Category: Quick Cryptic

I took quite a bit longer than usual to complete this QC finishing in just under 7 minutes, but we’ve had quite a few head-scratchers already over the last 2 weeks, haven’t we?  I had … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1579 by Hurley”

I found this quite tough, and fared very similarly to yesterday’s, which is to say a DNF around the 17 minute mark, all following a bruising hour with yesterday’s 15x. I was feeling my enthusiasm … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1578 by Izetti”

Very slow for me – partly because I’m a little out of practice lately, but also due to quite a lot of those crypticky sideways definitions that I’ve always been slow to twig. I probably … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1577 by Teazel”

A lot to enjoy in this offering from Felix – particularly the acrosses in the bottom half. Nothing proved too tricky as I was all complete except for 9ac and 1dn in about 7 minutes. … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1576 by Felix”

Obviously there is so much happening at the moment that I don’t have much time for a preamble. This was a medium difficulty puzzle and I can’t say much more than that as my eyeseight … Read more “QC1575 by Orpheus”

Fairly straighforward, though 16a and 7d might cause difficulty. just over 8 minutes for me Across 1 Thin tree chopped up, a number being bad (8) THIRTEEN – anagram (‘chopped up’) of THIN TREE 5 … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1574 by Joker”

This was comfortably inside my upper (generous?) time limit at 14 minutes, but again, held some traps.  Hopefully, you will have managed to complete in a reasonable time yourselves.  I see neither theme nor NINA, … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1573 by Pedro”

Introduction Was it just me? I found this hard. It took me about 20 minutes, although I was distracted planning a 4th birthday party. But, no, I think this one was hard. Solutions Across 1 … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1572 by Tracy”

I found the last Izetti I blogged really hard but, by contrast, this one proceeded calmly and smoothly. Each sector filled in by turn from NW, NE, SE to SW finishing with LOI 14ac on … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1571 by Izetti”

Solving time: 10 minutes. I was a bit slow on the uptake on some of the ideas here but overall found it reasonably straightforward. As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1570 by Mara”