Category: Quick Cryptic

Slightly more challenging than usual, I’d say. I came in at just under 10min. There are a couple of good examples of the compound anagram, which is important training for the 15 x 15. Some … Read more “Quick Cryptic 984 by Felix”

This is a great QC in my opinion, with all sorts of richness and interest, some beautifully crafted surfaces, depth and nothing too obscure.  To add to the pleasure, it is a pangram, containing all … Read more “Quick Cryptic No 983 by Izetti”

In terms of degree of difficulty, I thought this was a hard QC. Personally I enjoyed it a lot – plenty of neat wordplay, some very nice surfaces (particularly liked 7dn) and a lovely hidden … Read more “Quick Cryptic 982 by Hurley”

A real treat served up by Flamande today for those who like to look deeper into the meaning of clues rather than the biff brigade (4dn, 19dn). All this would have been ample entertainment but … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 981 by Flamande”

This one took me 10 minutes and I thought it was reasonably straightforward apart from two  scientific clues, one of which borders on the unfair as it’s considered by some sources to be obsolete. I … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 980 by Joker”

Hooray! It’s my turn to blog again… and my first crossword from Tracy to disect. What a cracker it is! I romped through most of this with a chuckle here and there, but ended up … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 979 by Tracy”

A slightly tricky puzzle today from Teazel, I found – it took me a good couple of minutes over my target ten to get the cherished “Unlucky!” sign. Presumably an image of Trump was to … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 978 by Teazel”

Due to a slight technical problem I am posting this on behalf of william_j_s. I’m never sure what sort of difficulty to expect from Orpheus (who has in the past set us both gentle and … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 977 by Orpheus (blog by william_j_s)”

The debate on completion times last week established that some find them off-putting whilst others find them helpful or irrelevant. In order to try to please most of the people most of the time I’ll … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 976 by Mara”

This appears to be Grumpy’s first puzzle for over a year and perhaps that lack of recent familiarity contributed to me finding it a bit harder than average. There’s little that could be described as … Read more “Quick Cryptic 975 by Grumpy”