Category: Weekend Cryptic

Solving time: About an hour and a quarter I found this one quite hard-going. There were several unknowns to me – Horatio Alger, Maillot, Jonathan Sacks, Allen Ginsberg and Omnium-Gatherum. This last one in particular … Read more “Sunday Times 4520 (13 Jan 2013) by Jeff Pearce”

Solving time 16:16. Pretty good puzzle, with generally very good surface readings (although in a couple of clues this was at the expense of the cryptic indications). Across 1 BORDERLESS – ORDER (number of nuns) … Read more “Saturday Times 25370 (12th Jan)”

Solving time: About an hour of solving time. I started this online at my desk at work on Friday lunchtime, but printed it out after about half an hour and went to the kitchen for … Read more “Sunday Times 4519 (6 Jan 2013) by Tim Moorey – Toughest of the year so far!”

Solving time 12:56. First Saturday puzzle of 2013, and it’s a largely straightforward solve apart from a couple of very intricate bits of wordplay to unpick (I’m thinking of 3D and 8D). Across 1 TUMBLEDOWN … Read more “Saturday Times 25364 (5th Jan)”

Solving time: 24:33 – with one mistake. Quite a gentle Sunday solve this week, after last week’s time-consuming Jumbo. I made one clumsy mistake at 2d due to not spending enough time parsing the wordplay. … Read more “Sunday Times 4518 (30 Dec 2012) by Jeff Pearce – Substance abuse”

Solving time: 1:55:40 An excellent Yuletide solve from Anax this. I have no complaints about any of the clues, and some of them were really excellent. 2, 11 & 14 were probably the pick of … Read more “Sunday Times 4517 (23 Dec 2012) – Dean’s Christmas Cracker”

Solving time 17:42, not one of the hardest but one of the most enjoyable puzzles of the year. Many great clues but my favourites were 5D, the excellent cryptic def at 23D, and the linked … Read more “Saturday Times 25358 (29th Dec)”

Solving time 15:31, very slow to get started (I think 23ac was the first one in), but built upwards from there and soon had it done. Nothing too tricky apart from the wordplay to 9ac. … Read more “Saturday Times 25353 (22nd Dec)”

Solving time: About an hour I did about half of this in a dentist’s waiting room, and then on the bus on the way back to work. I finished it the following day over another … Read more “Sunday Times 4516 (16 Dec 2012) by Tim Moorey”

Solving time 16:05, so about average for a Saturday puzzle. Sorry it’s a bit rushed, but I’m lousy with flu this morning. Hope I feel better by Tuesday! Across 1 DOWNPLAY – L (pounds) inside … Read more “Saturday Times 25347 (15th Dec)”