April 30, 2009 – 12:02 pm
A full analysis by Big Dave + – + BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **** + – + Sundays may never be the same again! Another very enjoyable puzzle which, although not difficult, leaves you feeling satisfied – unless of course you liked the strange clues and odd construction that used to be the norm!
It seems that the change in style is linked to a whole new approach to the Sunday puzzles in general – although printing one prize puzzle on the back of another is something that the Puzzles Editor should perhaps rethink! I have asked for guidance on the admissibility of copies of prize puzzles, and will let you all know when I get it.
April 30, 2009 – 12:00 pm
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe + – + BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *** The best thing about this puzzle for me was the set of answers – these make a pangram (all letters of the alphabet appear at least once). Some tricky letters appear several times – there are 3 Zs and 4 Vs for example. The bad things for me were a couple of the selections for answers, and some clues that were either not very cryptic or could lead to more than one answer. Some will be delighted to see no obscure place names in this puzzle.
April 30, 2009 – 12:02 am
Hints and tips by Tilsit + – + BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *** + – + Much irritation to start the day, on-line solving access to the Toughie is not available at midnight . As I have no printer access, I have to draw up my own grid and solve from the clues on screen.
There was much to be admired in today’s puzzle, but there were one or two quite major queries for me. I really didn’t like 1 across and I am really unsure of the definition of 12 across. I have also given up on 21 across after it nearly reacted with my sleeping medication to give me hallucinations.
I’d like to nominate 26 across as this puzzle’s entry into Clue of the Week. Certainly made me smile.
Thanks to Firefly for an enjoyable and thought-provoking challenge.
April 30, 2009 – 12:01 am
Today’s hints and tips by Gazza + – + BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment *** + – +
I thought that this was an enjoyable puzzle which had some entertaining and amusing clues without being overly difficult or containing any really obscure words – just what we need for a daily crossword.
April 29, 2009 – 12:02 am
Hints and tips by Gazza + – + BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ** + – +
If you’re not into cricket then you may find a couple of the clues in this one quite tricky. Otherwise it’s a fairly straightforward puzzle.
April 29, 2009 – 12:01 am
Hints and tips by Big Dave + – + BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment *** + – + This morning the CluedUp website is not working very well! You can print out puzzles, but you can’t play them online. Today’s is a typical Wednesday puzzle – not too difficult, and a good mix of clues.
April 28, 2009 – 12:02 am
An enjoyable puzzle, in spite of the Geography lesson! + – + BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment **** + – + Here we have a Toughie from our regular Friday setter. Tougher than the daily cryptics, with one or two words you may have to look up, but very enjoyable. But the French department will cause a lot of head scratching.
April 28, 2009 – 12:01 am
Today’s hints and tips by Gazza + – + BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **** + – +
Today’s compiler obviously thought that we were in need of a bit of a rest after yesterday’s tricky effort, and has produced a very straightforward puzzle, which, nevertheless, has a number of entertaining clues.
April 27, 2009 – 12:01 am
Hints and tips by Tilsit + – + BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment *** + – + A little bit tougher than the last few Mondays with some of the normal cryptic definitions requiring a bit more thought. Today’s was chock-full of double definition clues though.
Quite enjoyable and a fair challenge, so thanks to our Monday Maestro!
April 26, 2009 – 12:01 am
Selected hints by Big Dave + – + BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **** It looks like this change in style is here to stay. Once again we have a puzzle where the level of enjoyment is disproportionately higher than the difficulty. For the weekend prize crosswords I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them. A full analysis of this puzzle will be available at 12.00 next Thursday, 30th April.
Some hints to get you started:
Edition 17 + – + Another weekend and another screwup in the codewords. Is it really that hard to get it right?
April 25, 2009 – 12:02 am
25th April – 1st May + – + This week I thought it would be a bit of fun to select our clue of the week. Nominations are now in, and you can start voting.
April 25, 2009 – 12:01 am
Selected hints by Big Dave + – + BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment * + – + There’s not much I can say about this puzzle,other than this week there are no place names in it. Girl’s names feature twice in the answers and once in the wordplay. If it wasn’t for the self-imposed responsibility of producing some hints for this blog, I would be inclined to stop doing these Saturday puzzles altogether.
Peter Biddlecombe’s full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Thursday, 30th April. I wish him well!
April 24, 2009 – 12:02 am
A puzzle that irritated more than it pleased + – + BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ** + – + It’s been a while since we had a puzzle from Cephas. I found this one to have a few very good clues, but that was outweighed by the not-so-good. Particular niggles include places being clued on words like capital and wordplay which uses unimaginative constructs like inability is the opposite of ability and campaign is campaigner without the “er”.
April 24, 2009 – 12:01 am
Hints and tips by Libellule + – + BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *** + – + Hmm, I did not think this was one of the better Friday crosswords today. However in conversation with Gazza, he seems to think it’s the most difficult one of the week. On the plus side I did learn a new slang term.
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