Category: Quick Cryptic

Friday, 30 December 2016 Do you know your A from your E? By my reckoning this is the last QC of 2016, and it’s a privilege to blog it. This is a very fine offering … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 734 by Hurley”

I don’t think I remember a QC as difficult as this, taking me a full 31 minutes – I definitely wasn’t 23a 8a, and the answers failed to 4d for what felt like an eternity.  … Read more “Quick cryptic No 733 by Teazel”

A pleasant, gentle offering today from Oran which will provide regulars with fast times and newcomers with a welcome confidence boost, I suspect. For me, it was plain sailing up until the last couple (15ac … Read more “Quick Cryptic 732 by Oran”

I had thought this might be a gentle, festive offering today – but our setter has finer ideals in mind. Having divined that we’d got a little soft and flabby over Christmas, Izetti has thoughtfully … Read more “Quick Cryptic 731 by Izetti”

When I came to blog this everything seemed perfectly straightforward so I’m not sure why I needed 13 minutes (i.e. 3 over my target time) to complete the grid.  Here’s my blog… As usual definitions … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 730 by Joker”

Just snuck in under the 5-minute mark, 4:59 to be precise.  That would place it slightly on the easier side of average by my reckoning. Keeping it brief today, having just looked at the list … Read more “Quick Cryptic 729 by Tracy”

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve had a bit more crossword practice of recent or if today’s was a gentler offering than most, but I was satisfyingly quick today. Would have been 8 minutes … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 728 by Flamande”

I had fun solving this one, which was just right for me in terms of difficulty. I liked the less direct definitions of 23ac and 5dn, and I’m glad I took the time to parse … Read more “Quick Cryptic 727 by Mara”

Rather like Christmas this was all going along very happily but then I got rather weighed down in the middle. 3dn, 12dn, 13dn but, probably most of all, 15ac causing the discomfort. The latter was … Read more “Quick Cryptic 726 by Orpheus”

A gentle offering to begin the week leading up to Christmas. Pedro mentions on his website that one of his puzzles this week (he also sets elsewhere under different names) “might” contain something seasonal – … Read more “Quick Cryptic 725 by Pedro”