Category: Jumbo Cryptic

A brief report on this. I thought I’d solved it when it appeared zand then lost it, but it felt like fresh solving – especially as one answer defeated me – or I lost patience. … Read more “Jumbo 736”

This was the New Years puzzle. Haven’t done a Jumbo in some time… the solving experience seemed an eternity (over an hour). Had to search for both the lit refs (Shelley and Eliot) and was … Read more “Jumbo 735/New Years day”

Solving time: 34:47                                   Quite a straightforward puzzle, although the NW corner did not give up much to begin with, so a slow start, and the SE corner took a little work at the end. I … Read more “Times Jumbo 734”

Anyone still remember this one? Only 2 weeks ago but we’ve had four more Jumbos since then. Just a brief entry for this then, although if you need explanations for any I miss, leave a … Read more “Times Jumbo 732 (Dec 22)”

Solving time: 20 mins, one mistake (30ac) A bit of a Christmas theme running through this puzzle (available here), but the grid is horrible, with (e.g.) several six-letter words with just two checked letters. There … Read more “ST Jumbo 4256 (Sun 23 Dec) – Wild goose chase”

Solving time: 34 mins, one mistake (51dn) This was a brilliant puzzle with some fantastic clues and brilliantly-worded definitions. It took me about twice as long as an ‘average’ Jumbo, but I thought I’d got … Read more “Jumbo 731 (Sat Dec 15) – Neva mind”

Solving time: 27:22                                   This was a quick time for me for a Jumbo.  Fairly straightforward puzzle with a some pretty good clues and very little to complain about. Across 1 TAPSTER (Plonk in TASTER??) – I presume this … Read more “Times Jumbo 729”

Solving time approx. 45 mins spread over several sessions. I found it hard to get into this one at first, and kept getting distracted (mainly by other puzzles – all the weekend advanced cryptics, then … Read more “Times Jumbo 728 (24 Nov)”

Solving time: 24:25, one wrong answer A fairly challenging puzzle, which stumped me at the end with one of those toss-up anagrams for a word I didn’t know. It’s another appearance for one of those … Read more “Jumbo 726 – unknown element trouble”

Solving time: 33:37                                   Nice puzzle.  Excellent surface readings in a number of clues, some convoluted wordplay, and a couple of tricky clues to fathom out at the end.  I enjoyed this one. Across 1 TIMES … Read more “Jumbo 725 – Quite a treat”