Category: Weekend Cryptic

I had a pretty much crossword-free Christmas for various reasons, and didn’t get around to this one until Thursday evening. The brain must have been quite fresh though, because after a very slow start (only … Read more “Saturday Times 26604 (Christmas Eve)”

I would normally wait a week to post this, but the solution to this puzzle has already been published so I’ll just go ahead, now that I have a little bit of time in which … Read more “Sunday Times 4726 by David McLean”

A leisurely unhurried 10:33 on a print-out so this was definitely at the easy end of the spectrum. Mostly very straightforward wordplay so not too much to say about it below. Hats off to the … Read more “Saturday Times 26598 (17th Dec)”

11:56, slowed down considerably by a justifiable but wrong answer at 7dn, which made the unknown (to me) painting at 20ac difficult to get. Eventually I realised that the anagrist didn’t contain an E so … Read more “Sunday Times 4724 by Jeff Pearce”

Wow, that was sort of a stinker and sort of not. I solved it last Sunday on paper but had numerous interruptions, as I was on call and got called a lot! Maybe 30 mins … Read more “Saturday Times 26592 (10th December)”

An enjoyable puzzle from Harry which I managed to complete in a couple of leisurely sessions interspersed by an outing to the cinema to see ‘Paterson’, which I thoroughly recommend as an off-beat but charming … Read more “Sunday Times 4723 by David McLean”

Solving time 16:05, which seemed a bit slow until I saw some of the times on the Crossword Club stats. It felt even slower to me as I was stuck on the last 3 or … Read more “Saturday Times 26586 (3rd Dec)”

I normally try to do these blogs soon after solving the puzzle. At the very least I will make a start, which generally means reading through the clues to make sure I understand everything and … Read more “Sunday Times 4722 by Dean Mayer”

Solving time 12:30, so on the easier side. There were a few very easy clues in amongst this lot, e.g. 1D, 29A – and a few that could be written in fairly confidently without having … Read more “Saturday Times 26580 (26th Nov)”

An enjoyable solve over a few beers sitting in a pub garden in Sydney, where I’m currently doing a couple of weeks work and also catching up with old mates. Overall some pretty straightforward fare … Read more “Sunday Times 4721 by Jeff Pearce”