Category: Weekend Cryptic

29:12. Another absolutely superb puzzle from Dean Mayer this week. I found it very tough, but a real delight to solve. As so often seems to be the case, I spent absolutely ages on my … Read more “Sunday Times 4716 by Dean Mayer”

13:40 on a printout, but with one silly error. I put BUTTING IN at 19ac before I had any checkers (not that it would have made any difference), meaning to go back to it and … Read more “Saturday Times 26544 (15th Oct)”

After the last couple of weeks’ offerings from the DMs that were enough to drive a man to drink even more than usual, it was a pleasant relief to get something that was significantly more … Read more “Sunday Times 4715 by Jeff Pearce”

12:31, so a bit easier than the last few weeks (it was for me anyway). Plenty of really good clues in this one, but my COD is 14ac, closely followed by 22ac I think. TOD … Read more “Saturday Times 26538 (8th Oct)”

16:35 on the club timer: not too bad for one of Harry’s puzzles, and this was another in his fresh and distinctive style. Sometimes the wordplay (as in 1ac) or the definitions (as in 19ac) … Read more “Sunday Times 4714 by David McLean”

I woke up this morning to no internet connection, so as I have no intention of typing it in on my phone, it’ll have to wait till tonight when I’ll try again. Sunday morning: still … Read more “Saturday Times 26532 (1st Oct)”

When the first three across clues all went straight in, I began to wonder if Dean was in a remarkably generous mood or (even less likely) whether I’d finally made a breakthrough to a new … Read more “Sunday Times 4713 by Dean Mayer”

14:58 for this one, could have been quicker but I was stumped by the fiendish 13D (well, I found it fiendish anyway) for about 3 minutes at the end. Bit of a howler at 21D … Read more “Saturday Times 26526 (24th Sep)”

10:34. A fairly gentle offering from Jeff Pearce this week, but none the less enjoyable for that. I was slowed down a bit by misspelling the little fella at 8dn: I put RUMPLE instead of … Read more “Sunday Times 4712 by Jeff Pearce”

Solving time – about 17 minutes in the paper without rushing. It took me ages afterwards to see how 13ac worked, but no problems anywhere else (although I thought 19dn was a bit weak). Across … Read more “Saturday Times 26520 (17th Sept)”