Category: Weekend Cryptic

A very entertaining and somewhat educational exercise.

I was amused by 24ac – nice images of kissing frogs. That answer also unlocked the last few clues at the bottom of the grid, so all the more welcome!

12:49. I’ve left blogging very late this week (as I write this it’s 11.10 on Saturday evening) so I will be brief. I liked the puzzle a lot, there were a couple of particularly brilliant touches that I will highlight in the relevant clues.

My eye quickly fell on 10ac. Isn’t “jelly” too obvious? Of course it is! Actually my FOI was 24dn. The bottom half was much easier than the top, and my last four in were 6dn, 7dn and 1ac/3dn where a crossing letter needed repair to finish things off. Overall, quite challenging, I felt, but good fun.

The usual bravura performance from Bob—what else can I say?

I enjoyed the hints of 20th century power plays, although we may sink into a possible replay in the 21st century.

17:30, but with one cheat.

René Descartes was a great philosopher, mathematician and scientist, but he appears in this crossword only because he was French, as far as I can tell! C’est la vie.

I can’t tell whether this (mostly) very fine puzzle is really much harder than it seemed at first or if my state of distraction on the eve of a suddenly necessary trip to Philadelphia was to blame for my delayed finish.

There were a few unknowns here, including the sonnet and the stew, but all of them solvable.