October 2013 – Page 7 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie 1060

Toughie No 1060 by Messinae

14-Letter Anagram Day

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Today’s four 14-letter anagrams succumbed more readily than last week’s 15-letter anagrams. This led to a quick problem-free solve. I don’t particularly like all the long answers in a puzzle being clued by anagrams but I suppose it makes up for yesterday’s anagramless puzzle.

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ST 2710

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2710

A full review by gnomethang

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BD Rating – Difficulty ****Enjoyment ****

Morning All! We had a slightly trickier puzzle this week but it was packed with some really smooth and beguiling clues. My puzzle of the week.

 

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DT 27299

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27299

Hints and tips by Falcon

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BD Rating – Difficulty **/***Enjoyment ***/****

Greetings from Ottawa where we have been experiencing an unseasonably warm spell of weather for the past two weeks. Alas, the weatherman tells us that our good fortune is soon coming to an end with cooler temperatures and rain forecast for the weekend.

We have an uncharacteristically tame offering from RayT today. However, he has included his signature reference to Her Majesty. I was well on my way to a ** solve (in terms of difficulty) until the final handful of clues pushed it close to *** territory. It was still an enjoyable solve — even without the customary level of raunchiness.

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Pushing the boat out in Manchester (Update October 2013)

Crossword Masterclass in Manchester

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Guardian setter Boatman has sent this update:

“I can take just one or two more people on my Manchester Masterclass on Saturday 16 November – let me know as soon as possible if you’d like to be one of them.

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Toughie 1059

Toughie No 1059 by Beam

An Anagram-Free Zone

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment **

No anagrams today but an awful lot of clues requiring us to cut out or add in single characters. I didn’t think that this was one of Beam’s more inspired puzzles – it seemed to lack much of his usual tongue-in-cheek humour.
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DT 27298

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27298

Hints and tips by scchua

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Having spent a bit more time on the NW corner, after smoothly sailing through the rest, I’d give this a 2*/3* for enjoyment.  Thanks to Jay.

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Toughie 1058

Toughie No 1058 by Petitjean

A piece of (fruit)cake

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Not one of Petitjean’s more difficult puzzles, which is presumably why it ended up in this Tuesday slot.

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DT 27297

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27297

Hints and tips by Deep Threat

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BD Rating – Difficulty **/***Enjoyment ***

Good morning from South Staffs where the day has begun grey and overcast.

This one started quickly, then I ran into some trouble in the SE corner, which pushed the solving time just to the border of *** difficulty for me.

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