Category: Weekend Cryptic

8:30. A nice easy one from Harry this week. Only one unknown (the garment), mostly pretty straightforward wordplay and only one query (at 20dn). Quite a lot of anagrams. Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like … Read more “Sunday Times 4856 by David McLean”

I tackled this puzzle “fresh” (if that’s the word) off an overnight flight from tropical climes, but happily there was nothing here to cast me into wintry despair. The oddest clue was 23ac, which was … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27384 – Saturday, 22 June 2019. No jet lag yet.”

I enjoyed this a lot. It seemed very fresh, and potent as well. There were several CDs, all very amusing; no (usually either dull or unfathomable) DDs; a not-untimely reference to a particular conjuncture in … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic 4855, June 16 2019, by Dean Mayer — New-made corn mash”

Again a relaxing Saturday offering. Strangely, I was slow to see 1ac, easy though it was. It was actually my LOI. Still it was a great launching pad … I pencilled in the D as … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27378 – Saturday, 15 June 2019. Pass the dictionary again please.”

10:30. Another excellent puzzle from Bob, which I didn’t find particularly hard but nonetheless managed to stuff up, paying insufficient attention to the wordplay at 13ac and bunging in the wrong vehicle. Drat. Loads of … Read more “Sunday Times 4854 by Robert Price – so much winning”

This was a relatively easy solve, and very easy to blog. A few things, like 8dn and 20dn, merited trips to references after solving but before blogging. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27372 – Saturday, 08 June. Nearly burning with joy.”

Every ingredient of this tasty puzzle seemed to be in apple-pie order… hence my headline. The expression, nodding here (first) to, uh, clue (a near homophone) 18—comes from the fact that pedestrian crossings in France … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic 4853, by David McLean — Tout est dans les clous”

Well, this was harder than the previous week. It also expanded my general knowledge with things like 11 and 26 across, and was a master class in oblique definitions like those at 14 across, and … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27366 – Saturday, 01 June 2019. Give me the simple solve …”

21:23. This was a superb puzzle, I thought. Vintage Dean, with loads of clues that I had to look at three or four times before they succumbed, and with lots of ‘eureka’ moments along the … Read more “Sunday Times 4852 by Dean Mayer”

This was a relaxing solve for a Bank Holiday Saturday. I hope it left everyone ready to face the short week refreshed! The top half went in very smoothly, then the SW corner slowed me … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27360 – Saturday, 25 May 2019. Oh to be in England now that spring has sprung.”