Category: Weekend Cryptic

Harder than the week before – for me at least. The top half was easier than the bottom.

13:36. The usual fun from Dean, with a couple of particularly nice clues. My favourites were ‘Ham producer’, the CD at 18dn, and the initially utterly bamboozling and then quite brilliant 28ac. How did you … Read more “Sunday Times 5088 by Dean Mayer – anax woz here”

I still don’t really understand what She’s up to at 26dn. Otherwise I flew through this one.

After my FOI, I worked all the four longest (12-letter) clues. I profited from that flying start and had this all completed within a comfortable timeframe, though two answers stubbornly resisted parsing. Had to watch my fingers—there are some sharp devices here.

Tom Jones baffled me at 1ac. Not a good start!

20:20. I found this very tricky, with a few answers that were completely beyond my ken and needed to be carefully constructed from wordplay. Excellent stuff though as always.

This was fun. The setter’s tongue was firmly in their cheek on a few clues!

My favorite puzzles are always those that educate me at least a little bit, along with drawing on knowledge you already possess (though it may be on the verge of being forgotten).

In Australia, the ’Pies are the Australian Football 2023 Premiers. Their supporters will be delighted to see them featured in 1ac!

15:22. I found this puzzle enjoyably tricky. There are a couple of rather modern references in here (1dn, 5dn) which I know isn’t to everyone’s taste but I really like it when these puzzles reflect … Read more “Sunday Times 5084 by David McLean – not so bad”