Category: Jumbo Cryptic

Hello all.  This felt a bit different to the average beast, with a few unusual devices in the mix.  When writing it up I did also notice lots of cryptic definitions and double definitions (five of each at a quick count but I haven’t double-checked).  I finished in under an hour but was concentrating pretty well throughout.  Good fun – thanks setter!

A very enjoyable Jumbo which once again I completed in a single session

Hello again. I had a little trouble getting going with this one, but once under way I made steady progress until after an hour or so I had just two clues left, 49dn and 52ac, … Read more “Times Bank Holiday Cryptic Jumbo 1608 – 10 April 2023”

This was, I think, the trickiest, but also most fun, Jumbo for quite a while. Lots of witty, deceptive and whimsical definitions and wordplay made for an entertaining tussle.

I’m calling this another puzzle of average difficulty, but with some clever tricks to keep things interesting

Hi all.  No strict time for this due to (first session) falling asleep (no reflection on the puzzle – it was bed time!) and (second session) a cute cat needing attention.  Roughly speaking, the difference between it taking a little less than an hour and rather over was a handful of clues which I found rather a handful, containing between them as they did quite a few NHOs.  I was pleased indeed to get them.

After all that I had of course made a silly error …

I liked lots of clues, particularly 43d (as alluded to in the blog heading).  Thanks setter!

Solving time: 80 minutes with one look-up. It’s rarely I can quote a time for my Jumbo solving, but unusually for me I completed this in a single sitting.

Unusually, I did this in one session. It took me about an hour in all, but would have been quicker if I had twigged to compos mentis and vinaigrette sooner than I did. So a … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1603 – 11 March 2023”

Oh dear. Maybe I got out of bed the wrong way the day I solved this, but I found this rather less to my taste than usual for a Jumbo Cryptic. “Too easy”, it says at the top of my copy, and I’m afraid I found it, on the whole, rather a processional solve

Probably of average difficulty.  On review there’s little in the way of obscure vocabulary and while there are some neat touches none of the wordplay is too complicated.