Category: Quick Cryptic

A smattering of General Knowledge needed for this one (12, 15, 19 and 20 across), but all fairly clued to make an 8 minute challenge for me, so slightly easier than usual on my scale.  … Read more “Quick Cryptic No 663 by Hurley”

As usual, Mara leads us a merry dance with this puzzle. Plenty of straightforward stuff, but some quirky and tricky ones as well. I was undone by 10ac (see comment below) and also struggled to … Read more “Quick Cryptic 662 by Mara”

Too busy, really, to blog today so a) I was late and b) I ended up rushing. I therefore found this pretty hard in places leading to 13 minutes. I rather messed up 1ac on … Read more “Quick Cryptic 661 by Tracy”

After struggling to complete Pedro’s Friday QC in 18 minutes it came as something of a relief to dispose of this one in exactly half that time. For that reason I would rate it as … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 660 by Flamande”

Nice medium difficulty puzzle I think, though other opinions are, as always, very welcome.  Took me just over seven minutes. A quick word today on definitions.  The key to finding the solution to a cryptic … Read more “Quick Cryptic 659 by Pedro”

This was a lovely puzzle from Joker – a good range of difficulty in the clues and some very inventive ones to boot. I particularly liked 17ac: not a double definition, not a triple, not … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 658 by Joker”

Having drafted this blog neatly, I forgot to post it before leaving for work! Apologies for the rushed nature of the subsequent post – I will replace it with the full version this evening. I … Read more “Quick Cryptic 657 by Hurley”

10 minutes to solve the crossword then and a lot more to follow up the various interesting leads into the English language. Highly enjoyable with nothing too difficult – thanks Orpheus. ACROSS 1. Cathedral – … Read more “Quick Cryptic 656 by Orpheus”

A pleasant offering to start the week, with some good surface readings and a spread of interesting vocab with nothing I would classify as obscure. Thanks, Teazel. The puzzle can be found here if it’s … Read more “Quick Cryptic 655 by Teazel”

A very fine and possibly straightforward offering today, by Grumpy, whose pseudonym belies the subtle humour in the puzzle. 8ac and 4d stand out for me in a very good learning puzzle for cryptic solvers. … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 654 by Grumpy Friday 9th September 2016”