Category: Weekend Cryptic

I wasn’t at the top of my game—the heat must have been getting to me—as I at first inked in SOUND POLLUTION for the rather obvious 9. Still, this was more of a stroll than … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic 4861, July 28 2019, by Dean Mayer — “an ultimate dim Thule””

In the main, this was a fairly straightforward solve. Happily, there was no obscure technical items, although there were a couple of answers (27ac and 7dn) where I made a mental note to look in … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27414 – Saturday, 27 July 2019. Blue moon – you saw me standing alone.”

23.32. I’m on holiday this week, so will keep it brief. I found this puzzle quite hard, but a lot of fun to solve. Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (TIHS)*, anagram indicators are in … Read more “Sunday Times 4860 by Robert Price”

Today’s puzzle is packed full of brilliant clues. Well done, setter! I got the four 15-letter answers fairly early, but even they didn’t 9ac re the rest of the answers. I was at a bit … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27408 – Saturday, 20 July 2019. All the lonely people …”

Sitting by a fierce fan on this first day of the latest US heat wave, I’m very glad that this one is so easy to write up. It also seems calculated to make me wish … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic 4859, Bastille Day 2019, by David McLean — Very light”

I’ve spent all this week “emptying our nest”. That turned out to be a big job, so I am writing this blog late and with very little memory of the solving experience. Never mind, our … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27402 – Saturday, 13 July 2019. Free at last.”

26:48. A stiff challenge from Dean this weak. He has a way of finding slightly off-the-wall definitions for things that create a lot of head-scratching followed by the dropping of pennies. Occasionally (as in 18dn … Read more “Sunday Times 4858 by Dean Mayer – oh brother who art thou”

… and this puzzle was a delight. Hard again, but very fair. Absolutely no obscure vocabulary or general knowledge, but many tricky clues that needed much thought to get hold of. I did all the … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27396 – Saturday 6th July 2019. Happiness is a well set crossword …”

It’s alright, Ma… I can make it. When I worked this last Saturday, with pleasantly surprising ease, I was, mercifully, in an air-conditioned room at St. Francis College, right around the corner from my flat … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic 4857, June 30 2019, by Robert Price — Fences of Eden”

So, this ended the easy run of recent weeks with a vengeance! Lucky for me, I saw that early enough to concede defeat and use reference materials. A shout out to all who did it … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27390 – Saturday, 29 June 2019. Out of my depth.”