Category: Weekend Cryptic

I was a bit sceptical about 2dn describing the King as “former”. Then, now and always, surely! Still a classical Saturday challenge, with what seemed an unusual number of clues involving adding, subtracting or replacing letters.

Morning all. Apologies for the delay this week. I had this all ready to go and just forgot to press ‘publish’.

Nice to see Champagne getting a mention in the NYE crossword. A medium difficulty puzzle, that should have left you all well set up for the evening to follow!

I remember a fascinating film years ago about how London cabbies acquire the “Knowledge” of London streets. Unlike them, I struggled with the knowledge to get through this puzzle.

I don’t have a time for this gloriously tricky puzzle.

A sparkling seasonal offering. Happy New Year!

This prize puzzle doesn’t close till Wednesday 4th January, so the normal blog will appear on Saturday 7th January. For now, Happy New Year!

There seemed to be some fresh cluing in here; 5ac and 5 and 6dn caught the eye quickly. Was it really a different setter? Regardless, it went fairly easily but enjoyably for me.

This puzzle took me a while. I had to put it aside and return to it repeatedly. It’s probably, objectively, none too easy, but I also had a lot on my mind. Great fun to go back over these finely crafted clues.

It stung that I took so long to see 1ac, but overall this was a regular Saturday puzzle. 18dn may be unfamiliar to some, but I think I’ve heard the word used that way before.