Category: Weekend Cryptic

I wish I could say I “was brilliant” as per 9ac, but this one outlasted lunchtime for me, so a little harder than some I’d say. For discussion purposes, the clue of the day will … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27264 – Saturday, 02 February 2019. Let the punishment fit the clue.”

Fun one, not as hard as I feared, once I finally got started. I’m sure 15 was extremely easy if you happened to know what “Honister” refers to; I didn’t, but got it (eventually) anyway. … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic 4835, 13 January 2019, by Jeff Pearce — Huckleberry friend”

As I wrote this a week ago on Australia Day, the sunburnt country continued to set high temperature records. Lucky today’s puzzle wasn’t a scorcher too. I finished all but 25ac in regular time, but … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27258 – Saturday, 26 January 2019. A sunburnt country.”

8:07. Unusually straightforward from Harry this week. Less unusually a fun puzzle with some witty clues. I think my favourite was 26ac, just because I like to see words like that in these things. I … Read more “Sunday Times 4834 by David McLean”

This blog appears on an Australian public holiday to mark the arrival of British settlers in Sydney Cove. A good or a bad thing depending which side of history you were on. Arguably not the … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27252 – Saturday, 19 January 2019. Happy Australia day”

This was an engaging exercise, with some fine, quite deceptive surfaces. The four Double Definitions are not scintillating, but such rarely are (and the last one’s kind of fun), but a few of the Cryptic … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic 4833, 13 January 2019, by Dean Mayer — Think Twice, It’s All Right”

There were some delights here. I loved 10ac and 24dn, but the standout for me was 15dn – the clue of the year so far for me! (That’s a small sample, it’s true.) I spent … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27246 – Saturday, 12 January 2019. The agony and the ecstasy.”

7:34. No problems this week: nothing too obscure in either definitions or wordplay, the odd minor query here and there but a fun puzzle with some nice touches. Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (THIS)*, … Read more “Sunday Times 4832 by Jeff Pearce”

A middle of the road Saturday challenge, I thought. I did it in bits and pieces, and don’t have an aggregate time to report. My LOI was 19dn, where I had a blind spot thinking … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27240 – Saturday, 05 January 2019. The civility of servants.”

As is traditional at this time of year, the last Sunday Times puzzle to appear before Christmas is a jumbo, and as is also somewhat traditional at this time of year, it’s a bit of … Read more “Sunday Times 4830 by Dean Mayer – Christmas Jumbo”