Category: Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 17:21 I have been away for the past five weeks and only found the time to do one Times and two Independent crosswords during that time. I was therefore getting ready to make … Read more “23,780 – easy”

Yes, 16 of them! I had completed the puzzle without major problems until I became bogged down in the SE corner with 13d a tricky &lit, 27a an alternative spelling I have never met before and … Read more “23778 – Got any O’s?”

Solving time : 9 minutes. Gosh, I need to solve these late at night more often! Fun, seemed pretty straightforward, bit of a breather after the last three days. There were a lot of clues … Read more “Times 23777 – Someone alert the Marquis of Queensbury”

Solving time: 8:47 After some tough puzzles for this weekly spot, this one was much easier – though I was still held up for a while in the NE corner, where 9, 6, 7 and … Read more “23,776 – easy peasy – for a current Wednesday anyway”

Solving time : 45 minutes Quite tricky in parts with some nice clues along the way. I took too long to get 1 down and that held me up.A wide range of knowledge required for … Read more “Times 23,775 A Potpourri of Knowledge”

Solving time: 8:05 I should have clocked a time more like 5:05, but I failed to spot magistrate = doge in 17D, so couldn’t justify PREJUDGE. Far more stupidly, I wrote CR instead of CH … Read more “23,774 – not quite an easy Monday”

Solving time: 8:50 Mostly straightforward; some good clues today, but very Sunday-Timesey nevertheless. * = anagram. Across 1 TABERNACLE; (BERATE CLAN)* 7 FRAY (double definition) – not sure what the question mark is doing here. … Read more “ST 4252 (Sun 25 Nov) – Tickled a th’ sere”

Solving time: 8:40  An enjoyable puzzle, and mostly straightforward although 20d was tricky and I don’t think I would have got it from the wordplay alone. My COD is probably 25a but 23a was also … Read more “23772”

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?”