Category: Jumbo Cryptic

Far be it for me to lower the tone, but I decided to start this one whilst perched on the lav. Trouble is, it was such a cracker of a crossword I couldn’t drag myself … Read more “Jumbo 824 – 11th July 2009”

This took 18:58 so ranks as a quite easy jumbo – at least for someone who knew the composer and other arty references. As ever, I’ve tried to pick out the clues that may have … Read more “Jumbo 823 – July 4, 2009”

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 822 (Sat Jun 27th)”

Solved on the train in about half an hour, which makes it just below average difficulty. As my time is somewhat limited this weekend, I’m reverting to the previous method of just writing about the … Read more “Jumbo 820 (13th June)”

32:20 with help needed for my final two. (8 and 10 dn). I enjoyed this when I solved it, but having analysed it for this blog it seems a little lacklustre with nothing really outstanding. … Read more “Jumbo 819 (6th June 2009)”

Solving time: 19:30 An easyish Jumbo with quite a few plants in answers or wordplay – 1A, 47, 57, 45 (twice!), 31. Probably coincidence rather than an intentional theme. Across 1 HER,B(P)AR,IS – a fairly … Read more “Jumbo 818”

Enjoyable puzzle with good clues and excellent surface readings, solved in a variety of spells during a trip so no exact solving time, but I’d say it was about average in difficulty for a Times … Read more “Times Jumbo 816 (Sat 23 May 2009)”

Solving time 33:15, so a fairly straightforward Jumbo as I wasn’t really rushing. I can see from the Tippex on my solution that I originally started 13A off with BET YOUR… (really should know better … Read more “Times Jumbo 815 (May 16)”

For the first time, a published book of Times crosswords includes puzzles we’ve blogged at Times for the Times. Times crossword editor Richard Browne has kindly told me how the puzzles in this book correspond … Read more “Times Jumbo Cryptic Crossword Book 9 – Puzzle Index”

I really didn’t enjoy this at all. In fact if I hadn’t known I was blogging it I would probably have screwed it up after about 15 minutes. It seemed to be hard just for … Read more “Jumbo 814 – 9th May 2009”