Category: Jumbo Cryptic

Standard solve, perhaps at the quick end, with no stand out tough clues. Any hard vocab, such as QUINSY, MASSE and TUMBRIL, was gettable from definition or checkers. Special mention to the wordplay in 4D. … Read more “Jumbo 1081 – March 8th”

Solving time: 44 minutes exactly. I’m not sure what my Jumbo record was before, but it was certainly over an hour. I completed this one in my lunch hour at work and still had time … Read more “Times Jumbo 1080 (1 Mar 2014)”

A fairly straightforward Jumbo, I thought, with quite a high proportion of double definitions/indications. A few of the answers – possibly ALCALDE, CICERONE, PENEPLAIN – may not be familiar to everyone, but they’re in most … Read more “Times Jumbo 1079”

28:16 on the Club timer, which suggests a pretty straightforward puzzle. Perfectly good entertainment for the weekend without living long in the memory. With Jumbos, which attract a far smaller audience than daily puzzles, I … Read more “Times Jumbo 1077”

Apologies for going walkabout for the my last few jumbos, although I am sure no-one really noticed! I had been led to believe that the blog was winding down at the end of the year … Read more “Jumbo 1076 – February 1st – and an apology for truancy”

Solving time: About 1 hour 35 minutes – with one mistake. It seemed quite an easy one, although there were plenty of excellent clues here. I still don’t really understand 54a, but no doubt someone … Read more “Times Jumbo 1075 (25 Jan 2014)”

Another puzzle with several complex, clever clues. As usual, * indicates an anagram. Across 1 CORSICA – C + OR, + SIC (indicated by ‘so’), + Ago 5 EXCHANGE – sEX CHANGE 9 ARCTIC – … Read more “Times Jumbo 1074”

Nothing particularly noteworthy here, apart from more double definition type clues than usual. I did not note my time for solving Across 1 IN PASSING – double definition 6 HANDS-ON – double definition 10 BACON … Read more “Jumbo 1073”

Solving time: 1:45 A decent jumbo with some good wordplay, although I still don’t understand 39a. There were a few words I didn’t know – MARTINU, COVENANTER, OGEN & HEGEMONIC, and a couple I didn’t … Read more “Times Jumbo 1070 (28 Dec 2013)”

I thought this was on the challenging side, with some clever but complex clues. As ever, * indicates an anagram. Across 1 BUDGETING – BUDGE + TIN + G 6 BAILIFF – AIL in BIFF … Read more “Times Boxing Day Jumbo 1069”