Category: Weekend Cryptic

29:22. I found this extremely hard, for reasons that I can actually put my finger on for a change. Dean’s cryptic definitions are often tricky, and I was particularly slow in seeing them in this … Read more “Sunday Times 4916 by Dean Mayer”

This flowed steadily for the most part. There seemed to be more clues than usual that required one to “lift and separate” common phrases into individual words, but on review perhaps not. All went smoothly … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27744 – Saturday, 15 August 2020. Lift, separate … and seek enlightenment”

You know I will TAKE ISSUE with any ILL-CONSIDERED political comments that I see or hallucinate. Worked on paper, and my copy is all marked up—but I like to doodle. The only unknown was the … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic No 4915 by David McLean — IRANIAN NUKES ASIDE…”

This felt relatively straightforward, tho with a few unknowns, which could all be overcome. Much use of first or last letters of words, or both. I liked 3dn because it seemed so obvious the clue … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27738 – Saturday, 8 August 2020. Have a banana!”

12:28. Another really entertaining puzzle from Bob this week. I particularly liked 12ac, with its deceptive wordplay, and the cryptic definitions. These often attract negative comment but I thought both examples in the long down … Read more “Sunday Times 4914 by Robert Price – source for the gander”

This felt like a typical Saturday offering. When solving on paper, I often look at the clues at the bottom of the page first, and so my FOI was 25dn. I didn’t know the reference … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27732 – Saturday, 1 August 2020. Feast your eyes on these 7dns.”

I’ve never read the Leonard Cohen novel that shares its name with this entry. (There, the title refers to a non-solitary activity. Sigh)This was quite an enjoyable romp, and I became acquainted with a new … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic No 4913 by Dean Mayer — The Favorite Game”

This was all done at a relatively brisk pace, although I had an unaccountable block at the end with 16ac. I particularly liked that the clue told me specifically how to spell 10ac … although … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27726 – Saturday, 25 July 2020. Intimations of immor(t)ality?”

11:57. Nothing too difficult in this one. The unknown coins at 26ac looked very unlikely, even with such crystal-clear wordplay, but more or less everything else was familiar to me. So without further ado… Definitions … Read more “Sunday Times 4912 by David McLean – advance, police cars!”

There was much here beyond my ken, but only 12dn eluded me completely. The rest was a medium difficulty solve, with some delightful touches from the likes of the batsman at 9ac and the boozer … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27720 – Saturday, 18 July 2020. Generous rewards for general knowledge.”