Category: Daily Cryptic

Solving time : 24:48 Difficult I think. Going through the clues afterwards there are few that don’t seem to require a comment. Starting at 1A, I didn’t solve my first clue until 18A. Most of … Read more “23460: tough, and complicated by algorithms”

Solving time – 9:42 This was the last of the qualifying puzzles for the Times Crossword Championship. It was on their crossword club website so I solved it then, and wrote these notes from a … Read more “23,459 – the fifth qualifier”

Solving time: 26 mins in total, 15 of those trying to resolve three clues. The triad in question comprised 9ac (got wrong and has taken me ages to work out the correct answer), 25ac (got … Read more “23,458 – Query queries”

Standing in for one of the regulars for my first Times Community review, this was an accessible puzzle. As a daily Indy solver, have been doing the Times almost every day only in fairly recent … Read more “23,457 – fairly easy”

Solving time – 26:54 At least 10 minutes slower than I would have liked. It was tricky in places but not that hard! Perhaps I should stop going out on Friday nights… ACROSS 1 S(CH,IS)M … Read more “23450 – struggled a bit”

Solving time : 5m43s – I may regret writing this, but I may as well say what I think. Some of the puzzle seemed to me a little … well, amateurish. Ximeneans would object to … Read more “23,455 – New blood? I’ll get my teeth in”

Solving time : abandoned after 20 minutes with one missing The puzzle seemed fairly tough. I completed all except 1A in 10:15, and then I came to a halt. I tried all letters of the … Read more “23454 – Strong winds spoil solving time”

Solving time 11:13 In some haste as doing the other blog today too … This was a tie-breaker puzzle held in readiness at the Times Championship in case two people’s (all-correct) hands went up simultaneously … Read more “23,453 – Six games all …”

Solving time: 12:37 Eight multi-word answers today, but frustratingly I managed just two of these on first look (12ac and 15dn) which made this feel slow. Only after finishing did I notice the large number … Read more “23,452 – Special K, hiding Sikh”

Solving time : 1h25 Off to a cracking start – I did most of the RHS fairly quickly then the rest in fits and spurts. Looking back, though, there weren’t too many tricky clues so … Read more “23,451 – Obviously you’re not a golfer”