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DT 26869

gazza — Fri, 18 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26869

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **

There seemed to be a lot of clues in this puzzle where we have to chop off a leading or trailing letter and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I normally do on Fridays. Let us know your opinion.

Toughie 772

gazza — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:43:56 +0000

Toughie No 772 by Beam

A Short Jumper

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

We have an entertaining puzzle from Beam with a few tricky bits of wordplay. Unusually there are no anagrams at all (makes a nice change). For the second day running we have one answer which also appears on the back page – is this the “theme of the week”?

DT 26866

gazza — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:01:01 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26866

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

I don’t know who today’s setter is but he or she has given us an interesting puzzle which is a bit different from our usual Tuesday fare. I enjoyed it – let me know how you got on and how you liked it.

DT 26863

gazza — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:00:02 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26863

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

Giovanni has his trickier hat on today, but this one is well worth persevering with and has some cracking clues. How did you fare with it?

Toughie 768

gazza — Wed, 09 May 2012 11:40:05 +0000

Toughie No 768 by Elkamere

We'll Take That As Red

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

We have a very entertaining puzzle from Elkamere, but with one clue which is bound to infuriate half of the solvers (to be fair Elkamere has made its wordplay about as easy as he could). There is a mini-theme relating to alcohol. I enjoyed it a lot – how about you?

Toughie 766

gazza — Fri, 04 May 2012 11:39:00 +0000

Toughie No 766 by Firefly

What's Your Poisson?

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

We’ve had a game of musical chairs this morning and I’ve ended up in Tilsit’s seat while he’s detained in hospital – get well soon, Tilsit! I wasn’t overly impressed with this for a Friday Toughie. There’s not too much sparkle and some of the clues seem a bit forced. A basic knowledge of French helps.

Toughie 764

gazza — Wed, 02 May 2012 11:17:58 +0000

Toughie No 764 by Micawber

National Elf Service

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

I feel very privileged to be allowed to blog a puzzle of this quality. Humour, clever wordplay and a distinct lack of very obscure words - I loved it – thanks to Micawber for making my day. How did you get on?

DT 26854

gazza — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:00:20 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26854

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***

Today is May Day but we don’t have a theme relating to the International Workers’ Day or to the traditional celebrations such as Morris Dancing. Instead we have several sport-related answers. What did you think of it?

Toughie 760

gazza — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:33:27 +0000

Toughie No 760 by Kcit

Not Much Fizz

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **

I know that it would be asking too much to expect a Dada or Micawber every day but, even so, I did find this one a bit flat with a distinct shortage of ‘penny drop’ moments. What we do have are lots of reversals and container/insertion type clues. I breezed through the top half then slowed up a bit towards the bottom.

DT 26848

gazza — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:00:08 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26848

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

Nothing too difficult today (although there is a pretty obscure American composer, you should be able to get his name from the wordplay and checking letters). We do, however, have a bonus in the form of a Nina with a couple of Quickie-style puns and that earns the puzzle an extra enjoyment star from me – if you haven’t found them look at the bottom of the review.

DT 26847

gazza — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:00:07 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26847

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

Libellule is otherwise engaged today so he and I have done a swap, which enables me to blog a puzzle from our very popular Monday setter. I don’t know about you but I thought that this was a bit trickier than we usually get on Mondays. It has a good supply of the trademark cryptic definitions and I found it very entertaining.

DT 26845

gazza — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:00:08 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26845

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

There’s a shortage of religious references today but otherwise it’s a fairly typical Giovanni puzzle (which means that the wordplay is impeccable). Let us know how you coped with it.

Toughie 756

gazza — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:38:40 +0000

Toughie No 755 by Giovanni

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

I thought that this was a fairly standard Toughie from Giovanni, with perhaps a higher than usual contribution of names (both mythical and real) and places. Let us know how you fared.

DT 26842

gazza — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:00:09 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26842

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **

This one is not too difficult although the omission of clue 28a in the newspaper version may have made it a bit trickier for back-page solvers. I didn’t enjoy it that much – the anagram count is quite high (I have ten As written on my printed sheet) and there also seemed to be a lot of clues where you had to insert or delete single characters. Let us know how you got on.

DT 26839

gazza — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 10:00:03 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26839

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **

Today is Friday the Thirteenth so was this to be an omen for a devilishly difficult puzzle? Well not really – this one is well towards the easier end of Giovanni’s range, although as usual a little bit of general knowledge is very helpful. I can’t say that I enjoyed it a great deal, but I’d like to hear your views.

Toughie 752

gazza — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:09:52 +0000

Toughie No 752 by Myops

Dangers of a Water Shortage

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

I thought that this was a fairly tough tussle for a Wednesday but it was one that I enjoyed battling through, although a few of the clues do seem a bit “clunky”. There’s a theme running through the puzzle relating to a nursery rhyme dealing with the dangers involved in trying to circumvent the hosepipe ban.

DT 26836

gazza — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:00:05 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26836

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

We have a pretty gentle easing back into the daily grind after the Bank Holiday. I don’t think that this will cause too many problems. Let me know how you got on.

Toughie 748

gazza — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:04:11 +0000

Toughie No 748 by Petitjean

A Good Run Out

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

I enjoyed this puzzle from Petitjean and I thought it was pitched at just the right level of difficulty, though its cricketing references may make it a bit trickier for those unfamiliar with the Summer game.

DT 26830

gazza — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 10:00:05 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26830

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

This is a pretty easy puzzle and one which, for me, seemed somewhat mechanical and lacking in sparkle. You, of course, may have thought that it was wonderful – let me know.

DT 26827

gazza — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:00:02 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26827

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

This is a fairly routine Giovanni puzzle with a fair sprinkling of proper names. After last week’s Nina I looked carefully for another (but in vain). Let us know how you enjoyed it.