Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27063
Hints and tips by Deep Threat
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Happy New Year from South Staffordshire, and welcome to the first blog of 2013.
I went to bed fairly promptly after seeing in the New Year, knowing that I had this blog to write. As it happened, I got a remarkably early start, having been woken at 4 a.m. by flashing blue lights outside as the fire brigade and paramedics attended an incident in a nearby house. Being somewhat short of sleep may account for the fact that I found the top half of the grid held me up for a while, hence the *** marking.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27062
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
I enjoyed this themed puzzle from the maestro this morning, as it brightened up what is a dull cold day south of the Loire. I particularly enjoyed unravelling 17 and 24d. What did you think?
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27061 (Hints)
Big Dave’s Crossword Club
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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, an assortment of clues, including some of the more difficult ones, have been selected and hints provided for them.
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Toughie No 901 by Micawber
That Was the Year that Was!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
Greetings from Nether Wasdale! I am away on a week’s holiday, but couldn’t resist bringing you the annual offering from Micawber reviewing the year’s news. As usual, it’s a lovely offering that makes you smile and brings back some of the characters that hit the headlines in 2012 (though I suspect a certain Elgar will be disappointed his hero Silvio hasn’t made an appearance).
I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a belated Merry Christmas and a really Happy New Year. Thanks to everyone involved in bringing this lovely site to life and especially Big Dave for all his work in keeping it running. A special word of appreciation though to Mrs BD (aka the lovely Pam) for putting up with His Nibs! I shall be back regularly after my break once I have got on top of my Open University course and one or two other things. Speaking of our glorious leader, I must thank him for nudging me on a few of these explanations that baffled me!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27,060
Hints and tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty **– Enjoyment ***
Gazza has very kindly offered me the chance to do an on-the-day blog – if it is raining as much in Devon as it is in East Kent, I hope he has opted for the long lie-in rather than the early dog-walking option!
You always know what to expect on the back page of the paper on a Friday morning, and the final Giovanni of 2012 turned out exactly as expected with a good mix of clues, with a couple of chances to smile and some which I know are bound to give rise to comment!
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Toughie No 900 by MynoT
Please let this not be the start of yet another series!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
MynoT has left his alphabet-themed crosswords behind him – or has he? In this one all but one of the answers contain a particular vowel and the one that doesn’t sort of indicates the fact.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27,059
Hints and tips by Prolixic
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ****
Pommers is having a well earned rest from his local watering hole so I have the pleasure of blogging today’s crossword. This has all of the hallmarks of a Ray T crossword with the trademark innuendo (not an Italian suppository), a reference to his favourite group, Queen, and all of the clues in the Quick Crossword being single words. As usual, there is lots to enjoy with a Ray T crossword. My favourite clues are highlighted in blue.
The definitions are shown underlined in the clues. Answers can be revealed by highlighting the words between the curly brackets.
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 No 899 by Notabilis
Theme for Today
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
We have an excellent themed puzzle from Notabilis based on what we in the UK call today (I’m not sure which other parts of the world use the same name). The difficulty level which you experience with this may depend on how familiar you are with the names of pugilists. When I was growing up I was quite interested in following the noble art (listening under the bedclothes to commentaries from the USA at 3 a.m., for example) but I lost interest when four or five different organisations all started having their own world champions, so I’m pleased that many of our names today are from several years ago.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27058
Hints and tips by scchua
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Firstly thanks to Dave for covering for me while I was away. Also, a (belated) Season’s Greetings for a Happy New Year to one and all on this blog. Today, the day after, a puzzle with various references to the festivities. All quite straightforward, except for the last one in. Still, a 2.5-3* for enjoyment and difficulty. Thanks to setter.
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Christmas Day Double Toughie No 100,004 by Elgar
“It’s the way I tell ’em!”
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
Elgar has served up another excellent Double Toughie, just like he did last Christmas. This one is not trivially easy, but neither is it up to the difficulty level he achieved last year. As ever, reading the instructions carefully is essential. Like the other Christmas Day puzzles, it is only available online.
I have identified the key answers, namely a, b, c, d, e, x and y, inside the curly brackets, along with the answers.
Discovering the theme, which I did early on, is vital when solving those across clues which lack definition.
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