Category: Weekend Cryptic

An interesting puzzle from Dean this week, containing (I thought – but these things are highly subjective) an unusual number of fairly straightforward clues, coupled with a few that were pretty tricky. 26a, 15d, 19d … Read more “Sunday Times 4701 by Dean Mayer”

Solving time 14:19, so a bit tougher than recent Saturdays for me (or I was a bit groggier, whatever). Quite a few oblique definitions made this a fun solve though (eg 4 and 30ac; 1, … Read more “Saturday Times 26454 (2nd July)”

9:59. Pretty straightforward stuff from Jeff Pearce this week, but enjoyable for all that: I thought this was a very neatly put-together puzzle. Some easy clues, but also a smattering of things that were new … Read more “Sunday Times 4700 by Jeff Pearce – cushty”

10:24 for this one, although when I looked at the Forum comments afterwards I found everyone saying how easy it was. Still, under two Magoos is good enough for me! More than the usual number … Read more “Saturday Times 26448 (25th June)”

For me this was far and away the most enjoyable from ‘Harry’ so far. Super puzzle, I thought, with plenty of wit (loved 16dn and 15a), some crackerjack anagrams (1ac and 28ac standouts), a highly … Read more “Sunday Times 4699 by David McLean – Yo Ho Ho!”

8:09 solved online, so fairly straightforward for me. Some UK-specific GK required (e.g. 25, 26) and a bit of ornithology too, but the wordplay made them all gettable I think. Across 1 Abraham in square … Read more “Saturday Times 26442 (18th June)”

The club timer says I took 18:27 to solve this. I think I was interrupted a couple of times by the kids but still, having gone through all the clues to write this blog, I … Read more “Sunday Times 4698 by Dean Mayer – hey hey Mama”

22:22 for this one, where I struggled to get on the setter’s wavelength, although as it was at the end of a 72-hour working week maybe tiredness was also a factor. Or maybe it was … Read more “Saturday Times 26436 (11th June)”

A good solid puzzle this week from Jeff which took me somewhat longer than it should have done with the benefit of hindsight. No real obscurities or particularly tricky stuff to negotiate, but not a … Read more “Sunday Times 4697 by Jeff Pearce”

16:43, which seemed like a good time for this one as there’s plenty of trickery here. There were enough anagrams to keep things moving though, including the excellent 5D (which took me a while to … Read more “Saturday Times 26430 (4th June)”