Category: Weekend Cryptic

Solving time: 7:42 If I’d been a bit braver with 1ac I would have done somewhat better with this. As it was, I had a pretty slow start before getting going. 20ac caused me a … Read more “ST 4211 – Lured down a cul-de-sac and quietly strangled”

Solving time 17:37 I found this quite hard to get into, and quite hard to finish off – there were a few unusual words but none I didn’t already know. And some very good clues. … Read more “Times Saturday 23521”

Solving time: About 6 minutes for all but 8dn [corrected from 6dn], 23ac and 24dn, none of which I managed to get correctly in a further 10 minutes or so. Ilan and I have swapped … Read more “ST 4210 (Feb 4) – Parrot Fashion”

Solving time 22:04 Solved three-quarters of the puzzle fairly quickly but got completely stuck in the top right-hand corner with only 10ac entered. It took me over 10 minutes to get the rest in that … Read more “Times Saturday 23515 – tough NE corner”

It feels like the quality of Sunday puzzles has improved: this one was both harder than the run of the mill, and almost all the clues were solid. RUMBAING is a new word for me … Read more “Sunday Times 4209 – Had a ball rumbaing”

Solving time 12:37 Not too tricky for a Saturday, the anagram at 7dn was the only entry I wasn’t 100% sure of when I put it in. Should have been quicker really, but I’m always … Read more “Times Saturday 23509”

Solving time 18:38 A few foreign towns in this, but strangely enough 22ac and 16ac were the first clues I got. No one corner slowed me down, but did struggle with the last 3 or … Read more “Times Saturday 23503”

This was a lot harder for a Sunday puzzle compared to those I’ve seen since I started writing these notes. Not sure whether the clues overall were just more challenging or because a couple of … Read more “Sunday Times 4208 – Y, oh, why?”

The only thing that I wonder about is why yellow goo is lemon curd (see 14D) – is this along the lines of “yellow matter custard”? Across 5 LA-D,[a]I-DA – Verdi’s Aida is probably the … Read more “Sunday Times 4207/Yellow goo”

Solving time 24:33 I had a bit of a struggle with this puzzle, as there were a few less common words with some unfriendly unches (plus a couple of stupid mistakes slowed me down a … Read more “23497 Saturday – gristly hellcat”