Category: Weekend Cryptic

I have every expectation that some of the infallible wits here will come up with some clever remarks about some of these clues, where I have utterly failed. But honestly, it all seems a bit … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic 4801, by David McLean — Getchyer marketing cream here”

No flora or fauna – how excellent! Strangely I knew the rock at 10ac, no doubt from crosswords. This was a steady solve until I got down to four or five missing in the top … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27054 – Saturday, 02 June 2018. Meaningful spelling reform needed?”

13:21. A pretty straightforward puzzle by Dean’s standards this week. The word at 20ac was only very vaguely familiar, and I don’t remember coming across the River Nene before, but everything else was within my … Read more “Sunday Times 4800 by Dean Mayer”

I struggled with this one, but I suspect more because of household stresses than its intrinsic difficulty. In retrospect it looks like a typical Saturday puzzle. My last ones in were the four clues around … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27048 – Saturday, 26 May 2018. Easy for some?”

Hi, y’all! I am honored to have been asked to fill an alternate-Sunday slot here. The puzzle for my inaugural effort seems rather easy, with a large number of clues being very simple and short … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic 4799, by Jeff Pearce — Atonal of love”

This was a quick solve – done on paper in about 20 minutes. Despite that, all the clues felt suitably challenging. A number of clues exposed knowledge or vocabulary gaps without slowing me down unduly. … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27042 – Saturday, 19 May 2018. Woman’s Work.”

17:18. I felt I made very heavy weather of this. I solved about half of it very quickly indeed, but then slowed to a crawl. Broadly speaking I found the north-east a lot easier than … Read more “Sunday Times 4798 by David McLean”

This was fairly straightforward. I struggled a bit with the salad ingredient at 17ac – not rugola, of course – but otherwise progress was steady. The long anagrams down the left and across the bottom … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27036 – Saturday, 12 May 2018. Rugola salad?”

Reluctantly I have informed Vinyl that I need to stand down from this blogging gig (and also my QC slot).  I’ve recently taken on a new job which is all-consuming (I really should know better … Read more “Sunday Times 4797 by Dean Mayer”

Some very obscure Greek words here. Thanks to the setter for expanding my horizons, but give me scientists any day! My clue of the day was 26ac – I just “went for it”. Clues are … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27030 – Saturday, 05 May 2018. All Greek to me.”