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.
[I should have noticed - but didn't - that the puzzle has a capital theme based on 1a.]
Let us know what you thought and please take the time to record your enjoyment factor by clicking on one of the stars below.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26857
Hints and tips by Digby
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***/**** – Enjoyment ***
A bit of a re-shuffle in Bloggingland, unfortunately caused by Tilsit being detained at the NHS’s pleasure, affords me another turn in the Hot Seat. My first effort at blogging – back in the balmy days of January – was a Giovanni puzzle. I commented then that “We have a nicely balanced puzzle today from Giovanni. A good mix of difficulty and clue construction (including a couple of “old chestnuts”) that should please everyone”. Déjà vu all over again?
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26852
A full review by gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Morning All! We have a pretty standard Saturday puzzle here. I liked it although it lacked a bit of bite in my opinion.
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Toughie No 765 by MynoT
One ‘ell of a puzzle
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
MynoT continues to work his way through the alphabet in this puzzle and has now reached the letter L. It was a fairly gentle solve with the four 13-letter anagrams and the presence of the L’s adding to the gentleness.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26856
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
As this is definitely not one of Ray T’s puzzles, the sporting and music references (and the slightly harder-than-usual Quick crossword) suggest that Petitjean is today’s setter. Let’s hope he chooses today to leave his second comment on the blog, then we’ll know for sure.
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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?
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26855
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Ottawa where April showers are extending into May. Pommers is traveling and apparently somewhat cut off from the Internet. However, I am sure he is closely following – and no doubt concerned by – the recent play of United. As for my sports obsession, the Ottawa Senators have already been knocked out of the hockey playoffs here in North America.
Apparently I get the honour of piloting the new blog site on its maiden run. Let’s hope I fare better than the captain of the Titanic.
Today we have a puzzle that is easily recognizable as a Jay creation. It did take me a bit of time to get started. However, once I had established a beachhead, I was able to make steady progress.
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Brave New World
A leap into the dark!
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After having availed myself of the free hosting on WordPress.com, I have decided to take the plunge into unknown territory and transfer the hosting of the site to Evohosting, based here in the UK. This transfer should take place soon after midnight BST, in time for a fresh start in the morning.
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Toughie No 763 by Petitjean
A Day at the Movies
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
No “slightly mad” hat needed for this Petitjean puzzle. How many of you got the wordplay to 25 across without looking it up? I certainly didn’t.
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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?
If you want to reveal an answer just slide your cursor through the space between the curly brackets under the troublesome clue.
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April 30, 2012 – 12:16 pm
Down with ‘anagrinds’
Keep jargon at bay
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Not being a regular visitor to the Guardian website I have only just noticed Hugh Stephenson’s recent newsletters. Hugh is The Guardian’s crossword editor.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26853
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***
This seems to be a lot more straight forward than Friday’s, so I don’t expect much use of the hints today.
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April 29, 2012 – 11:59 am
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2637 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the more difficult clues and provide hints for them.
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Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 116
A puzzle by Donk
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A new name joins the ranks of the NTSPP setters. When you’ve been solving cryptics for as long as I have, it is good to try new setters’ puzzles and I thoroughly enjoyed Donk’s first NTSPP and hope we see more of him soon.
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April 28, 2012 – 12:00 pm
Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 116
A Puzzle by Donk
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Welcome to the latest in our series of puzzles, which have now been running every week for over two years.
Those of you who follow the DIY COW clue writing competition will have some idea of what to expect from Donk’s first NTSPP puzzle. For others there is a real treat in store!
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