DT 26301 (Hints)

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26301 (Hints)

Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club

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You will probably have gathered by now that the Wedding of the Year was held yesterday – hence the hints being a bit late.

This was me and the missus yesterday (taken by Tilsit):

And this is the happy couple:

I’ve added a few other pics to the facebook page.

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Toughie 394

Toughie No 394 by Elgar

Here Comes The Groom

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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.

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ST 2545

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.

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DT 26300

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26300

Hints and tips by Gazza

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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.

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Toughie 393

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.

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DT 26295

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26295

A Full Review by Crypticsue

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

Cephas gave us a very enjoyable crossword this week – Barrie summed it up nicely “ Very interesting and enjoyable puzzle … very tough in parts… but … an encouraging start” and I can’t think of anything I could say which would describe it up any better than that. My BD rating reflects the difficulty of some of the clues and the fact that we all got a great deal of pleasure from solving the puzzle.

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DT 26299

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26299

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment **

It’s mystery setter time again.  If you don’t enjoy charades, then you’d better give this one a miss!  A couple of good clues get all but drowned out by the rest, but they rescued this puzzle from one-star status.

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.

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Toughie 392

Toughie No 392 by Notabilis

A Mohican in Barnet?

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

Notabilis has given us a thoroughly entertaining puzzle with a good sprinkling of “aha” moments. As always with Notabilis, there seem to be two stages involved in solving the puzzle – firstly finding the answers, and then for a number of clues working out why. Let me know in a comment if you enjoyed both processes as much as I did.

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DT 26298

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26298

Hints and tips by Crypticsue

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

I thoroughly enjoyed this Wednesday’s offering from Jay. A lovely mix of clues, anagrams, hidden words, all-in-ones and even one of those pesky every other letter ones which I am only just (even after all these years) managing to recognise. Thank you Jay for giving me such a nice puzzle to review. I hope you all agree with my opinion and don’t all rush for the 5d! Hard to pick favourite clues today but I will plump for 1d, 17d and 21d.

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.

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Toughie 391

Toughie No 391 by Messinae

An alternative to today’s back page puzzle!

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

A gentle “Toughie”, as is usual from Messinae.

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.

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DT 26297

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26297

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

We have a pleasant solve from Ray T today – possibly a shade easier than we’ve come to expect from him (but still not as easy as today’s Toughie!). Let us know what you think by leaving a comment, and please don’t forget to click on one of the stars at the bottom.
For those who need some answers, they are hidden between the brackets under each clue. Highlight the space between the brackets to reveal.

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NTSPP – 023 (Review)

NTSPP – 023 (Review)

A Puzzle By Prolixic

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Good Evening All! Prolixic has given us another very enjoyable puzzle for the NTSPP series. I found slightly tougher than his last but there is nothing really problematical that I can see having reviewed it a few weeks after test solving it. Read More »

DT 26296

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26296

Hints and tips by Libellule

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

The usual gentle Monday morning runout, although I thought this was a bit trickier than usual in places, but there are plenty of clues to get you started.

The answers can be revealed by highlighting the space between the curly brackets.

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ST 2545 (Hints)

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2545 (Hints)

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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No theme this week!

Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.

Peter Biddlecombe’s full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Friday, 23rd July.

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NTSPP – 023 (Comments)

Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 023

A Puzzle by Prolixic

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

This week we have another puzzle from Prolific Prolixic.

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