Big Dave is a retired IT Consultant who lives in the beautiful Worcestershire village of Hanley Swan.
Toughie No 1173 by Osmosis
It’s a Cracker!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Tilsit is unavailable today and I have spent most of the morning sorting out the site, including a raft of problems (at the blogging end) introduced by the WordPress upgrade and a rogue plugin (the Guestbook one, now disabled) that used up over 5gb of the 6gb available. The hints are here, albeit a little late.
As is usual with Osmosis it took longer to fully resolve the wordplay than it did to complete the puzzle.
April 17, 2014 – 11:00 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27466
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ****
Ray T tests our vocabulary like no other setter in this very enjoyable puzzle.
Sloggers and Betters 11
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| What? |
The 11th “Sloggers and Betters” gathering for crossword setters and blog contributors and readers will take place in London, following on, as in previous years, from the annual lunch for Times setters. |
April 13, 2014 – 12:00 pm
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2739 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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There’s a new Monthly Prize Puzzle available right now – can you solve the mystery?
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a number of the more difficult clues and provide hints for them.
April 10, 2014 – 11:00 am
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27460
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
The only problem I had today was the minute or so that I spent on the wordplay for 13 down before the penny dropped. This lifted the difficulty to just inside a two-star rating.
Toughie No 1166 by MynoT
Over, Under, Sideways, Down
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
A fairly benign offering from Mynot, which features apposite answers on the four sides.
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2738 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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There’s a new Monthly Prize Puzzle available right now – can you solve the mystery?
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a number of the more difficult clues and provide hints for them.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27456 (Hints)
Big Dave’s Crossword Club
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There’s a new Prize Puzzle available today – why not accept the challenge and solve the mystery?
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, an assortment of clues, including some of the more difficult ones, have been selected and hints provided for them.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27454
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Mindful of recent comments about difficulty ratings, I still think this is easier than a normal back-pager and is definitely one of Ray T’s easier puzzles. All of the usual features are here – the Queen, initial letters, hidden words, a homophone, touches of innuendo and a total lack of two-word answers.
Toughie No 1162 by Giovanni
Religious Instruction
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Giovanni provides some religious knowledge in today’s puzzle – a minor hold-up in the north east corner was my only problem.
