Category: Jumbo Cryptic

Even allowing for the fact that at this time of year I usually tackle the weekend puzzles in a leisurely fashion while watching cricket, a time of nearly 1 hour 20 suggests this was the … Read more “Times Jumbo 932”

I feel that so far, bar one notable exception, most of my jumbos have been uninspiring and this was another one which was middle of the road. A mixture of various forms of standard fare. … Read more “Jumbo 931 – A Tasmanian Lie-in?”

Time: 1:15:13 – Certainly my quickest for quite a while, if not ever. Thought I might finish under the hour but spent 15 minutes or so on the last 5 clues (9/10/12/27 & 52). I … Read more “Times Jumbo 930 (18 Jun 2011) – By the shores of Gitche-Gumee, by the shining Big-Sea-Water”

I really enjoyed this one. Lots of crafty wordplay and mostly very fair. There were a couple of Spanish words, seguidilla and arroyo, that I thought were maybe a little bit on the unfair side, … Read more “Jumbo 929 – 11th June 2011”

This was hard work, with a number of excellent clues. I believe I have almost all sorted out, but I am still left with one where the wordplay is unclear to me – to put … Read more “Jumbo 928”

Time not recorded (accurately at any rate) as I was solving while the Test match was on, and got distracted. However, my recollection is that it was far from the most straightforward, and coming to … Read more “Times Jumbo 927 – May 28, 2011”

Yet another fairly straightforward jumbo, I have omitted the majority of the definitions as they are very clearly signposted. Really very little to add, so apologies for the brevity of some of the explanations. Across … Read more “Jumbo 926 – The report is only marginally more interesting than the placeholder was!”

Time: About two and a half hours over several sessions. I notice a few comments on the forum from other solvers saying how straightforward they found this. Well I found it a struggle from start … Read more “Times Jumbo 925 (14 May 2011)”

A mostly easy solve with lots of giveaway anagrams and probably the easiest clue ever to be seen in a Times crossword (11d). I say mostly easy as the first 56 clues got thrown in … Read more “Jumbo 924 – May 7 2011”

Not really much to say about this one. A number of helpful long anagrams and double definitions made it a trouble-free solve, although I did not time myself. I have left out more solutions than … Read more “Jumbo 923”