Big Dave's Crossword Blog

DT 26307 – Hints

Big Dave — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:29:10 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26307- Hints

Big Dave's Saturday Crossword Club

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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.

Toughie 398

tilsit — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:09:36 +0000

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.

ST 2456

petebiddlecombe — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:00:47 +0000

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2546 A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + BD Rating – Difficulty tba - Enjoyment tba Peter’s expert review of this puzzle should be available [...]

DT 26306

gazza — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:00:06 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26306 Hints and tips by Gazza + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment *** We have a fairly straightforward challenge from Giovanni today (what I would call a bread-and-butter puzzle rather than a firecracker). Let us know what you thought in a comment. As always the answers are concealed between the brackets under the clues – highlight the space between the brackets to make one visible.

Toughie 397

bufo — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:58:19 +0000

Toughie No 397 by Warbler

Hints and tips by Bufo

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***

Big Dave reckoned that this would be a gentle solve and so it proved. It was a pleasant enough puzzle but far from Toughie standard. There were some answers (10 Ac, 1 Dn, 3 Dn) where I was not familiar with the meaning used, but they were obvious enough from the wordplay.

DT 26301

gnomethang — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:00:40 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26301

A Full Review by Gnomethang

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BD Rating - Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***

Afternoon All!. We have an archetypal Cephas puzzle with no really difficulties but one possible bone of contention at 24d. Personally I enjoyed it, hence the 3 stars.

DT 26305

Big Dave — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:50:52 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26305

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment **

A mundane puzzle from our mystery setter(s). I can't see anyone owning up to this one. Nothing really wrong with it, just lacking lustre.

Toughie 396

gazza — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:47:03 +0000

Toughie No 396 by Shamus A Surfeit of Scribbling + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **** Not for the first time I find myself reviewing a Shamus puzzle two days in a row. As Toughies go this is not one of the hardest and I enjoyed solving it a lot though I found the right-hand side quite a bit easier than the left. Let us know what you thought in a comment, and please remember to grade the puzzle by clicking on one of the stars at the bottom.

DT 26304

crypticsue — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:23:46 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26304

Hints and tips by Crypticsue

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

A fairly straight forward mid week offering from Jay, with the usual number of interesting anagrams and a couple of clues to give you pause for thought, hence my awarding it three stars for difficulty. Although it took me the longest to work out, I am going for 23a as my favourite clue today.

Toughie 395

Big Dave — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:58:20 +0000

Toughie No 395 by Giovanni

Sounds of the Sixties

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

You never quite know which Giovanni is going to turn up when you tackle one of his Toughies. Having said that, it didn't take me long to realise that I was in for a struggle today. The usual smattering of religious references and (almost - see 24a) impeccable cluing produced an excellent puzzle.

DT 26303

gazza — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:00:34 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26303 Hints and tips by Gazza + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + BD Rating – Difficulty **** - Enjoyment *** Two clues turned this Shamus puzzle, for me, from a 3* to a 4* for difficulty – 14a which was the last to go in and which I’d have got much quicker if I’d realised earlier that it contained the one letter necessary to turn the puzzle into a pangram, and 30a which I made much more difficult by foolishly writing in 23d as a noun rather than a verb. Let us know how you got on in a comment. If you need to see the answers, they are hidden between the brackets under the clues. Just drag your cursor through the white space between the brackets to reveal one.

DT 26302

Libellule — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:01:23 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26302

Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty **- Enjoyment ***

One of Rufus' easier crosswords today I think. If I hadn't initially put Victoria in at 2d it would have been a "one or two stopper" to quote Prolixic. But that still doesn't stop it from being entertaining and a fun crossword to do.

ST 2546 (Hints)

Big Dave — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 13:49:57 +0000

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2546 (Hints)

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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Another excellent puzzle from Virgilius - enjoy!

NTSPP – 024 (Review)

prolixic — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:43:37 +0000

NTSPP – 024

A puzzle by Anax

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One of Anax's fortes is his ability to create clues that seamlessly merge definition, wordplay and link words. Looking at one of his clues you can never sure where one part of the clue ends and the other begins. In today's cracker of a puzzle (pun intended), this ability comes to the fore with so many good clues it is difficult to pick favourites. Ones that I particularly enjoyed for the wordplay or surface reading are highlighted in blue.

NTSPP – 024 (Comments)

Anax — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 11:00:48 +0000

Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle - 024

A Puzzle by Anax

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Welcome to the twenty fourth in our series of weekly puzzles.

This week we have another excellent puzzle from Anax.

DT 26301 (Hints)

Big Dave — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 00:59:58 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26301 (Hints)

Big Dave's Saturday Crossword Club

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Toughie 394

bufo — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:45:53 +0000

Toughie No 394 by Elgar Here Comes The Groom + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment *** I have been asked to do today’s blog because Big Dave and several other bloggers are off to London to celebrate Elgar’s wedding. Elgar obviously doesn’t want the rest of us to have an easy time either. I found this very difficult and well worthy of being described as a toughie. In the end I did manage to finish it before having to check a couple of answers in the dictionary. There’s still the odd bit of wordplay that I haven’t quite sorted out and I await enlightenment. And I wonder whether I’ve missed any thematic material. Please 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.

ST 2545

petebiddlecombe — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:00:21 +0000

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2545

A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe

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

A pretty straightforward puzzle after the two thematic Sundays. Not much excitement on the face of it, but we still get very precise clues, and a little bit of novelty at 20A.

DT 26300

gazza — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:40:27 +0000

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26300 Hints and tips by Gazza + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + BD Rating – Difficulty **** - Enjoyment *** If last week’s Giovanni was a pussycat then this one has considerably sharper teeth. It may not be a lion but it’s at least a cheetah. But it is a well-behaved cheetah with Giovanni’s usual impeccable clueing. Tell us what you think of it in a comment! As always the answers are hidden between the brackets under the clues. Highlight the white space between the brackets to reveal. I’m posting this a little earlier than usual because I’m keen to get to grips with the Toughie to find out what Elgar has provided for us on this auspicious occasion.

Toughie 393

tilsit — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:34:24 +0000

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.