Category: Weekend Cryptic

Probably my quickest Dean ever. I parsed a few only after putting in the answers. Again, the clues are remarkably succinct.

I struggled with the answer at 22dn, partly for reasons of grammar; and even more with the (very) foreign answer at 21 across, clued as an anagram.

13:41. I found this quite tricky, and a few unusual expressions and what to me seemed looseish definitions lent it a quirky feel. Lots of very good stuff though. I particularly liked the Sicilian chain … Read more “Sunday Times 5072 by David McLean – bunga bunga”

Generally I don’t like cross-references to other clues, but the word play in 15ac was nice enough to make up for that. I liked the literal definition at 21ac too.

My journey through this was uninterrupted and relatively quick, though I did stop briefly in quite pleasurable puzzlement at several crossroads along the way.

As the northern hemisphere gets scorched, here down under we are enjoying winter days up to 10ºC above normal. Happy to report I’m posting this blog from a coastal resort. Very pleasant, for now!

DNF. I had no idea what was going on with 17ac and without any wordplay to speak of I was never going to get it.

Apparently, when dancing a salsa, the tempo is quick quick slow, quick quick slow. This puzzle was a bit like that for me.

Did this one make me stop and think? Definitely. Yet, once solved, it’s remarkable how simple and straightforward (or at least straight-backward) the cluing is.