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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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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
This week I was held by a couple of the long answers for a few more moments than usual. Take 8d for instance. Living in the tropical region, I didn’t know of that device, though I know the two words that go to make up the phrase. In 28a, I had to disabuse my mind that William = Tell before the answer stuck to me. As for 7d, well, we in India too have bond, and, oh yes, bind (“Gita, what’s it? Wait a minute…”) but it may not be band, it is ‘thali’ which only women wear round their neck to signify that they are married and the man has nothing to show! In 12d, I had to decide that the word outside is CHINAS, not CHINA.
I enjoyed solving this crossword despite a couple of clues that we have seen in the same or almost similar form (e.g., 13d, 16d) in the past.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Today I finished the bottom right quadrant first and then the other three in an anticlockwise direction from there.You can guess how it happened. The eye landed on the last Ac. clue which is an anagram. Reading the Dn. clues for each of which a crossing letter had been obtained got more. And so the whirlijig went.
Usually some reservations are expressed by commenters on this blog about four-letter words but in this crossword most of them should pose no difficulties.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
In this neat and gentle crossword by our Monday Maestro I first secured bottom left corner and then bottom right. The very last to go in were 9a, 10a, 3d and 7d. For excellent surface reading I like 31a and 20a. If there is a clue that I don’t like it’s 10a. Please see comment at appropriate place below.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
This crossword was certainly not on the ‘easy’ side. Let me unabashedly confess that I had a slow start and at one stage I had the following clues yet to go: 1a, 11a, 14a, 25a, 29a and 31a and 2d, 3d, 7d, 21d, 22d and 27d. You will notice that among these are some anagram clues! In the notes below I will try to say what gives a twist of hardness to some of these.
I generally say that the Monday crossword gives a gentle start to the week. This time it may not have been so gentle, but let me assure you that it is a very pleasant solve and we marvel at the superb cluemanship of our Monday Maestro.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
A gentle, pleasant start to the week.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
None-too-difficult crossword.
Of the clues that may hold you for a while are 9a, 18a and 21a and 3d, 4d and 23d. Did I say ‘hold you for a while’? Sorry, I should have said they were the latter ones that I solved. For, the experience of each solver differs according to his/her interests and I daresay RU fans would have got 4d quicker than I did. Do tell us in the Comments section whether the final answers of yours were different from those mentioned above.
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I didn’t have much difficulty nor did I take much time with this puzzle. For me this was a ‘toughie’ in the sense that in some four or five instances the annotation didn’t come immediately upon getting the answer from all or part of wordplay. As for 1d, I had to go looking for the confirmation of the definition ‘useless’. So my engagement with the crossword extended for a while after completing the puzzle in fully interpreting the stubborn clues.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26158
Hints and tips by Rishi
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A none-too-difficult puzzle except for a couple of clues such as 31a and 16d that require a literary background and 2d and 4d that are from ancient history.
As usual answers are within the curly brackets and to see them you have to drag the cursor across the white space.
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.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***/**** – Enjoyment ***
I am giving three-and-a-half stars for difficulty rating to this crossword by our Monday maestro as wordplay in many clues is decidedly not-so-easy.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Neat, clean, delectable – some words to describe today’s offering from our Monday maestro. Most of the clues are easy. Some have slightly tricky bits of play.
At one stage I had six clues to go. They were: 28a, 30a and 8d, 21d, 26d, 27d. Of these, the very last to go in were 30a and 26d.
The clues that I liked most are: 9a, 11a, 18a, 5d, 15d, 20d, 25d – all of which have smooth surface reading.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
A gentle start to the week. With 1a, one plunges into the crossword.
At one stage I had these to go: 15a, 18a, 19a; 4d, 7d, 15d, 20d, 23d.
The very last were 4d, 7d, 23d.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A crossword that is mostly easy but also with some half-a-dozen clues which may hold you up for some minutes until you see light. Among the last to go in were 23a, 28a and 31a and 8d, 16d, 18d,21d and 27d. Do enter a comment to say if one man’s poison was another man’s (or woman’s) meat.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A crossword with some excellent clues but also some which raise questions or don’t satisfy me completely.
To see the answers, highlight the white space between the curly brackets.
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.
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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.
 | Lea on DT 26780 (Hints) |
 | annB on DT 26780 (Hints) |
 | Pookie on DT 26778 |
 | Big Dave on DT 26780 (Hints) |
| Lea on DT 26780 (Hints) |
 | moose on DT 26780 (Hints) |
 | Heno on Toughie 714 |
 | Prolixic on DT 26780 (Hints) |
 | SpikeyMikey on DT 26780 (Hints) |
 | Tmdess on DT 26779 |
 | andy on DT 26779 |
| andy on DT 26779 |
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