Category: Weekend Cryptic

18:12. Well well, what a naughty puzzle! Male strippers, randy lords, hen parties, drugs, booze, S&M, swearing… I was in need of smelling salts by the end of it. Polite drawing room conversation this ain’t! … Read more “Sunday Times 4696 by David McLean – the Private Eye drawing room?”

Still very fresh in my mind as I only got around to solving it on the train home on Thursday evening. 12:55, although it felt quicker at the time for some reason. Across 1 Some … Read more “Saturday Times 26424 (28th May)”

An absolute ripper from Dean this week: loved every minute of what turned into a very long grapple indeed. Some ingenious cluing (5a, 8d and 24a being prime examples for my money), great surfaces (6d … Read more “Sunday Times 4695 by Dean Mayer”

12:55 for this, solved from the paper for a change whilst sat inside hoping for the rain to stop (it didn’t). Only unknown was GALLIARD, but it was very easy to derive from wordplay, so … Read more “Saturday Times 26418 (21st May)”

13:06. A reasonably gentle puzzle from Jeff this week. There were a couple of unknowns for me (GYRFALCON, WINGDING), an unusual abbreviation for a rather obscure unit of length, and one slightly questionable definition, but … Read more “Sunday Times 4694 by Jeff Pearce”

Much tougher than the previous week – solved on paper in about 20 mins. Looked like it was going to be a pangram as I was solving it, but there was no Y or Z. … Read more “Saturday Times 26412 (14th May)”

An enjoyable mix of some tricky stuff tempered with a few gimmes – and with an overall style I’d describe (in a very positive way, I should stress) as “quirky”. From an ST enthusiast’s perspective, … Read more “Sunday Times 4693 by David McLean”

Solving time 7:06, my fastest for a long time. As I mentioned in a comment earlier in the week, a double whammy of a rare clear head on a Saturday morning and time to solve … Read more “Saturday Times 26406 (7th May)”

12m. An unusually gentle offering from Dean this week. No unknowns for me, and it all flowed smoothly with no major hold-ups. But we don’t need to be tortured every week and I found this … Read more “Sunday Times 4692 by Dean Mayer – a 10ac 9dn”

16:49 for this one, so I must have found it on the tricky side. I can’t remember what held me up now though, seems pretty straightforward going through the clues again this morning. It was … Read more “Saturday Times 26400 (30th April).”