Toughie No 328 by MynoT
Weights and Measures
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment **
I can’t pretend that I enjoyed this puzzle very much. In fact it was a bit of a slog with a fair few obscure words and not many laughs. You may, of course, disagree – we’d love to get a comment with your views.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***
The usual great stuff from Jay – and I don’t want to hear any excuses from the Clueless Club today.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***
I always look forward to Warbler’s puzzles, but felt that this one was not as good as the previous one. We know that she can set harder puzzles as she was responsible for last Sunday’s Enigmatic Variations No 908.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26201
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
I expect that this Ray T puzzle will divide opinion (as they usually do). I enjoyed it but it did (as they usually do) necessitate regular use of Chambers. Your comments, as always, are very welcome.
If you’re new to the site and wondering where the answers are, they’re hidden so that you don’t see them accidentally. Select the white space between the brackets under a clue to reveal the answer.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
An easy outing! Actually I solved this crossword while travelling in a public transport known as autorikshaw on public thoroughfares here in Madras that is Chennai, India, to fulfil a private engagement in a different part of the city away from my home.
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The usual few hints to get you started.
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Anax says that he wanted to create a puzzle magazine crossword that they would consider a “mega-tough” cryptic puzzle. He wisely added, “we all know that what passes for mega-tough in a puzzle mag is probably on the easy side for solvers of quality daily newspaper cryptics. So here was the challenge; how advanced could I make the clues while sticking to the notion that they were to be not quite as hard as it might say on the tin?”
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Welcome to the seventh in our series of weekly puzzles. If you were wondering about the title, this is puzzle no. 007.
Anax is experimenting once more. This one should be medium difficult, say four stars. See if you agree.
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A few hints to get you started.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ****
This puzzle has a grid that looked a bit scruffy but grew on me after I looked harder – every word length from 4 to 12 is included, and 11, 12 and 13-letter words can easily be under-used, so 3 of these is a good feature. And of course someone who contributed to the Times puzzle’s exemplary set of grids is not going to give us one with isolated sections or under-checked words. Quite a tricky puzzle by Sunday standards, taking me about as long as an average Times cryptic.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** - Enjoyment ****
A quick glance over the clues, and this puzzle seemed to have Elgar written all over it, albeit without the linked answers and smattering of numerical grid references. On solving, many clues had that close-to-the-edge risk factor to convince me even more. And it turns out I was completely wrong. What an aficionado I am.
So, you might think I enjoyed this, and (unlike a Jeremy Clarkson sentence starting with those same words) you’d be right. There’s lovely, imaginative stuff all over the place, coupled with some real challenges that took a lot of unravelling.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26198
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
We have a fairly tough challenge from Giovanni today (with three words which were new to me) but all clued in his usual, impeccably fair way. Let us know your thoughts on the puzzle by sending a comment, and please remember to grade the puzzle on how much you enjoyed it by clicking on one of the stars below.
The answers are in the review, but hidden so that you don’t see them by accident. To see one, drag your cursor through the white space between the brackets under the relevant clue.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Another enjoyable puzzle from Cephas with some clever clues and only one or two to make you suck your teeth. I especially liked 18 across, which was a nice anagram, but suffers from a lack of an anagram indicator. One of the difficulties I have with the Telegraph puzzles is the preponderance of cryptic definitions and while the good ones are very clever, there are a lot of less than satisfactory ones about. 15 across today is a good one.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment **
A workmanlike puzzle that left me wanting something more exciting, especially coming straight after yesterday’s tour de force.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment **
An improvement on last Thursday’s, but I am still can’t get over excited. There are some good clues here, and some good surface readings, but the crossword on the whole is pulled down by the large number of its “same” style of clues and a general lack of inventiveness. Anyway “tant pis” as they say over here in France.
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