Category: Daily Cryptic

Solving time 6:58 Despite a fairly long day travelling to the office and back, and not solving until after supper, including a couple of glasses of red, I go through this in fairly quick time. … Read more “23,566 – as hard as it looks post-solve?”

Solving time: About an hour but in two sessions The top-half was a lot easier than the bottom. A couple of new words that had me reaching for a dictionary (which had to wait until … Read more “Times 23565/gubbins”

Solving time : About 50 mins I thought this was fair crossword overall; I like puzzles that you can complete without any (or with very little) specialist knowledge. There were a few words that I … Read more “23,564 – Accidentally Like A Martyr”

Solving time : 16:05 I made heavy weather of this, though I am not entirely sure why. I knew most of the unfamiliar answers, the exception being BRAT-PACKER, which is not really unguessable. I have … Read more “23561 – optimist misses out”

Solving time 7:22 Trickiest part of this for me was the SW corner. With a fair number of moderately exotic words, this felt like quite a good solving time. Possibly a shame that this puzzle … Read more “23,560 Party time again”

Solving time: 1hr 3mins Tough Tuesday. My brain has slowed down considerably this week. My Grandmother died – it’s OK she was 104 and totally with it until the last moment (her last words to … Read more “Times 23559/Tati in a tutu?”

Solving time : 1hr 10minsAnother difficult Monday for me – I got going straightaway with a few anagrams, but then failed to get many of the others for a while. There are still three I … Read more “23,558 – double trouble”

Solving time: 25 mins I found this one really tough, struggling with the NE corner in particular, although other words seemed to take their time finding their way from my brain to my hand. A … Read more “23,556 – Sturm und Drang”

Solving time : 14:07 Hidden messages or tricks, sometimes referred to as Ninas, are routine in the Times2 non-cryptic puzzle, but rare in the cryptic. Today the bottom and top rows celebrate Helen Ougham’s status … Read more “23555 – Well done, Helen O”

Solving time 7:00 Quite a few unusual words and meanings here. Satisfied with the time considering a poor start – neither of 1 or 6 across fell on first look, and a slight delay for … Read more “23,554 – quite tricky”