Category: Jumbo Cryptic

Solving time: 32 mins, one mistake (42ac) Definitely not at my sharpest when solving this, having suffered a spectacular bout of food poisoning the night before. The top left corner in particular took me ages, … Read more “Times Jumbo 707 (Sat 7 July) – Moth balls”

Solving time: about 25 mins Solved this at the airport or on the plane a fortnight ago and then forgot to keep it, so the time is a guesstimate. Some nicely done long anagrams and … Read more “Jumbo 706”

Brought this to solve on a long train journey. Made fairly good progress before getting stuck on 4 across and words crossing it. In normal circs would probably have gone to dicts then, but persisted … Read more “Times Jumbo 705”

Solving time: 36:35 This time was around my median for a Jumbo.  I hope I am not being too harsh if I say that I would not champion this puzzle as a shining example of … Read more “Jumbo 704 – Theod in bellicose mood!”

Solving time 33:50 As this took getting on for double my “Jumbo par” time and someone in comments has already mentioned its difficulty, it seems worth explaining more clues than usual. A good challenging puzzle … Read more “Jumbo 703 – tough puzzle, long report”

Solving time: 17:37 [This posting is a few days late, for which my apologies.] Most of this was straightforward; it would have been a PB (just under 14 minutes) except for 22dn and 46dn. Some … Read more “Jumbo 702 (Sat 2 Jun) – Love it or hate it”

Solving time: 21:00, three mistakes (30ac, 34ac and 20dn). This would have been under 15 mins but for 34ac, 41ac and 3dn. I got the last two of these right but guessed the first incorrectly, … Read more “Times Jumbo 698 (Sat 12 May) – Blunder gatherer”

Solving time 25:43 Quite a few clues to explain here. Grid is pangrammatic, but for a jumbo that should almost be compulsory… Across 1 UPKEEP = (peek,pu(t))<= 5 CU(e)S HI(d) ON(e) – deleted letters being … Read more “Jumbo 696 – medium difficulty”

Solving time 13:13 Only a couple of minutes outside my 23×23 Jumbo record, and there were answers I felt I might have got quicker. So I wonder whether anyone set a PB with this… Across … Read more “Jumbo 695 – anyone’s quickest ever?”

Solving time: 34:14, two mistakes (40ac and 6dn). Super puzzle with some lovely definitions. My favourites were 15ac (‘leaving mark’ for EXIT WOUND), 33ac (‘Missing dope’ for UNINFORMED), 52ac (‘Devotional base’ for PRAYER MAT), 9dn … Read more “Jumbo 694 (Sat 21 Apr) – REMarkable, tREMendous, supREMe”