Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26091
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
We have another entertaining puzzle from our usual Friday setter. With most puzzles you find at least one or two surface readings which are a bit “iffy”, but Giovanni always produces beautifully smooth clues. I think that today he has a given us a puzzle which treads a fine line by being within the reach of novice solvers whilst posing enough of a challenge for the more experienced.
We always appreciate getting feedback from you, so if you’ve never left us a comment before, now is the time to introduce yourself!
As usual the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets – if you want to reveal one, just select the white space inside.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26086
Undoing the Good Work
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
After the previous week’s encouraging puzzle it was normal service resumed with this week’s Saturday offering. So much so, that I dashed it off and it was quickly forgotten.
It’s sad to me that puzzles like this should be in when the Friday and Sunday setters produce so much better work. Most other papers treat the Saturday puzzle as the crowning glory of the week and you get a puzzle with a bit of a challenge. I am sad that this is not the case with the DT. I wouldn’t mind one of these once a month with the others perhaps rotating.
This is a hotchpotch of a few decent clues drowned by some that one wouldn’t expect to find in an on-the-shelf puzzle magazine.
I know I may be a lone voice in this, but I just feel that those who wish to improve their solving can do so on a Friday and Sunday with beautiful constructions and ideas that challenge and stretch where on a Saturday some of that is sacrificed for the sake of surface reading of a clever clue. Perhaps in the setter’s defence, it may be a brief to which he has been asked to work, but if so, it needs to be revisited, in my opinion.
At least the grid had no double unches!
As usual, I would welcome you telling me I am a lone voice, or agreeing with me and you can do so. Feel free to rate the puzzle by the star system. As the deadline has passed Saturday answers are not hidden away in the brackets.
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53.740718-2.012274
Toughie No 254 by Warbler
Grounded!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I feel a little disappointed today. I normally find Warbler’s puzzles to be entertaining and witty, but this seemed a bit flat and pedestrian. Can’t put my finger on it, and although Warbler’s puzzles are generally at the easier end of the Toughie scale, they are normally still decent.
The Grid was also a bit of a let down with only one way of getting into each corner, which is a bit unfair, in my opinion.
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53.740718-2.012274
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26090
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Another normal Thursday offering from J. Except this time I have a couple of quibbles over the quality of a a few of the clues. 11a, 21a and 5d for example. What did you think?
If you can’t work out the answers from the hint, then you can reveal them by highlighting the space between the curly brackets.
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Toughie No 253 by Cephas
It’s All Greek to Me
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
I thought that this puzzle was a bit of a mixed bag – some really enjoyable clues but a few cryptic definitions which are just not very cryptic. We also have a few cricket references which are guaranteed to annoy some solvers. How did you find it? – let us know via a comment.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26089
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Tilsit is unable to review today’s puzzle, but he will be back here tomorrow with the Toughie.
When I solved this crossword I quite enjoyed it, but once I sat down to analyse the wordplay I must admit to being less than impressed with a few of the clues. For example most setters try not to use the same indicator twice in a puzzle but here we have “up”, a dubious anagram indicator at the best of times, in two of the across clues.
Leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post. And don’t forget that the answers can be revealed by highlighting the space between the curly brackets.
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52.254523-2.266838
Toughie No 252 by Giovanni
Oodles of Fun
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
If you enjoy doing the Friday normal cryptic, then I recommend you try this one. Its a bit more difficult than what you would normally find on a Friday, but it is an accessible Toughie. There is enough to get you started, and then you can enjoy working through the rest of this well crafted crossword.
As usual if you wish to leave comments, please do so. If you are looking for the answers and can’t work out what the answer is from the hint or explanation, then highlight the letters inside the curly brackets.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26088
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
If you’re so minded there’s a lot to complain about in this puzzle – double unches by the bucketload and a plethora of proper nouns, both in the clues and the answers. In spite of all that I have to admit that I quite enjoyed it – it’s an example of how a puzzle does not have to be very difficult to be entertaining. Let us know your thoughts via a comment – as always we appreciate hearing your views, and we extend a special welcome to those leaving a comment for the first time.
As usual the answers are hidden so that you cannot see them accidentally – just highlight the white space inside the curly brackets to reveal them.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26087
Hints and tips by Rishi
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Today Rishi joins us as a guest blogger and he hopes to be with us most Mondays. He will be familiar to followers of Derek Harrison’s Crossword Centre Forum (see the link in the sidebar) and he has also contributed to Fifteensquared. I’m sure you will all welcome him and appreciate looking at today’s puzzle from a different perspective. BD
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I have pleasure in blogging (from Madras that is Chennai, India) on our Monday Maestro’s crossword.
I am familiar with Rufus’s clueing technique from regularly solving his syndicated puzzle that appears in a local paper. I have solved DT crosswords in paperback collections but without knowing the authorship of the puzzles.
I have seen the DT crossword reproduced in a lesser-known upcountry paper but I don’t know if it still appears in it.
The answers below are hidden so that you don’t see them until you want to. Select the white space inside the curly brackets beneath the clue and the answer will unfold itself.
If you disagree with any interpretation of mine, there is the Comments section where you can have your say.
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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2510 – Hints
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
More excellent fare from Sunday’s Supremo. As I have said before, this puzzle is worth the price of the Sunday paper all on its own.
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 Friday, 19th November.
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52.083651-2.274418