April 30, 2010 – 12:26 pm
Toughie No 346 by Firefly
Bit by bit
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A pretty straightforward solve today and one of those rare occasions when all corners of the grid were filled at about the same pace. Three stars each pretty much sums it up – a good, solid puzzle with no fireworks but (almost) no complaints either – just a couple of things that looked marginal; 16d but only for pedantic reasons, and 17a which looks a little wrong.
I did notice that several clues made use of initial letters; it didn’t grate, but as the puzzle went on these became easier to spot as I was half expecting them.
April 30, 2010 – 12:00 pm
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2533
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment *****
Less difficult than last week, but I think still a notch harder than most of the puzzles written in the early days of Brian Greer’s spell as the Sunday setter. Most interest here is probably in the two long answers, but there’s plenty to talk about elsewhere.
April 30, 2010 – 11:00 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26228
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
I thought that this Giovanni puzzle was on the hard side with two answers (25a and 24d) that I’d never heard of (although, to be fair, both were reachable from the checking letters and wordplay). However, I did have to look up the meanings of both, which is fine if you have reference books and Google handy, but not so fine if you’re trying to solve the puzzle on the move. What do you think? – as always we’d love to hear your views.
For those who need to see an answer or two, they are here between the curly brackets under the relevant clue – just select the space between the brackets to reveal.
Rufus hits 1,000!
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On Bank Holiday Monday Roger “Rufus” Squires has his 1000th puzzle published in the Daily Telegraph. To mark the occasion there is an article about him on page 29 of today’s paper. If you can’t get the paper, you can read the article here, just click the picture of Roger:
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26223
A full review by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Although there are a number of weakish clues, this prize puzzle is not too bad.
Toughie No 345 by Giovanni
Hints and tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Apologies for the lateness, a variety of reasons, I’m afraid.
A Curate’s Egg of a puzzle today with a fair smattering of new from our Friday Favourite. There were some clues I liked, but one or two that I thought not up his usual high standard. I’m not keen on the grid, as there’s only one way into each corner.
April 29, 2010 – 11:00 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26227
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
A much better puzzle tody from one of Thursday’s mystery setters. I almost feel deprived as there is nothing much to complain about!
April 28, 2010 – 12:21 pm
Toughie No 344 by MynoT
Alphabet Spaghetti
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
MynoT always has something clever in his puzzles and, having failed to notice the message around the periphery in his last puzzle, I was determined to spot the trick this time. He does give us a good hint in 6a – as well as producing a pangram containing all 26 letters, he has placed each letter in alphabetical order in the answers, so that 6a-26a in turn contain A-M and 1d-21d contain N-Z. As I usually do with MynoT’s puzzles, I found this one tough going, with my man Chambers on overtime, but there was a sense of satisfaction when the final answer went in.
Let us know what you thought of it in a comment.
April 28, 2010 – 11:26 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26226
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
For me this was a harder than usual puzzle from Jay. The Northeast corner caused most problems, but as is usual in such cases, it’s difficult, in retrospect, to see why.
Toughie No 343 by Warbler
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi Tuesday!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Today’s enjoyable romp with Warbler was not over-taxing, but did include what were, for me, a couple of new words.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26225
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***- Enjoyment ****
We have another very entertaining Ray T puzzle today. Apart from the very strange coincidence of 20a (which is obviously not down to the setter, and which I’m sure we’ll hear more of) there are a number of really entertaining clues. For those who can never get started on Ray’s puzzles (Good morning, Barrie) could I suggest that some easier clues to get into the puzzle are 10a, 15a, 24a and 4d.
As always we’re very keen to get your thoughts and opinions, so please keep the comments coming.
The answer to each clue is concealed between the curly brackets beneath it – just drag your cursor through the white space between the brackets if you want to reveal the solution.
April 26, 2010 – 10:35 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26224
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***- Enjoyment ***
Another not overly complex crossword from Rufus today, with the usual smooth cluing and sprinkling of generally amusing double and cryptic definitions. Favourite clue – probably 5d. Was it me or did anybody else think this crossword was a bit “cornery”?
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2533 – Hints
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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A few hints to get you started.
NTSPP – 011 Review
A Puzzle by Anax
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Anax promised us a gentle stroll through a cryptic crossword. This was the case. In style, it was firmly within the Daily Telegraph crossword tradition and should be approachable for all levels of ability.
Unusually for an Anax crossword, there were a few clues that I thought were a little on the weak side. I have highlighted these below.
April 24, 2010 – 12:00 pm
Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 011
A Puzzle by Anax
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Welcome to the eleventh in our series of weekly puzzles.
Anax makes his first appearance after his debut in the FT this week. Three down and two to go!
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