I have just turned fifty and live on the edge of the Pennines in Hebden Bridge. I have lots of interests including compiling and solving crosswords and quizzes, playing bridge and soccer referee assessing.
Toughie No 398 by Osmosis
C’mon Everybody!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** - Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Calderdale Hospital once more, my second home. I was rushed here yesterday following advice from NHS Direct the previous evening that nothing was wrong and to take two Paracetamol and go to bed.
I logged in at midnight to tackle today’s challenge and found it quite stern and well up to the usual Osmosis standard. Luckily I finished his recent Independent challenge only the other day and was able to lock in to the tight standard of cluemanship with beautifully concealed definitions. I still found it a good workout.
Toughie No 393 by Kcit
Going through (Spaghetti) Hoops!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ****
A fine Thursday puzzle by Kcit with a good set of challenging clues beautifully written with nice surface readings. The answer to 1 across appeared in DT Cryptic 26263 last month, which I also blogged.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to wish my dear friends John H (Elgar / Enigmatist / Nimrod) and Jane T (Jetdoc) all the best on the occasion of their wedding tomorrow. I hope to be at the reception and look forward to toasting their health and happiness, along with many crossword friends.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26269
Hints and tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I suspect this has the hand of Campbell all over it. Very similar to his puzzles in the FT and Toughie. Not the hardest of puzzles to solve, and I suspect that many of you will feel contented at solving this. There’s nothing too contentious here, although a couple of cryptic definitions brought about some tooth-sucking. Cryptic definitions to me are almost an acquired taste. When I’m compiling, I probably use one per puzzle, but for some setters they are the main clue-type. Rufus is far and away the Master of such definitions, but even he occasionally brings about a bout of dental slurping.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26263
Hints and tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
A bit of a curate’s egg today with a couple of interesting and challenging clues, plus a number of very hackneyed ones: 9a, 11a, 22a, 1D, 20d and 24d. As I’ve said before, there will be some of you who have never seen these before, but 11 across was one of the first clues I ever solved in a crossword at some tender age.
I also wasn’t keen on a couple of clues, as you’ll see in the narrative. Overall I thought it rather easy for a Thursday and probably just about suitable for the Telegraph daily.
Hints and tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***
A pleasant enough stroll for a Thursday morning, very friendly for newer solvers, and very reminiscent of the Everyman puzzle from the Observer newspaper, presumably the same setter. Setting these puzzles does require a particular skill, despite what many may think, and our compiler today demonstrates this very well.
Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 014
A Puzzle by Prolixic & Tilsit
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Welcome to the fourteenth in our series of weekly puzzles.
This week we have a timely puzzle jointly compiled by Prolixic and Tilsit.
Toughie No 351 by Excalibur
Four Letter Words!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
A routine puzzle from Excalibur, which had too many four letter words for my liking. There was a bit of a glitch with the grid in that 7 down was missing, but this should be corrected by now.
I have never heard of the phrase at 32 across, despite having played the game for over 25 years and play to a reasonable standard. I liked the cryptic definition at 8 down but after last Friday’s splendid challenge, overall this didn’t really give me the same buzz. Shame really.
Toughie No 350 by Notabilis
Five Star Brilliance
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
Having had a very late night on Electionwatch and trying to make sense of the whole thing. I was grateful to Notabilis for giving me something to take my mind off things. This was a magnificent puzzle, with fine tough cluing leading to a considerable amount of satisfaction as the last answer entered. Anagrams are suitably masked and Notabilis is not afraid to use unusual words in the subsidiary indications. However, I am afraid that several clues defeated me.
As usual, have your say after the blog and tell us how you rated the puzzle with the star system. New visitors should know that the answers to the clues are hidden between the squiggly brackets and you should highlight the space to see the solution.
Off we go.
Toughie No 349 by Messinae
Hints and Tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
I’d have probably said this was a 2 ½ for difficulty, absolutely right down the middle. Delightfully exact cluing in a similar way to Giovanni and a few to make you smile as you solve.
As usual, have your say after the blog and tell us how you rated the puzzle with the star system. New visitors should know that the answers to the clues are hidden between the squiggly brackets and you should highlight the space to see the solution.
Off we go.
Toughie No 345 by Giovanni
Hints and tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Apologies for the lateness, a variety of reasons, I’m afraid.
A Curate’s Egg of a puzzle today with a fair smattering of new from our Friday Favourite. There were some clues I liked, but one or two that I thought not up his usual high standard. I’m not keen on the grid, as there’s only one way into each corner.
April 22, 2010 – 10:00 am
Toughie No 341 by Citrus
After the Lord Mayor’s Show
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***
Following on from Micawber’s terrific puzzle yesterday was always going to be difficult, but this almost feels at the other end of the scale. It’s certainly harder that most daily puzzles but the truth is that you could probably dash 85% of this puzzle off fairly quickly with the remainder just words that you’ve probably never heard of. The clues are nicely written and sound, but not to the Toughie standard and far too many anagrams.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26220
Today’s The Day!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***
Right, before we start, let’s get something out of the way!
Happy Birthday to
Big Dave
From
All the bloggers,
posters,setters
and visitors
to this wonderful site!
|
There, oh, and Happy Birthday to Libellule. And Happy Birthday to that woman who lives in Buckingham Palace who shares a birthday with our glorious leader!
Back to matters cruciverbal! It’s a nice puzzle from our Wednesday Wizard who has written some good solid clues that hopefully most of you will find accessible. One or two grumbles though, which are contained in the analysis. However, if you hit a brick wall, the hints and tips below should help, and if you get really stuck, the answers are contained within the squiggly brackets; you should highlight them with your mouse to reveal all.
April 15, 2010 – 10:00 am
Toughie No 337 by Messinae
The Straights of Messinae
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ****
A nicely constructed puzzle that contains one or two tricky little challenges that meant I probably spent a little more time on it than normal. The clues are beautifully constructed and have good surface readings. Thanks to Messinae for an enjoyable solving session.
April 10, 2010 – 12:00 pm
Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 009
Spot the Links by Tilsit
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Welcome to the ninth in our series of weekly puzzles.
Ages ago, before the start of this series, Tilsit promised to write a puzzle for the blog. Well, at long last here it is!
There is a theme, which is particularly appropriate for this weekend (I’ll say no more before I give the game away). What I will say is that you must read the preamble before starting – if you don’t you may finish up scratching your head for quite a while.
Toughie No 333 by Notabilis
Sheer Elegance!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** - Enjoyment *****
A terrific end to the week from one of my favourite setters and a puzzle that actually is worthy of the title of Toughie. Some delicious clues to make your mind go into overdrive, but all extremely fair. I also encountered a couple of new words that I was unfamiliar with and needed a check in Chambers to make sure.
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