Category: Jumbo Cryptic

Well, this was a right bank holiday challenge.  I have to confess to requiring aids to finish, as some of the (cultural, foreign) “general” knowledge was beyond my Ken.  Kudos if you finished all correct … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1491 – a bank holiday culture lesson”

This was cryptically largely straightforward, but I really enjoyed it, due to some clever definition parts and a sense of fun throughout. I loved “Man’s man” at 32ac, the lovely surface of 50ac, the association … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1489: Show Me Round Your Fruitcage”

Hello again. This Jumbo I thought was a really good one, with a number of imaginative clues and a lot of very nice surface readings, which I always like. I found it mostly straightforward, though … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo No. 1488 – 20 March 2021”

I thought this quite an entertaining Jumbo. It had a fair smattering of easier clues to help you populate the grid but also a few trickier ones with deceptive definitions or ingenious wordplay. As usual, … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1487 – 13th March”

I thought this was a brilliant puzzle, jam-packed with clever definitions and original, witty, crafty wordplay.  Those two elements meant it took me somewhere over an hour to get to grips with everything.  I hope … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1486 – Jumbo bucket”

Hi all.  Another five weeks has disappeared to wherever time goes. The top slightly-less-than half of this gave me little trouble, but then I flagged, with the SE corner in particular giving me no little … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1485 – 27th February 2021”

Off to the races on this uncomplicated jumbo, where many of the clues felt like old friends. FOI 1ac and 5ac, LOI 34ac as I convinced myself this nothing else would fit the bill: sadly … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1484: In A City Of The Future It Is Difficult To Concentrate”

So hello, here I am again, standing in for Simon Hanson for a while. Since my first blog in November 2009, I have blogged, at one time or another, almost all of the crosswords that … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1483 – 13 February 2021”

A rather middle-of-the-road Jumbo, I thought; many of the clues clues wouldn’t be out of place in a Quick Cryptic, I suspect. But, as usual, there are still a couple of unknowns to expose my … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1482 – 6th February”

I thought this was a moderately tricky puzzle with some smart misdirection and a few peculiarly British elements that might have overseas solvers chewing their pens. Probably an hour’s worth of solving and parsing including … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1481 – send in the clouds”