Category: Weekend Cryptic

Solving Time: None recorded I’m on holiday this week, and I struggled through this one over several sessions, before resorting to aids (my Dad) for 3d. There were a lot of comments on the forum … Read more “Sunday Times 4584 (6 Apr 2014) by Dean Mayer”

Solving time 16:15, which rang a bell, and yes it was indeed exactly the same time as last week’s, to the second. Apologies that this is brief but I’m writing this on Friday morning (before … Read more “Saturday Times 25753 (5th April)”

Solving Time: 35:59 Quite a straightforward puzzle this week, but not one of Jeff’s best. Lots of cryptic definitions which I’m not generally a huge fan of. Anyway, I’m blogging this from a holiday in … Read more “Sunday Times 4583 (30 Mar 2014) by Jeff Pearce”

Solving time 16:15, so about average difficulty for a Saturday. No GK required really and no difficult vocab either. One clue I’m not sure I’ve parsed correctly (22d) and one with the becoming-too-frequent leftover editorial … Read more “Saturday Times 25747 (29th March)”

Solving Time: 63:39 A good test. I didn’t feel like I got on the setter’s wavelength particularly well, but then I very rarely do with Tim’s puzzles. Three sportsmen in this one – Brian Lara, … Read more “Sunday Times 4582 (23 Mar 2014) by Tim Moorey”

Solving time 14:25. It’s always very helpful to have the perimeter lined with 14-letter entries, and I was able to put all four in pretty quickly. Not a puzzle for youngsters though – a few … Read more “Saturday Times 25741 (22nd March) – blasts from the past!”

Solving Time: 54:51 A typical Dean puzzle. Quite tough, with plenty of inventive wordplay and excellent surface readings. Too many good ones to pick a COD. cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev … Read more “Sunday Times 4581 (16 Mar 2014) by Dean Mayer”

No time recorded for this one as I just picked at it during odd moments while I was working from home on Monday. Pretty tough puzzle though, so doubt if I’d have come much under … Read more “Saturday Times 25735 (15th March)”

Solving time: About 50 minutes, I think. The club timer read 1:10:04, but I had technical problems with it that day. I had to re-enter the grid 3 or 4 times before I successfully submitted … Read more “Sunday Times 4580 (9 Mar 2014) by Jeff Pearce”

Unusually for me I solved this on the Saturday at home, rather than on the train on Monday or Tuesday as usual, and got it done in 13:09. A mixture of easy and difficult, just … Read more “Saturday Times 25729 (8th March)”