Category: Daily Cryptic

Solving time : 42mins, but not sure about a coupleI found this pretty straightforward – I did it on the train, so hoped I wouldn’t need to go to the dictionary. I am not sure … Read more “23,576 – heatstroke”

Solving time: 16-ish minutes, one missing (21dn) The less said about my effort on this, the better. 21dn was understandable, but I don’t know what I was playing at on 5ac, 10ac and 7dn. * … Read more “ST 4219 (Sun 8 Apr) – The Confetti Incident”

I really struggled with this puzzle. Some of the words included seem a little forced, although legitimate (UH-HUH and TERMLY for example) and there’s at least one clue I didn’t understand. ACROSS 1 CA(T(h)E)RS 4 … Read more “Times 23,574/Not my best effort…”

Solving time: 5m45s – Got held up badly at the end by 6d/7d/13ac which was feeble – guessing correctly at 13ac but then worrying enough about the other two that I crossed it out before … Read more “23,573 – Plenty of standards on view”

Solving time 7:55 Not that snappy, but a good puzzle – no obscure words except maybe CUTIS, and wordplay subtlety rather than difficult “general knowledge”. A quick reminder that today sees the second qualifier for … Read more “23,572 – Make it snappy, Peter”

Solving time: 40’ but missing two NW answers Rather difficult – and I discovered I don’t do all that well under pressure – I have to get out of the house about 20 minutes ago… … Read more “Times 23571/cryptic interruptus”

Solving time : 54 minsI felt pretty pleased with this time – there were a few words I didn’t know. A couple of times I got the definition, but couldn’t see the wordplay for ages. … Read more “23,570 – He always has an alibi, and one or two to spare…”

Solving time: 4:15 After some recent improvements, this is another of those puzzles which leaves you wondering if this crossword is edited/proofread at all. Either I have missed something (quite possible), in which case I … Read more “ST 4218 (Sun 1 Apr) – Goonlike schemata”

Solving time 5:40 A fairly gentle puzzle, which suggests there might be some tougher ones coming up over the weekend. Across 9 EM=me<=,MENTAL 10 CAUL = “call” 13 BEN,TON – ton = fashion is something … Read more “23,568 – easy enough”

Solving time : 16m28s – I have to say that I think this is my out-and-out favourite Times crossword puzzle of at least the last year, an absolutely awesome collection of brilliantly deceptive and witty … Read more “23,567 – Kudos for this kicking cracker”