Category: Weekend Cryptic

Solving time: 13:15 I got the two 15-letter downs quite quickly and was hoping for a much faster time, but just got stuck on a few at the end. 4d was the last I put … Read more “Times Saturday 23557”

Solving time: approx 15 mins. I was in London last week to meet up with some Irish friends for St. Patrick’s Day, so I solved this from the paper while sat in Covent Garden having … Read more “Times Saturday 23551”

Solving time 14:26 I was away for the weekend and didn’t get a chance to post this entry until now, so apologies for the delay. I’ve just had to re-solve it this morning as I … Read more “Times Saturday 23545 – better late than never!”

Solving time 13:22 I found this a lot easier than the last few weeks’ Saturday puzzles – should really have been under 10 minutes but I got stuck on a couple at the end. I … Read more “Times Saturday 23539”

Solving time 21:46 Are Saturday’s puzzles getting harder or am I getting worse? I haven’t gone under 20 minutes for weeks, whereas my weekday averages are around 13 mins, with the occasional sub-10 minute time. … Read more “Times Saturday 23533”

Solving time 24:22 I found this quite tricky, with a few obscure words to puzzle over. I noticed the phrase CHAMPION SOLVER in 21 and 24 across, and thought “Bloody need to be to finish … Read more “Times Saturday 23527 – Happy Birthday Roy Dean!”

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”