Toughie No 182 by Giovanni
Payback Time!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
Last time up we gave Giovanni only two stars for difficulty and the time before that it was three. Well, today it is payback! A true Toughie, which gives that real sense of achievement when you have filled in the final square.
Today it is Tilsit’s turn to suffer hardware problems. Unfortunately, his email to me got lost in the ether for nearly 4 hours, so my apologies for the lateness of the review. I think you will agree that this puzzle was worth the wait.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25982
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
We’ve been given a really excellent puzzle today, full of beautifully crafted clues with splendid surface readings. It has one obscure word (just to keep you on your toes!). As has been mentioned before, a puzzle like this gives the reviewer a double dose of pleasure – firstly when solving the puzzle, and later when writing the review. Of course you can get the reverse effect with a sub-standard puzzle!
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Toughie No 181 by Notabilis
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
This is a good solid Toughie with a few bits of complicated wordplay. If you were writing this review how many stars would you give it for difficulty and enjoyment? – let me know via a comment!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25981
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
While the same setters appear to be used for the other days of the week, there is little doubt that Tuesdays and Wednesdays are being rotated. This puzzle was very enjoyable, and far better than the one a week ago. If I’m correct in guessing then this is one of my favourite setters, and an old friend may pay a visit later!
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Toughie No 180 by Cephas
Having waited ages to logon to CluedUp, this is what I got
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment *
Being in a generous mood today, I have awarded this puzzle one star for enjoyment.
Like a number of you, I have been experiencing an unacceptable level of service (or lack of it) from the CluedUp website. As I mentioned on Sunday, the Telegraph Puzzles Editor told me “Regarding the “difficulties” you mention, it does come as a surprise. As far as I am aware the Telegraph has not received any complaints about CluedUp of late!”. If you are having similar problems then contact the Telegraph at telegraphenquiries@telegraph.co.uk or call them on 0800 316 6977. Should you not do so then the management there will sit in their ivory towers and continue to think that there is nothing wrong with the site.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25980
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
This is a fairly gentle challenge, but the surface readings are pretty good and there is one excellent clue. It should not trouble regular solvers for too long, and would be a good exercise for novices.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25979
Hints and tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from the Calder Valley. Quite a challenging and enjoyable puzzle from our Monday Maestro today. Not as easy as the past few weeks with a few clues to cause more than a little head scratching. Lots of good surface reading and a preponderance of double definition clues today.
The topic for debate today concerns the clue at 28 across. I often feel that crosswords are stuck in a sort of time warp of the late fifties/early sixties. Some setters try to write clues that reflect modern usage (and abusage) of phrases, but a few, and this runs from today’s setter through to the Araucarias of this world) sometimes use words or devices that are strictly of a period.
If you asked a younger person what a “cosh” was, would they know? To me, it’s a word that belongs with The Great Train Robbers and 1950’s Teddy Boys. I also accept that I may be wrong, and I’d like your thoughts. I don’t think the day is far off where the newer abbreviations, such as LOL and IMHO will start appearing as indicators as part of clues. What do you think? Let me know at the end. Newer posters please remember that your first posts has to be approved, to prevent spamming, but you’ll be on the board fairly quickly.
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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2492 – Hints
Selected hints by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Once again, the highlight of the week. Excellent clues, and some tricky wordplay, for a puzzle that is ideally suited to a lazy Sunday morning.
A full analysis of this puzzle will be available at 12.00 next Friday, 17th July.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25978 – Hints
Selected hints by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
A disappointing crossword with some clues, like 17a and 3d, that are past their sell-by date, some, like 15a and 6d, that just don’t work and others, like 10a and 5d that are not worthy of being in a prize puzzle. And I haven’t even mentioned the proper nouns as, apart from 5d, they are acceptable.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them. Peter Biddlecombe should, by now, have returned from holiday ready to do a full review of this puzzle in time for 12.00 on Thursday, 16th July.
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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2491 – Review
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Not quite as good as last week’s, but still streets ahead of how they used to be.
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