Comments on: Comment – Sep-Dec 2009

By: Big Dave

Big Dave — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:59:43 +0000

Welcome to the blog Ian

Thanks for your kind words.

By: Ian Caeter

Ian Caeter — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:33:04 +0000

I’m a dedicated Telegraph crossword solver and can usually complete the “normal” cryptic puzzle. Recently I’ve started to do the Toughie and only a few days ago I found your website. I have found it a real help, and many thanks to you and everone who contributes to it. A very happy new year to you.

By: Big Dave

Big Dave — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:41:46 +0000

Welcome to the blog Leon (I missed your comment a couple of weeks ago)

By: Leon Stalker-Clarke

Leon Stalker-Clarke — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:38:00 +0000

26,123
I found this extremely difilcult, but eventually succeeded.

By: Prolixic

Prolixic — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 10:57:13 +0000

Big Dave,

Merry Christmas to you and Gazza, Libellule, Tilsit, Peter, Rishi and Anax and a big thank you for all your contributions and blogs over the past year. Hope that you have a peaceful and joyful Christmas and a very happy New Year.

Seasons greetings also to all the contributors who make this site such a hit and to the setters for all the fun they have brought to us. Lastly, Merry Christmas to Phil McNeill as crossword editor.

God bless you all!

By: Big Dave

Big Dave — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:26:48 +0000

Paul

Welcome to the blog and thanks for the kind words. I think Tilsit meant as a comment on the post itself, but don’t worry I’ll make sure he sees it.

By: Paul Howarth

Paul Howarth — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:19:51 +0000

Hi Big Dave – thanks for all the help this year from Paul & Issy. Have a great Christmas! For what it’s worth my clue attempt for Crossword 26119 – 8a is:

“Holy bed in which I became a sign”

By: Big Dave

Big Dave — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:32:19 +0000

Tony

Thanks for pointing that out, it’s now sorted. The next job will be to add a year to everyone’s age in the biogs!

By: tonyp17

tonyp17 — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:38:27 +0000

Have you thought about updating your Introduction page which speaks of passing 250,000 hits rather than approaching 700,000 as you now are.

You provide such wonderful support to all of us attempting the various Telegraph crosswords.

When I have time to review the blog I am amazed at how much I learn.

By: Lea

Lea — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:26:29 +0000

Like it – thanks for the addition

By: Big Dave

Big Dave — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:09:38 +0000

I wondered whether to put up a post to explain, but thought I’d leave it to you to work it out.

The theme change is mine, the snow is a WordPress feature that can be turned on/off until Jan 4th.

By: Prolixic

Prolixic — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:51:19 +0000

Like the Christmas theme though looking at the bottom of the page after a rather nice Christmas lunch, I did wonder if I had overdone the liquid aspect until I realised that there were snowflakes as part of the theme and it was not spots before my eyes!

By: Big Dave

Big Dave — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 09:16:03 +0000

Welcome to the blog Chris, from “up over” !

By: Chris Barlow

Chris Barlow — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 08:46:32 +0000

What a wonderful blog. It is just what I need to help me get to grips with the Telegraph crossword. I live in NZ and get the weekly expat telegraph which features the cryptic crossword and sometimes the prize crossword from the daily editions. I look forward to exploring the blog.

Thanks from down under.

By: Len Stalker-Clarke

Len Stalker-Clarke — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:21:56 +0000

22a had me stumped for a period, but after a couple of ciggies, I finally sorted my head.

By: mary

mary — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:48:41 +0000

ref: 2508 – good morning everyone – really enjoyed todays – even though i still needed lots of help from Chambers dictionary – got stuck on two 21d and 26a – didn’t like them even when i got the answers – loved 22a, good luck fellow ‘clueless club’ members!

By: Edi

Edi — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:26:40 +0000

Many thanks for that BD.

By: Big Dave

Big Dave — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:09:42 +0000

A pangram is a puzzle that uses all 26 letters of the alphabet. Strictly speaking it’s a sentence like “the quick brown fox”.

A Nina is a hidden message, usually in the unchecked letters. This is based on artist Al Hirschfield’s practice of hiding his niece Nina’s name in his pictures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Hirschfeld

By: Edi

Edi — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:00:04 +0000

Afternoon all. i have been in self imposed exile this week but still managed to pop in and see how you are doing.

Two questions before i start saturday’s prize xwrd.

Firstly to Cephas: What is a Pangram? (DT 26,068)

Secondly to Tilsit : What is NINA? and what does it stand for? (Toughie 240)

If anybody else reading this can shed some light i’d be grateful.

By: NathanJ

NathanJ — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:50:56 +0000

Hi all

Greetings from Australia. Just finished RayT’s puzzle (number 26,070) in my lunch break. After having had a disaster with his puzzle from two weeks ago, this one was far better for me. I really liked 17 down – great clue with an excellent surface reading. This puzzle represents Ray Terrell in top form – really well-crafted clues. What does everyone else think?