Category: Daily Cryptic

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”

Solving time of 36:19 Pretty straightforward overall, although some wordplay to think about.I got the two long ones quickly and finished off the LHS fairly quickly – last to go in were 20D and 28A. … Read more “23678 – pons pontis”

Solving time: 10:15 Very ‘Sunday Timesey’ this week, with a few quibbles: 5ac, 13ac and 1dn are probably the main ones. A few difficult words – 24ac, 20dn and 13ac were all new to me. … Read more “ST 4236 (Sun 5 Aug) – Miskicks”

Friday puzzles seem to be a bit easier than the rest of the week these days. I thought Monday was supposed to be the easiest day. Time taken: 9m 25s ACROSS 1 HIGH – double … Read more “Times 23,676 – Fast Friday”