Category: Quick Cryptic

Introduction This one took me 15 minutes, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. I was done after only eight minutes, except for three clues in the upper-right corner: 9 Across, 11 Across, and 5 … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1452 by Pedro”

Just under ten minutes today which seems to be my new normal. A few clues were potential slip ups – particularly 14ac and 18dn and others had some interest – see below. ACROSS 1. High-ranking … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1451 by Mara”

Solving time: 9 minutes. I found this pretty straightforward. As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones] Across … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1450 by Orpheus”

A neat and, dare I say it,  (I have been wrong in the past), straightforward puzzle from Joker today. An abundance of simple A + B and letter deletion type clues should get you going. … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1449 by Joker”

Tricky enough today from Corelli, with quite a lot of misdirection and unyielding definitions that needed checkers to unravel. Oh, and an impressively interwoven Hamlet theme running throughout – I count a dozen characters directly … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1448 by Corelli”

A toughie from Teazel, which kept me occupied for almost twice as long as usual. About half went in without much trouble, but scattered all over the grid, and the rest took a bit of … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1447 by Teazel”

Tipped just over 10 minutes with the crossing of 4dn and 12ac so, to me, this was a satisfying puzzle. Some struggles on the way included trying to parse 3dn and getting tied up at … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1446 by Orpheus”

Well what a week that was for eyebrows, and it is carrying over into the first puzzle of this week. Perhaps TfTT could apply for a royal warrant on the supply of acronyms for expressions … Read more “QC 1445 by Tracy – An MER Fer ‘ER And An FER Fer Me, Cor Blimey Stone The Crows Me Old Pearly Queen!”

A gentle workout today, though I overthought 4 down because of a common 15×15 trigger word. 6 minutes for me. Across 1 Finally wheel in lots of compost (5) MULCH – L (last letter of wheel) … Read more “Quick Cryptic 1444 by Hurley”

No bear traps here, but for some reason I was two minutes outside my target at 17m.  It was probably my LOI 9a that was primarily at fault, and maybe some of you suffered similarly. … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1443 by Mara”