A full analysis by Big Dave + – + BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **** + – + This was the most enjoyable Sunday puzzle in a long time. It’s hard to explain how one relatively easy puzzle is more satisfying than another – it has a lot to do with the “smile factor” 
that you get when you have solved a particular clue.
Monthly Archives: April 2009
ST Cryptic No 2480 – Review
April 23, 2009 – 12:02 pm
DT Cryptic No 25906 – Review
April 23, 2009 – 12:00 pm
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe + – + BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *** + – + A mixed bag this one. The grid has a distinctive Telegraph style to it, with the longish answers at 12, 13, 18, 21 placed in the middle of the grid rather than at one side, and quite a few double unches. But it mostly comes up smelling of roses, with fair checking all round and very generous 80% checking for the 10-letter answers. The only niggle is that we get 12 four-letter words.
Toughie No 134
April 23, 2009 – 12:02 am
Hints and tips by Tilsit + – + BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ** + – + Greetings from the hospital again! I have quite enjoyed solving on line with the Telegraph site, something I didn’t do prior to admission. Indeed my collection of 50+ pencils in their very own kidney bowl is a constant source of amusement to the nurses and worry to the Doctors, who feel I may have a touch of OCD. The fact that when I am admitted to hospital, the first thing I pack every time is my Chamber’s and Bradford’s is another worry for them too.
My initial solving reaction was that I quite enjoyed it, but as I have begun to look deeper, I find quite a few things that both trouble and irritate me.
DT Cryptic No 25910
April 23, 2009 – 12:01 am
Today’s hints and tips by Gazza + – + BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ** + – +
It’s St. George’s Day and Shakespeare’s birthday so the puzzle will be full of allusions to celebrations, dragons and bardic quotations, won’t it? Well no, unless you count one measly mention of a flag!
Toughie No 133
April 22, 2009 – 12:02 am
Hints and tips by Gazza + – + BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment **** + – +
This is a fairly tough Toughie with a few obscure words. I liked some of the clues and disliked others, but the whole thing was certainly an enjoyable challenge.
DT Cryptic No 25909
April 22, 2009 – 12:01 am
Hints and tips by Big Dave + – + BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *** A very straightforward puzzle that I found quite hard, but on looking back I can’t see why. Maybe too much vino yesterday!
Toughie No 132
April 21, 2009 – 12:02 am
A Potpourri of a Puzzle + – + BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment **** + – + This puzzle draws on a wide variety of words – two cities, a Scottish town, a Shetland fire festival, food and drink, a lake, an American President and a type of railway. All of the proper nouns are well-known apart from the fire festival, but I enjoyed reading about it.
Today is the big day when I am entitled to collect my pension, so it is a bit hectic here at the moment! The hints and tips may take a litle while to complete, but I will get them done.
Meanwhile, here are the answers – BigBoab should be OK with 21 and 27 across today, no excuses will be accepted!
DT Cryptic No 25908
April 21, 2009 – 12:01 am
Today’s hints and tips by Gazza + – + BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **** + – +
This is another fine Tuesday crossword, made up entirely of single-word answers. It contains some excellent and amusing clues and a number of clever attempts at misdirection. For those readers who have not read BigDave’s excellent FAQs, note that the white space between the curly brackets actually contains the answer – double-click on it and all will be revealed!
DT Cryptic No 25907
April 20, 2009 – 12:01 am
Hints and tips by Tilsit + – + BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment *** + – + Greetings to everyone from my local hospital. Unfortunately I was readmitted in the early hours of Saturday morning and am likely to be here for a few days yet. Rather than overload Big Dave with more work, I thought I’d try a slightly different approach.
I am a bit of a night-owl at the best of times, so I thought I would sign in to the Telegraph website, Clued Up, just after midnight, solve the puzzle on line and make notes, as I have no access to a printer. Three different browsers and 40 minutes later, I finally managed to get the crossword to load using Safari web browser.
A fairly enjoyable puzzle with a couple of superbly clever clues, but I also have one reservation in that I think you could technically make a case for either spelling of the word required at 5ac. As well as the usual smattering of clever cryptic definitions, I really liked 26 across as a nice neat clue, 10 across likewise. On the other hand I couldn’t see anything other than a single definition at 3 down and I’m not sure about 16 across, I have offered my interpretation below.
Thanks to our Monday Maestro for his usual challenge and I hope to see you all later in the week. Thanks to Big Dave for his assistance with posting this.
ST Cryptic No 2480 – Hints
April 19, 2009 – 12:01 am
Selected hints by Big Dave + – + BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **** + – + For me,this was the most enjoyable Sunday puzzle in a long time. It was also proof that a puzzle doesn’t have to be fiendishly difficult to give satisfaction. Yes, it has one place name, but that place is both very well-known and uniquely defined by the wordplay.
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, 23rd April.
ScrewedUp News – Apr 18
April 18, 2009 – 12:00 pm
Edition 16 + – + While the main crosswords have been fairly reliable recently, apart from DT 25899 which was labelled as 8155 online for quite a while, problems with codewords persist.
DT Cryptic No 25906 – Hints
April 18, 2009 – 12:01 am
Selected hints by Big Dave + – + BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ** + – + Just as I thought things were getting better it’s back to the bad old ways. This weeks proper name count is five – two places, two boys and one girl. The usual few hints to get you started.
Peter Biddlecombe’s full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on St George’s Day – Thursday, 23rd April.
Toughie No 131
April 17, 2009 – 12:02 am
A sweet puzzle from Citrus! + – + BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment **** + – + A very enjoyable puzzle that took longer to complete than I thought it should, but then hindsight is always 20/20 vision!
DT Cryptic No 25905
April 17, 2009 – 12:01 am
Hints and tips by Libellule + – + BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment *** + – + Another generally enjoyable Friday puzzle, but a bit more complicated today, than it has been for a while.
ST Cryptic No 2479 – Review
April 16, 2009 – 12:02 pm
A full analysis by Big Dave + – + BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *** + – + As I wrote last Sunday, I found it a little easier this week – on a par with the average daily puzzle. My feedback, private and public, is mixed but generally in favour of the change in style.
Click here & select Favorites to Bookmark in your browser
Admin
Big Dave
bufo
crypticsue
Digby
Falcon
gazza
gnomethang
Jon88
Libellule
pommers
Prolixic
tilsit