Category: Jumbo Cryptic

I found this one a real toughie and limped in at around 53 minutes. There was some really good stuff but overall I found it a little lacking in something or other. There was my usual … Read more “Jumbo 879 – 10 July 2010”

Nothing too taxing in this one, although as usual there were one or two references that I confirmed afterwards. I will be away after today so apologies if I do not respond to any comments … Read more “Jumbo 878”

Solving time, 52 mins which is similar to the last two Jumbos I blogged so it’s probably about average in difficulty. Favourite clues, CROSS, SPOTLIGHT, WEDNESDAY. Enjoyable puzzle * = anagram ACROSS1 ASSESSORS ASSES SORTS … Read more “Times Jumbo 876 (Sat 19 June 2010)”

Solving time: 26:05, one mistake I went wrong with 45, my last entry, opting for La! rather than Lo! for “Look”, which was probably too far towards barred-grid vocabulary. The rest was fairly straightforward. As … Read more “Jumbo 875 – messages for England and their supporters?”

If I kept accurate records I reckon this one would have been close to my fastest ever Jumbo, taking 22:16. It’s good to have a nice easy one once in a while and I thoroughly enjoyed … Read more “Jumbo 874 – 5th June 2010”

Quite a few unfamiliar words and phrases in this one, but all with wordplay that leads reasonably clearly to the correct solution. I did not time myself on this as I did it in more than … Read more “Jumbo 873”

The usual Jumbo rubric: as the solution is available alongside (or indeed before) the blog, comment is confined only to references that might remain obscure to overseas / inexperienced solvers even with the answer visible, … Read more “Times Jumbo 872”

Solving time: Three sessions, totalling about 2 hours, left me with seven, which were filled in over the course of the following week. In complete contrast to the last Jumbo I blogged, I found this … Read more “Jumbo 871 – 15th May 2010”

As straightforward as I remembered it when I re-solved for this report after losing my original copy – I originally took about 18 minutes which seems worth about 6 on a daily puzzle. Why so … Read more “Jumbo 870”

42 minutes, the last 10 or so being in the northwest cluster 1,2,3dn and 1,17ac. I struggled a bit with this but, after summarising the clues, I can’t really see why. I found it a little … Read more “Jumbo 869 – 01 May 2010”