Last Times Quick Cryptic of 2021

Times Quick Cryptic No 2039 by Breadman

We have reached the last Quick Cryptic of the year, so Happy New Year to all our solvers and setters when it comes tonight. Our setter today is Breadman and I found this mostly straightforward apart from my last one in - the English river, which I hadn't heard of. Eventually I put my trust in the wordplay and was relieved to see all green. COD to 17D for the great surface. Thank-you Breadman. I was finished in a time of 4:40, my fastest of the week. I think it's definitely a lot easier than yesterday's Izetti, but how did you all get on?

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword, "Goodbye 2021 and Hello 2022" here. Enjoy! If anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to all 41 here.

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Weekend Quick Cryptic 41 - Goodbye 2021 and Hello 2022 by Johninterred

Click here to read about the origin of this series of crosswords.

A brief history of the origins of these crosswords for those who are new to them. As a blogger of the Times Quick Cryptic Crossword on Times for The Times every other Friday, I have often had comments on the blog bemoaning that The Times only provides a Quick Cryptic on Mondays to Fridays. When I finally gave up work at the end of February last year, I decided that I would try my hand at compiling crosswords. It was with some trepidation that I published, in May, the first of these Weekend Quick Cryptics to fill the gap. Well it seemed to go down well so I did another. And then my fellow crossword solver and commenter on Times for the Times, Phil Jordan, volunteered to produce some too. And then, more recently, so did Sawbill. So now the three of us take turns, publishing each new crossword via my Friday Quick Crossword blog. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.

This time it is my turn to provide the fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic crossword, published at the end of 2021 to be solved in the first weekend of 2022. If you are solving on Saturday I hope you don't need any 16A first!

Art Workshop

Yesterday Aunty Sue arrived for a short visit.... So now we were 7... and were running out of beds. Laura had brought her art materials with her. No challenge this time, just a free-for-all and Aunty Sue joined in.

Needham Market Walk

The rain was easing off again, so a chance to get out for a bit of a walk. Aunty Sue and Laurence had never been to Needham Market before, so a short walk there before lunch would suit.

A Piece of Pie

Boxing Day dinner... and we had masses of roast turkey leftovers. Fortunately I had a plan. I'd seen this recipe on BBC Good Food as a suggestion and thought it sounded quite tasty.

Lavenham Boxing Day Walk

The weather was pretty miserable, but the rain got lighter mid-morning so we decided to go for a short walk. Laurence hadn't been to Lavenham before, so we thought we'd do a short walk based on this Suffolk Threads brochure, which I'd done previously in November last year (see here)... but omitting the railway line bit as it was likely to be more muddy than somewhat.

Christmas Eve Sea-front Walk

It has become a family tradition that I take the "kids" to Felixstowe on the morning of Christmas Eve to keep out of Dawn's way as she gets the house ready for Christmas.

Blackthorpe Barn and Rougham Walk

Today's was the last group walk of the year for Joyce's Weekly Walks. This was the invite..

Times for the Times Christmas Crossword

It is a tradition that had lapsed and people were bemoaning that, so Isla3 (who is in Western Australia - we are a global community!) decided to volunteer to get one done this year. I was asked if I could help with the publishing and ended up helping with the editing too. This was the original announcement...

Drizzly Long Melford

Yesterday as Laura was visiting, I thought it would be good to take her (and her brother and sister) out for a bit of a walk. I decided a repeat of this walk in Long Melford would do the trick.

Art Challenge

Since finishing her Ph.D. Laura has had some time to do some painting (including producing the mouse mats she gave us recently). One of her pictures framed is shown above.

Last night she and Sarah played an Art Challenge game, and Dawn joined in.

Another Mara Quick Crossword

Times Quick Cryptic No 2029 by Mara

Today I got my second Mara Quick Crossword in a row to blog. It's another good one, and I enjoyed savouring the clues as I compiled the blog. We are treated to a rare reverse cryptic type clue, which was my COD. I hope it didn't baffle too many. My LOI was 16D where I hesitated over the 3rd letter. One or two other tricky clues might cause some head-scratching (is 23A true for you?), but I finished in 5:03. Thank-you Mara. How did everyone else get on?

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is Sawbill's turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword here. Enjoy! And if anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to them here.

( Read all about it... )

Christmas Lunch Party

Today Joyce's Weekly Walks group had a pre-Christmas celebration. This was the invite.

Weekend Quick Cryptic 40 - by Sawbill

Click here to read about the origin of this series of crosswords.

A brief history of the origins of these crosswords for those who are new to them. As a blogger of the Times Quick Cryptic Crossword on Times for The Times every other Friday, I have often had comments on the blog bemoaning that The Times only provides a Quick Cryptic on Mondays to Fridays. When I finally gave up work at the end of February last year, I decided that I would try my hand at compiling crosswords. It was with some trepidation that I published, in May 2020, the first of these Weekend Quick Cryptics to fill the gap. Well it seemed to go down well so I did another. And then my fellow crossword solver and commenter on Times for the Times, Phil Jordan, volunteered to produce some too. And then, more recently, so did Sawbill. So now the three of us take turns, publishing each new crossword via my Friday Quick Crossword blog. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.

This time it is Sawbill's turn to provide the fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic crossword. 

Jungle Mouse Mats

Laura had a gift for us when we met on yesterday's walk. She had created these Jungle picture mousemats herself. Lovely! Thank-you, Laura!

Marriott's Way

Today we had a walk through Norwich and along part of the route of the old Midland and Great Northern railway, known as Marriott's Way.

In Search of a Murmuration

 It was an early start this morning...

Quick Crossword of the Year?

Times Quick Cryptic No 2021 by Mara

It's my turn to come off the blogging team substitutes' bench again today for this crossword of the year - or is it just the year of the crossword? Yes, we've reached Quick Cryptic number 2021! But it's nothing particularly out of the ordinary, just a regular neat QC from Mara today, although it was only when writing the blog that I noticed how many double definitions we had in the Down clues. I liked the dastardly Spanish supporter, but COD to 17D; is it a reference to sleaze perhaps? My LOI was 24A being slightly puzzled at first by who is hugging what. You need to take care to identify the definition correctly in 13D. Otherwise, there doesn't seem to be much to frighten the horses. Well not to me, anyway, as I got through this 4:31. Thank-you Mara. How did the rest of you get on?

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Ed's Real Leaving Do

I got a message on a Jumbo crossword post on my blog...

An easy Jumbo Crossword

Times Cryptic Jumbo 1527 - 20th November

I found this Jumbo very straightforward, taking only 24 1/2 minutes, which is possibly my fastest, maybe because, for once, there was nothing unknown. But it was no less fun for that. Clues that got ticks on my paper copy included 8D, 21D 39D and 44D. I also enjoyed the reference to one of my favourite French composers and, with a first degree in Metallurgy, the two metals. Thank-you setter. How did everyone else get on?

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Inverness and a Train to Edinburgh.... and Beyond

On my way home after Aunt Iris's Funeral yesterday I first had a little tour of the city before catching the train to Edinburgh...

Quick Crossword with a hidden message by Corelli

Times Quick Cryptic No 2019 by Corelli - Yes I saw Lisa

A lovely middle-of-the-road quick cryptic to end the week from Corelli that took what is, for me, an average time of about 5 1/2 minutes. A few trickily disguised definitions caused me a bit of head-scratching... and might for others too. COD to 6A for the dig at President Vlad.

Noticing that our setter was Corelli, I remembered that previous crosswords had some sort of theme. My suspicions were aroused when I got to the seemingly random girl's name at 16D which got me wondering... So what did I find? After you've tried looking for yourself, click on the link below to see (and hear). Nice one Corelli! Thank-you! And thank-you also for the reminder that "we're not as smart as we'd like to think we are". How did you all get on?

What I found

In the grid we have LUCKY STARS by DEAN FRIED.. MAN (over two lines) and DENISE MARSA (with a right-angled turn up at the end). No I didn't remember it. Did you? You can hear the delightful 1970s duet here.

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is Phil's turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword here. Enjoy! And if anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to them here.

( Read all about it... )

Goodbye Aunt Iris

Yesterday I was in Inverness for the funeral of my Aunt Iris, Dad's elder sister, who had her 90th birthday earlier this year.

Weekend Quick Cryptic 39 - by Phil Jordan

Click here to read about the origin of this series of crosswords.

A brief history of the origins of these crosswords for those who are new to them. As a blogger of the Times Quick Cryptic Crossword on Times for The Times every other Friday, I have often had comments on the blog bemoaning that The Times only provides a Quick Cryptic on Mondays to Fridays. When I finally gave up work at the end of February last year, I decided that I would try my hand at compiling crosswords. It was with some trepidation that I published, in May, the first of these Weekend Quick Cryptics to fill the gap. Well it seemed to go down well so I did another. And then my fellow crossword solver and commenter on Times for the Times, Phil Jordan, volunteered to produce some too. And then, more recently, so did Sawbill. So now the three of us take turns, publishing each new crossword via my Friday Quick Crossword blog. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.

This time it is Phil's turn to provide the fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic crossword.