Times 28281 - this tastes fishy, or maybe salty.
Another masterpiece of misdirection from our Wednesday setter, it took me nearly 45 minutes in two spells with a break, to do this and parse it all. Four fishy clues for you, one of which conjured up...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic 2127 by Joker
I had to consult the dictionary over 9ac before seeing the answer to 2dn, so DNF after many long minutes staring at those last two clues. Apart from that, and despite some other unknowns, a very...
View Article28282, Thursday, 5 May 2022 A preponderance of Conservative Women
I can't say I found this particularly difficult, and after trying to fill in the missing letters from M_R_H_S_A_ for a short eternity, finally completed in 15.37A curiosity of this one was the...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic No 2128 by Parkin
So we have a new setter today (or a new name at least): the word 'Parkin' has cropped up a few times in crosswords past, clued as a gingerbread or teatime snack (and completely forgotten by me). It...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic No 2129 by Hurley
A slightly harder than average Quick Crossword, if my time (6:16) is anything to go by, from Hurley today. I found the long answers a bit tricky and got stuck trying, in vain, to make the answer to 13A...
View ArticleTimes 28,283: Sorted for E's and Pot
I liked this a lot, with its very correct quotas of interesting vocabulary, artsy GK, and humorous constructions. COD to 12ac as the idea of a boatload of Father Christmases very much appealed. Thank...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic No 28278 - Saturday, 30 April 2022. Who will buy my bright red...
A regulation Saturday challenge, done in perhaps slightly under regulation time. 11D stretched my knowledge of Covent Garden – do they sell roses there? 14A amused me, and 15D stretched my vocabulary....
View ArticleTimes Cryptic Jumbo 1552 - 23rd April
I found this a satisfying Jumbo to complete with some masterful complex wordplay, whimsical definitions and neat surfaces to admire. Quite a few single letter deletions, I thought, so my strikethrough...
View ArticleSunday Times Cryptic 5005, by Robert Price — Take 2 puzzles and call me in...
Great fun, as always, from Bob. Some very tricky stuff, I thought, but no perplexity remaining in the end.A tippling Conservative leader starts things off, a story redolent of recent headlines. I found...
View ArticleMephisto 3218 - Churchill's Island
Although I finished in one sitting of about two hours, I found this pretty tricky. There are a few places where you have to cross-reference variable spellings among different words - for example,...
View ArticleTimes 28285 - His is a double!
No fewer than four double definitions (DDs) here and plenty of deletion too, certainly contributory factors to making this a rather easy offering. Only the papal mini-bull held me up to any extent, but...
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Quick Cryptic 2130 by Corelli
Solving time: 8 minutes. This is only Corelli's 27th Quick Cryptic although he was amongst the original setters when the puzzle was introduced in 2014.In recent times there has always been an extra...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic 28286
Solving time: 33 minutes. An interesting and mostly enjoyable puzzle that seemed to take longer to solve than the time recorded on the clock.As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics,...
View ArticleTimes 28287 - two kinds of firsts.
My first time blogging for the new site then copied here, as opposed to last week's when that process was reversed. As it happened, I found this puzzle an easy one and set a new PB by completing it in...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic 2132 by Izetti
5:56, for what felt like a decent workout. There were a handful of words here I didn't quite know, so writing this blog will be an education! Speaking of which, I mentioned a few weeks ago that I've...
View ArticleTimes 28288 - all welly, no wanging
Time taken: 8:59. Parts of this were tricky, and there were two that I had my fingers crossed for when I hit submit, but they both turned out to be OK.I usually solve online, but this time I had to...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic No 2133 by Mara
A plethora of anagrams and double definitions from Mara today, my second consecutive blog of a Mara puzzle. I like the dd at 1d, and the device used to drop letters from 16d, and give clues of the day...
View ArticleTimes 28,289: Friday the Sans Teeth
Well, if you can't count on an absolute stinker of a tough Friday puzzle on Friday 13th, when can you count on one, I ask you? This was all pretty gentle stuff, add or insert a letter into something...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 2134 by Teazel
This took a while to get going, and I stared for ages at 15dn until it twigged, so an above-par time of 9 minutes for me. Nice surfaces generally. My COD has to be 16ac.Definitions underlined in bold...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic No 28284 - Saturday, 7 May 2022. Solved to the sounds of Haydn?
I'd never heard of the political arrangement at 12D, so no music played for me ... tho' I'm sure it was different for some. Anyhow, the answer was clear from the helpers. Nor was my geography up to...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic Jumbo 1553 - 30 April 2022
Hello again. This Jumbo I thought was rather more straightforward than average, with no unknowns and only one spelling issue (at 34dn). Certainly a great deal easier than the beast that was 1548, the...
View ArticleThis site is now closed to new posts
We now are no longer active on Livejournal and have a new site for Times for The Times which contains all the content from here and will be used for future blog posts and comments. Any further comments...
View ArticleArticle 0
G'day I have been following the blogs from the solvers of the Times and Sunday Times cryptic crosswords with great interest but they seem to have ceased in this forum. Where can I find them these days....
View ArticleAdditional Quick Cryptic
Please note there is an error in the Times on-line puzzles section today which has two Quick Cryptics: #2126 by Tracy and #2127 by Joker.#2126 by Tracy is the correct one for Tuesday. The other should...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic 28280
Solving time: 41 minutes. There were some tricky clues here but I worked my way through it steadily and was reasonably satisfied with my solving time.As usual definitions are underlined in bold...
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