December 31, 2009 – 12:02 am
New Year’s Eve Toughie No 277 by Elgar
2 + 9 = 15
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ****
Elgar gives us yet another treat and a completely unexpected theme linking all of the answers. All answers contain at least one instance of the letters RE, which are ignored in the wordplay – except for 10a, which is odd (unless I’m missing something). The first number in brackets refers to the number of letters used in the wordplay.
My favourite clues are shown in blue (although it feels like a slightly odd thing to do – normally I’d highlight such clues only if they adhere to standard cryptic format).
For the utterly bamboozled, answers are shown within curly brackets – click and highlight to reveal them. And please chip in and let us know what you thought of the puzzle.
December 31, 2009 – 12:01 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26125
Hints and tips by Libellule
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
An enjoyable crossword to end the year (at least I thought so), with a bit of a themed New Year crossword. How many references can you spot?
December 30, 2009 – 12:02 am
Toughie No 276 by Excalibur
Liquorice All-Sorts
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Firstly, thanks to Big Dave for stepping in and doing my Cryptic review yesterday – it’s amazing how the loss of one’s broadband link for just 24 hours produces withdrawal symptoms!
Today’s puzzle is by the setter who polarises opinions more than any other Toughie setter. While I don’t think this is a great puzzle and it’s not really Toughie standard, it is nevertheless a distinct improvement on the ones we were getting from this setter 6-9 months ago – most of the surface readings are reasonable and we’re now getting less of the convoluted word order which were a feature of previous puzzles.
December 30, 2009 – 12:01 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26124
Winding Up or Down the Year
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Another gentle wind-down towards year’s end in keeping with the recent run of daily puzzles, which seem to be finding a good level for solvers. I am sure that most of the regulars will find this acceptable. There were a few really nice clues, but a couple of weak ones. These seem again to be the cryptic definitions.
If I have one wish for this particular puzzle in 2010, it’s that our setters will not try to outdo each other by trying to come up with smarter and smarter cryptic definitions. A good cryptic definition will come naturally and push all the right buttons, but I believe that far too many are forced and demonstrate a lack of adventure and thought on the part of the setter.
December 29, 2009 – 12:02 am
Toughie No 275 by Giovanni
On Yer Bike!
(or If you think you have 26ac, you probably haven’t!)
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty **** - Enjoyment ****
A solid start to the last week of Toughies for 2009 with Giovanni giving us his usual elegant style to test us. A nice mixture of the teasingly simple through to one clue whose answer I was almost convinced that Clued Up had got wrong until I used TEA and found an alternative that I had not heard of before. Indeed, Had I not had Clued Up today, I would have gone away thinking that I had the right answer. More of that in a while.
As usual, we would love to hear your thoughts, so let us have them by using the form at the end of the blog. Newer posters should note that it can take a little while for first posts to appear as they are always moderated to prevent spammers. You can also rate the puzzle using our star system, which I would venture is a little more accurate that the Clued Up system, as I haven’t managed to fathom theirs out yet.
December 29, 2009 – 12:01 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26123
Hints and tips by Big Dave
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***
It looks like we can look forward to a week of very gentle puzzles, if the pattern for yesterday and today is continued. Perhaps this is to be Clueless Club week!!
Gazza’s new broadband connection has broken, so I am filling in for him today (and Tilsit is doing battle with the Toughie).
December 28, 2009 – 12:01 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26122
Hints and tips by Rishi
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Today’s crossword by our Monday Maestro is mostly easy but there are also a few difficult clues that yield themselves only after we consider them for a while.
As usual, the answers are whitened. If you want to see any, please select the space within the curly brackets. Wordplay is explained in such a way that, if one wishes, one might work out the answer oneself before proceeding to uncover the solution.
December 27, 2009 – 12:01 am
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2516 – Hints
Hints and tips by Big Dave
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ****
A pleasant post-Christmas puzzle to solve while eating the left-over turkey!
December 26, 2009 – 12:01 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26121 – Hints
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***
I hope you all enjoyed Christmas yesterday and that you are not suffering from a hangover this morning.
One Saturday Cephas will fool us by setting a puzzle that is not a pangram, but not yet! This one is relatively easy, but with one or two slightly tricky clues. The construct used in 16 down will be unfamiliar to many of you as it is usually only found in the more difficult Toughies.
December 25, 2009 – 12:00 pm
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2515
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment *****
Not too surprisingly, this puzzle has a seasonal greeting and many seasonal answers and clues – only five clue/answer combinations have nothing to do with Christmas or midwinter, by my reckoning. I went slightly astray by guessing a wrong continuation of the greeting in 28A, but this didn’t hold me up for long. There’s a fair number of very easy clues and a bit of repetition (one = I occurs at least three times) but the entertainment and theme is worth it. The message is repeated from me, especially if you should be reading this on the day when it’s scheduled to appear, with the addition of “, bloggers, setters and editors”. Now go back to your family and/or friends!
December 25, 2009 – 10:00 am
Christmas Day Puzzles
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
I was rather disappointed to find out that the promised “free” access to CluedUp today appears to be via the 7-day trial, which is available for the other 364 days of the year as well. I wouldn’t want anyone to miss out on these excellent puzzles, so you can download them here in pdf format.
December 25, 2009 – 12:02 am
Toughie No 100001 by Elgar
Christmas Streamer
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty **** - Enjoyment ****
This is a marvellous piece of crossword construction by a superbly entertaining setter. As we’ve come to expect there is a smattering of rule bending but we wouldn’t have it any other way, and the rewards are spectacularly good. With so many answers contributing to the message it’s inevitable that a couple of obscurities have crept in, but that didn’t spoil the fun for me.
The message itself takes up no less than 12 grid entries – in order, 20d, 12a, 28a, 15d, 10a, 1a, 17d, 5a, 21a, 30a, 16a and 9a – a mighty achievement and you’ll see how these placings pretty much forced everything else into place. The message forms the first lines of a poem by George R Sims.
My favourite clues are shown in blue – how do they compare with yours? 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.
A Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.
December 25, 2009 – 12:01 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 100001
Happy Christmas, Everybody
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
On this festive day there are, of course, no newspapers printed, so this puzzle exists only in cyberspace on the Clued Up site. I understand that it should be available even to non-subscribers, but I cannot verify this.
Based on a comment left by Rufus earlier in the week, we can take it that this is another of his, so that for the second day running the Maestro has produced a gentle puzzle with a seasonal theme, designed no doubt with the thought in mind that many solvers may have partaken of a small sherry and may not be in the best shape for deep thought.
I hope that you are all enjoying a peaceful and happy Christmas, and if you do have time to leave us a comment, we’d be delighted to read it.
December 24, 2009 – 12:00 pm
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26116
A full analysis by Big Dave
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ****
One of the best Saturday Prize puzzles for quite a while has no answer of less than six letters. Most of the recent puzzles from Cephas have been pangrams – that is all 26 letters of the alphabet are used – and this one is no exception.
December 24, 2009 – 12:02 am
Toughie No 274 by Elgar
Christmas cracker!
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ***** - Enjoyment *****
Seasonal Greetings from the snowy Calder Valley!
An absolutely stunning festive puzzle from Elgar today, which not only features a special Christmas favourite as the theme but a rattling good set of clues to boot. Only one clue I have a bit of a grumble about but I can see what our setter is aiming at with it. A couple of new words to me as well, but that’s all part of the fun of solving a Toughie. If you are really, really stuck, there’s a big hint at the very end of the puzzle.
As a chum of Elgar’s I am probably a bit biased, but this shows a compiler at the top of his game and why he is often regarded as a “setter’s setter”. I am already looking forward to his next one which may well be lurking around Clued Up tomorrow. Don’t forget that you can have a free week’s trial this week, so do make sure you get the two special puzzles on the site tomorrow. If for any reason you miss them, I am sure one of the nice bods around these parts may oblige!
Click here & select Favorites to Bookmark in your browser
Admin
Big Dave
bufo
crypticsue
Digby
Falcon
gazza
gnomethang
Jon88
Libellule
pommers
Prolixic
tilsit