I finished with BODY and SABREWING – I almost gave up on that the latter. I took a … Read more “23,732 – threatened by hummingbirds”

Solving time: 8:30 Straightforward until the end, where I was unsure of 4dn and 13ac, but as it turned out my guesses were correct. On another day I’d probably have spent a good few more … Read more “ST 4245 (Sun 7 Oct) – Sticky pricket”