August 22, 2009 – 12:01 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26014 – Hints
Selected hints by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment: **
The girls are back in town – or at least one of them – and you still need to keep your atlas handy for this Saturday puzzle. The grid is one of those dreadful ones thatonly the Telegraph, among quality dailies, still allows. This is four puzzles in one, joined only by the two long answers.
If you are using CluedUp today, then check the printable version for the correct wording of 9 across. Just why this site can’t handle accented words and randomly drops apostrophes is a mystery.
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them. Peter Biddlecombe’s full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Thursday, 27th August.
August 21, 2009 – 12:00 pm
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2497 – Review
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Yet another winner from our Sunday Setter.
August 21, 2009 – 12:02 am
Toughie No 203 by MynoT
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Last time I reviewed a Toughie from MynoT I said it was “difficult in places, but overall very enjoyable” – this one is very much the same. Some of the difficulties are described below, and if you can help then please leave a comment.
August 21, 2009 – 12:01 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26013
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Beware of what you ask for. After last Friday’s gentle stroll, today’s crossword is certainly not a walk in the park. Today we have a much more difficult crossword, although that does not detract from it’s enjoyment. (Even if the grid is a bit cornery).
Please take some time to enjoy the excellent surface readings.
August 20, 2009 – 12:00 pm
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26008 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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A puzzle of moderate difficulty and the usual Saturday mixed bag of clues …
August 20, 2009 – 12:02 am
Toughie No 202 by Warbler
Look Before You Leap!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Today marks a first for yours truly! I actually agree with the current score given by solvers on Clued Up for the puzzle. It was a pleasant enough puzzle until I came to submit my entry and found I had three wrong answers. One was a typo because of the quirkiness of the entry system which frequently sends the cursor off at the wrong angle, but I also had two wrong answers; both of which were down to not reading the clue properly. Having suitably chastised myself, I entered the correct solutions and was done for another day.
One of those puzzles that would make a good daily challenge, but on the easy side for a Toughie. A couple of clever clues and one or two to make me smile. All in all a nice battle with an amiable setter.
August 20, 2009 – 12:01 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26012
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
I found this puzzle very enjoyable with some excellent surface readings. Please let us know what you thought of it, via a comment, and cast a vote by clicking on one of the stars at the bottom.
As usual, the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets, so that you can just reveal an answer that you need, by selecting the white space, without accidentally seeing other answers.
August 19, 2009 – 12:00 pm
Albie Fiore
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Tilsit mentioned recently that Albie, known in crosswordland as Taupi and Satori, had passed away. His obituary was published in The Guardian yesterday, and today the same paper has published a tribute crossword by Enigmatist and Paul (Enigmatist is better known in the Telegraph as Elgar). There is also a tribute site.
August 19, 2009 – 12:02 am
Toughie No 201 by Cephas
Wednesday’s Child is Full of Woe
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment *
Maybe it is something to do with seeing that black cat chasing a magpie while I was walking under a ladder yesterday. For whatever reason I seem to have been unlucky with the Toughie today. We have a number of cryptic definitions, which, not to beat about the bush, are pretty woeful, and we have several clues where the word order has been manipulated to try to improve the surface reading.
Am I being unfair? Perhaps you loved it – please leave us a comment! And please record a vote for how much you enjoyed it by clicking on one of the stars at the bottom.
August 19, 2009 – 12:01 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26011
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
This is an easy puzzle, which should leave you plenty of time to tackle today’s Toughie from Cephas, our regular Saturday setter. This week there is no surfeit of cryptic definitions, but you do find yourself expecting that if it isn’t an anagram then it might be a hidden word!
You can add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
August 18, 2009 – 12:02 am
Toughie No 200
Opportunity didn’t knock!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
I was expecting something special from this Toughie, but what I got was a puzzle in which the difficulty only came from obscure words and a particularly tricky wordplay.
August 18, 2009 – 12:01 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26010
Brush Up on your (Word) Sums!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Thanks to Gazza for stepping in at short notice yesterday when I remembered that I had a hospital appointment and realised that even I was mortal and couldn’t cram 15 hours of things to do into 45 minutes.
Quite an entertaining puzzle today and a bit of a challenge. The clues were well-written and nicely misleading, and it took me a little longer than I would have liked. There was nothing too taxing in there but a few clues just required a bit more thought than on a Monday. Mostly word-sum types clue, as well.
August 17, 2009 – 12:01 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26009
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Tilsit has a hospital appointment this morning, so I am, as the DJs say, sitting in for him, and he will reciprocate tomorrow.
The Monday Maestro has produced another puzzle with plenty of cryptic definitions to keep us amused. Let us know how you rate it by clicking on one of the stars at the bottom. As always we’d love to get your comments.
August 16, 2009 – 12:01 am
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2497 – Hints
Selected hints by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
I really look forward to Sunday’s puzzle every week. Excellent surface reading has become a characteristic.
August 15, 2009 – 12:01 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26008 – Hints
Selected hints by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment: ***
You still need to keep your atlas handy for the Saturday puzzle, but at least there are none of thos girls’ names to contend with.
If you are using CluedUp today, the quick crossword is a little tricky to find. The one offered up is actually last Sunday’s Quick GK 108, but if you go to the main puzzles screen and click the right arrow, you will find Q 26008.
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