Category: Daily Cryptic

A dose of Fridayitis for me today – my slowest Friday solve in ages, at 22 minutes and a few seconds. I’m not quite sure why it took so long, but once I had worked … Read more “23,688 – Deliver me from slow times”

Solving time: 11:09 I was told at last night’s drinks that we crossword bloggers should be less sycophantic. But this is a particularly good puzzle, with lots of imaginative approaches, and smooth and witty surfaces. … Read more “23,687 – riddling askant”

Easily the slowest of the week so far for me. Good start with 1A, though wordplay not fully understood at the time, but then slowed down a bit. The right hand side seemed easier than … Read more “23,686 – ou you are awful, but I like you!”

Solving time: 37:50 Pretty straightforward pour moi – though had to defer to refs for a couple (couldn’t place the two Dickens refs: Jarndyce and Miss Pecksniff). Other than STOT, vocab was all pretty familiar … Read more “Times 23685/mercy!”

Time: 38:30 — I am well pleased with this time. It is the first time I have completed a Times puzzle on the train to London (42 mins), although I have completed a couple of … Read more “23684 – ok today”

Solving time: 5:18 A straightforward puzzle with one or two more difficult words and names, but for once I knew them so this time was below par. * = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’. … Read more “ST 4237 (Sun 12 Aug) – Drog star”

If you follow my blogs here and on Fifteensquared, you may realise that I don’t like dodgy homophones, and 24ac held me up for a minute or two today. Other than that, this was pretty … Read more “23,682 – Gunning for homophones”

Solving time: 12:53 No show-stoppers but a lot of clues that needed thinking about, and a fair number that I filled in without understanding the wordplay at the time. I think there are only five … Read more “23681 – comparisons are odo(rife)rous”

Solving time 6:57 Quick start, with 1A (a classic easy but entertaining clue) falling immediately, but slowed down a bit in the bottom half. In various clues we have references to eyes, brains and sound … Read more “23680 – making sense”

Solving time: 44:55 This felt like hard work. Exacerbated since the puzzle wasn’t available online – so, necessity being the mother of invention, I was forced onto the streets of NYC where I actually did … Read more “Times 23679/hard work”