Category: Quick Cryptic

Des is an infrequent setter who I have blogged a couple of times before.  I find that his puzzles are usually accessible and elegant, with occasional use of rare or archaic vocabulary, as is the … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1883 by Des”

Introduction 12:16 and I felt glad to finish! Tough Quickies are, to my taste, much more frustrating than tough 15x15s, as there are fewer ways to work your way into the grid. Solutions A brief … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1882 by Izetti”

If Orpheus was on AM then I was on DAB. A rare dnf for me as I couldn’t solve the long 4dn without all the checkers and I felt I had no chance of 9ac … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1881 by Orpheus”

Solving time: 12 minutes. Tricky. The long answers were a long time coming and that really slowed my progress around the grid. As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1880 by Hurley”

We have a delightful Quick Cryptic from Joker today to end the week’s series of good crosswords. We are treated to a triple definition (my Clue of the Day) a double anagram and four other … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1879 by Joker”

11 minutes, with four of those spent – for no good reason – on 9ac, 7d and correcting 12ac. A fine puzzle with good clues aplenty, my favourite I think being 18ac – many thanks … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1878 by Teazel”

Crack(l)ing puzzle, as we’ve come to expect from this – my favourite – setter. Only the SW corner proved a little reluctant, as well as the long 4dn (cryptic definitions are *still* my Achilles’ heel). … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1877 by Oink”

Well, I was one who didn’t find yesterday’s easy and I struggled even more on this – so maybe I’m just having a bad week. I’ll take some slow solves in exchange for our new … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1876 by Tracy”

There were quite a few of the sorts of clues that are often regarded as ‘easier’ in this gentle Monday morning stroll. I counted five double definitions and six clues that were either full anagrams … Read more “QC 1875 by Mara”

An interesting mélange today, which some may find tricky. There’s also a fairly obvious Nina (Glossary here if you don’t know what that means): 1ac 6ac, who is 9ac, wrote 13ac and lived in 6dn. … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1874 by Felix”