http://bigdave44.com Putting the words to lights - crossword clues explained in plain English Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:52:48 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://0.gravatar.com/blavatar/46da29e52a3ec1215d8bb625a23710f1?s=96&d=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.png http://bigdave44.com http://bigdave44.com/2012/01/09/dt-26757/ http://bigdave44.com/2012/01/09/dt-26757/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:15:30 +0000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/?p=25863 Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26757

Hints and tips by Libellule

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

Personally I thought this was a bit trickier than usual for a Monday morning, but thats probably me having a bad day. However it was still fun, especially 23a and 14d for example.

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Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***

May I take this opportunity to wish all of the setters, the bloggers and the solvers a happy New Year! A quite enjoyable crossword today, but 11 anagrams?

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Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***

I gave this two stars for difficult today, mainly because I had to think about 27d for a little while. Otherwise an entertaining if not overly cryptic themed (Winter and New Year) puzzle from Rufus today.

]]> http://bigdave44.com/2011/12/26/dt-26745/feed/ 29 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/2011/12/19/dt-26739/ http://bigdave44.com/2011/12/19/dt-26739/#comments Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:51:36 +0000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/?p=25239 Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26739

Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty * - Enjoyment ***

A piece of (christmas) cake!

]]> http://bigdave44.com/2011/12/19/dt-26739/feed/ 54 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/2011/12/12/dt-26733/ http://bigdave44.com/2011/12/12/dt-26733/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 09:45:30 +0000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/?p=25075 Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26733

Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty * - Enjoyment ***

I am not expecting anybody to need the blog today...

]]> http://bigdave44.com/2011/12/12/dt-26733/feed/ 69 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/2011/12/05/dt-26727/ http://bigdave44.com/2011/12/05/dt-26727/#comments Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:00:05 +0000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/?p=24947 Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26727

Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***

Pretty straight forward stuff today from Rufus, but still as entertaining as ever.

]]> http://bigdave44.com/2011/12/05/dt-26727/feed/ 62 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/2011/11/28/dt-26721/ http://bigdave44.com/2011/11/28/dt-26721/#comments Mon, 28 Nov 2011 10:20:05 +0000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/?p=24805 Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26721

Hints and tips by Libellule

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

This crossword from Rufus gets five stars for enjoyment. Because it is 25 years since his first Telegraph crossword was published. So I would like to add my congratulations to what I suspect will be many.

]]> http://bigdave44.com/2011/11/28/dt-26721/feed/ 41 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/2011/11/21/dt-26715/ http://bigdave44.com/2011/11/21/dt-26715/#comments Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:14:56 +0000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/?p=24643 Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26715

Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***

A very enjoyable crossword from Rufus to start the week.

]]> http://bigdave44.com/2011/11/21/dt-26715/feed/ 47 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/2011/11/14/dt-26709/ http://bigdave44.com/2011/11/14/dt-26709/#comments Mon, 14 Nov 2011 09:56:09 +0000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/?p=24513 Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26709

Hints and tips by Libellule

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

Standard stuff from Rufus this morning although I didn't think the cryptic defintions were as good as usual. I also had to do some serious thinking to remember the phrase at 8a.

]]> http://bigdave44.com/2011/11/14/dt-26709/feed/ 78 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/2011/11/10/dt-26706/ http://bigdave44.com/2011/11/10/dt-26706/#comments Thu, 10 Nov 2011 10:34:48 +0000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/?p=24419 Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26706

Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment **

I quite enjoyed doing the crossword, but became more and more cranky about it when I was putting the blog together. In fact so much so that it was a struggle to finish it. It wasn't that the various constructs used in the clues are particularly difficult to extract, but more because the wordplay used seems so repetitive and "bitty". At one point I did start looking for a pangram, but it's not.

]]> http://bigdave44.com/2011/11/10/dt-26706/feed/ 62 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/2011/10/31/dt-26697/ http://bigdave44.com/2011/10/31/dt-26697/#comments Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:17:01 +0000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/?p=24230 Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26697

Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***

What a difference the extra hour makes. I did the crossword in nice bright sunshine this morning. Nowhere near as good as last weeks, but still relatively enjoyable all the same. Favourite clue 28a.

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Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***

After doing yesterday's excellent crossword late in the afternoon sat outside in the sunshine with a glass of wine, I got to do this equally excellent crossword from Rufus this morning in the dark and cold with a cup of tea. I thought this was a bit harder and more trickier than we usually get on a Monday morning but that didn't detract from my enjoyment. Last corner to fall was the NE with 1a and 2d holding me up for a little while.

]]> http://bigdave44.com/2011/10/24/dt-26691/feed/ 108 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/2011/10/17/dt-26685/ http://bigdave44.com/2011/10/17/dt-26685/#comments Mon, 17 Oct 2011 09:12:51 +0000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/?p=23879 Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26685

Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***

A usual Monday crossword from Rufus that should be enjoyed by most. My only niggle is that its a bit of a cornery grid. I will not try to comment on what happened in the semi-final on Saturday, but even in France, the French think the wrong team won.

]]> http://bigdave44.com/2011/10/17/dt-26685/feed/ 33 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/2011/10/11/dt-26680/ http://bigdave44.com/2011/10/11/dt-26680/#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:25:22 +0000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/?p=23683 Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26680

Hints and tips by Libellule

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

A big thank you to Gazza for stepping in to do the blog yesterday. I had to take an "emergency" trip to the dentist after losing a large filling. I quite enjoyed doing the crossword today, but thought it was awkward to write up. Probably due to a lot of clues using the start or end letters of various words.

]]> http://bigdave44.com/2011/10/11/dt-26680/feed/ 56 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/2011/10/03/dt-26673/ http://bigdave44.com/2011/10/03/dt-26673/#comments Mon, 03 Oct 2011 08:54:41 +0000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/?p=23518 Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26673

Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***

A pleasant return to my usual Monday morning slot with a typical crossword from Rufus.

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Hints and tips by Libellule

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

I thought this was a bit trickier crossword than usual from Giovanni (not that it spoilt my enjoyment) and would be interested in opinions. As is usual on a blogging day it seemed to take ages to get access to the Telegraph Puzzles site to both to print a copy and then check the answers. Bah humbug!

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Hints and tips by Libellule

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

There is no need to check your calendars, it is Friday. Gazza needs to do something else this morning, so I am standing in for him. I struggled with this crossword from Giovanni in places and thought it was harder than normal. But that might be down to the blogging pressure and continued fun and games with the Telegraphs crossword site.

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Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment **

An OK crossword today, but not I think Rufus at his best.

]]> http://bigdave44.com/2011/09/12/dt-26655/feed/ 39 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/2011/09/05/dt-26649/ http://bigdave44.com/2011/09/05/dt-26649/#comments Mon, 05 Sep 2011 08:16:20 +0000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/?p=22952 Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26649

Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***

Many thanks to the maestro for my usual Monday mormimg entertainment.

]]> http://bigdave44.com/2011/09/05/dt-26649/feed/ 42 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/2011/08/29/dt-26643/ http://bigdave44.com/2011/08/29/dt-26643/#comments Mon, 29 Aug 2011 08:32:49 +0000 Libellule http://bigdave44.com/?p=22802 Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26643

Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***

A nice straightforward enjoyable solve from Rufus to get the week started.

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