Category: Weekend Cryptic

Me, I’ve had a cold since last Saturday, but this puzzle is hale and hearty, and its wit could’ve cheered you up if you’d caught a chill with the onset of the season mentioned in … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic 4871, 6 X 2019, by David McLean — In good form”

This was at the easier end of Saturday puzzles. The combination of the creative device at 1ac (my favourite clue) and my fanciful biff at 2dn held me up near the end. Thanks to the … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27474 – Saturday, 5 October, 2019.”

17:15. A corker of a puzzle from Dean this week. One of those that seem quite hard at the time, but look entirely simple and obvious when you go back and look at the clues … Read more “Sunday Times 4870 by Dean Mayer”

This was a bit of a tester, but I very much liked that the things I didn’t know, like the meaning of 10ac and the second bird at 21ac, were things to look up later … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27468- Saturday, 28 September 2019.”

Not that there’s anything “off” about this puzzle. I found it generally satisfying, with a few interesting bits of vocab, and nothing to complain about. No, the title references my word of the day, PROROGUE, … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic 4869, 22 IX 2019, by Robert Price — Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off”

I was still in China when this puzzle appeared, so I enjoyed the local colour of 21ac. The puzzle seemed to have an unusually high proportion of clues simply requiring us to assemble (or disassemble) … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27462 – Saturday, 21 September 2019.”

17:01. I have had a very busy week so left this very late, and now can’t remember much about it. I also can’t see why it took me so long: looking at the clues now … Read more “Sunday Times 4868 by David McLean”

I am posting this blog from Wuhan, China. No, I’d never heard of it either, but it’s one of the largest cities in China, and very modern. Apparently, it once felt less modernized than China’s … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27456 – Saturday, 14 September 2019. Shouldst thou use the second person singular?”

IN THIS DAY AND AGE—the latter being the Anthropocene—it behooves us to take a CONSERVATIONIST stance. Realistic forecasts of imminent change give me the WILLIES. Just look at what’s happening to our OCEANS. Is that … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic 4867, 8 IX 2019, by Dean Mayer — Save the day”

From the ice of 1ac to the searing sun of 27ac, there wasn’t an answer here I didn’t know, but there were lots of clever clues and quite a sprinkling of humour. Thanks to the … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27450 – Saturday 07 September 2019. From frostbite to tropical heat.”