Times Quick Cryptic No 953 by Mara
I managed to whizz through this inside 8 minutes, which is my fastest time for a QC for a while, although there was lots of subtlety and fine surfacing here. I think I was helped by (what seemed to me...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic No 26872 2nd Nov 2017 Quark? That's cheese, isn't it?
I crave your indulgence, having arrived as recently as Monday on the red eye from Jo’burg and having endured this very day appalling traffic (though travelling by coach) and the even more appalling...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 954 by Teazel
Perhaps the easiest quickie I've blogged for, came in at just over 5 minutes. I think my favourite is 11dn, mainly because I was pleased with myself for knowing the word, as a result of my inept...
View ArticleTimes 26,873: 1ac and 1dn inevitable, when we go 9dn in tomorrow's 12ac?
Friends, I regret to inform you that you're going to have to end the essentially wise and benevolent reign of the tyrant Magoo yourselves tomorrow: after the York binge last weekend and a similarly...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic No 26868 – Saturday, 28 October 2017. Uluru, if you please!
I found this relatively easy for a Saturday, which is of course not to say easy in any absolute sense. I’m back to solving on paper, but I estimate it took me about 40 minutes spread over two or three...
View ArticleJumbo 1290
This one was on the easy side from a solving point of view, apart from an old nemesis at 35D, but there are a couple of parsings that could do with a second opinion. I'll be away for most of the...
View ArticleMephisto 2983 - Don Manley
I remember solving this in a single session last Sunday, and my grid only had a few question marks and one scribble out so I didn't find it too difficult. I rather liked the grid for this one, with...
View ArticleSunday Times 4770 by Dean Mayer
31:30. I thought this was pretty tough, although I was very tired last Sunday when I attempted it and very nearly dropped off a couple of times. Perhaps because I was half-asleep when solving it the...
View ArticleThe Official Crosswords Championship Chat Thread
Here is a special thread for the week of the championships. I expect we will hear excited anticipation in the days leading up to the championships, followed by live reports from the site of the...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 955 by Oran
This will be a brief one as I only got back from the Championships mid-afternoon yesterday and was immediately confronted with an impressive laundry list of family problems that had somehow managed to...
View ArticleTimes 26873 - ...there are a lot of blank pages!
Time: 61 minutesMusic: Holst, The Planets, Boult/LSOAs you might imagine from my time, I certainly did not find this easy. Several of the clues that I did understand were outstandingly devious, and...
View ArticleTime Quick Cryptic 956 by Pedro
The two long anagrams at 14ac and 4dn hold the key to this puzzle - I found them both reasonably easy to get (I particularly enjoyed cod 14ac) and so I had a good time - 8:55.The clueing didn’t strike...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic 26876
This one delayed me for 44 minutes. Much of it was straightforward but I became bogged down over five clues, all on the right-hand side. There were two words unknown to me, one was the answer at 8dn...
View ArticleQuick Cryptic 957 by Flamande
Two early unknowns (1ac and 2dn (I was sure it would be Qatar) put me off to begin with, but the rest was straightforward and fair. I liked 6dn for the unlikelihood of medium-sized reversals producing...
View ArticleTimes 26877 - TCC Qualifier heat 1 - Not the New Testament then.
A cunning puzzle for the Championships, I thought, not too difficult as a first round test but with a couple of places where you can easily get one letter wrong; I see only 30 of 88 contestants got...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic No 26878, 9/11/17 Playing for keeps
Not a lot of problems with this one, with a high proportion of crossword standards and a promising, if brief, collection of US states. You are to be congratulated for dedication to duty if you stopped...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic No 958 by Rongo
A nice gentle one from Rongo today, I think I'm safe in saying, providing a pleasant introduction to the world of cryptic crosswords, with clearly signposted cryptics and definitions. A bit of a...
View ArticleTimes Quick Cryptic No 959 by Izetti - Pretentious? Moi?
Hello fellow Friday QC solvers. I think you will like this. It has a great mix of fairly easy clues and some that need a bit of thought. It is as concise and precise as is usual from our setter, with...
View ArticleTimes 26,879: One 20ac Blogged By Another
In an effort to "show, not tell" what happened to me at the championships last weekend, I went down by one measly clue in this puzzle, pondering long and hard over 21dn before unerringly changing my...
View ArticleTimes Cryptic No 26874 - Saturday, 04 November 2017. Slowed to a crawl.
Times Cryptic No 26874 - Saturday, 04 November 2017. Slowed to a crawl. While, we hoped, the stars of the troupe were tripping and twirling their way through a series of competition puzzles, this one...
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