Category: Daily Cryptic

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”

Solving time: 11:23 Chewy stuff. I have commented on 28 of the 32 clues. Do ask if you want to know about any of the other four. And lots of good stuff too, including neat … Read more “23,729 – seven-eighths”

Solving time: about 8 minutes on the day As long as you knew or guessed enough of various literary and general knowledge references, this was a straightforward puzzle by current championship standards, with two easy … Read more “23,728 – Championship Prelim 1, Puzzle 2”