Category: Jumbo Cryptic

A typically entertaining  Jumbo, this one, with plenty of straightforward clues to get you going but a few chewy bits as well A little trickier than average, I thought. Thank-you setter. How did you all get on?

An unremarkable, but perfectly acceptable, Jumbo.  Nothing too easy, nothing too hard.

Greetings from York, where I am in attendance at John Henderson’s annual Sloggers & Betters gathering.  As a result I may be late and/or or under the influence when replying to any comments.

I solved most of this on the journey up, and it was certainly a welcome diversion from being crammed with fellow suffers into an overcrowded train.

No complaints about this lovely Jumbo, brimming with good surfaces and interesting wordplay. Given that I only started getting into Dad’s Army a couple of years ago (I may be slow, but I always get … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1579: They Don’t Like It Up ‘Em”

Hello again. My style with jumbos is to riffle through them in the time I would spend on a normal cryptic, about 15 or 20 minutes, solving what clues I can. Then I put it … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1578 – 01 October 2022”

This one is a middle of the road Jumbo Cryptic, I think, with plenty of straightforward clues to give you some checkers and a few less common words to boost your vocabulary. I finished in 36 1/2 minutes, which is a bit faster than average for me. I liked the travelling dog, the edible wood and the not-so-busy afternoon best. Thank-you setter. How did you all like it?

Tricky, what?  I was struggling through this, thinking I was glad that someone else would have to explain everything in a blog, when my eye was drawn to the puzzle number and I realised that poor individual was me…

Hello all.  I doubt I’ll be alone in nominating 14a as Clue of the Day – its subject is hardly going to be outside the solver’s sphere of interest, after all!  18a was also neat, and I liked the long answers too.  A happy cat (as seen today grinning in 32a) will always produce a happy Kitty, as will generally a reverse clue – and 35a was a little more interesting than standard.

I did this in 9 minutes it looks like from the leaderboard, and had no real recollection of any of it, so it’s probably not unfair to describe this as a Mondayish Jumbo (which is … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1574: How To Upset An Applecart Without Scaring The Horses”

Hello again. This Jumbo I worked through steadily in one session, never racing but never getting stuck either. There were some neat definitions, eg 4dn, 35dn. What did you think? Please, do feel free to … Read more “Times Bank Holiday Cryptic Jumbo 1573, 29 August 2022”