August 12, 2009 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie 197

Toughie No 197 by Excalibur
Put through the Mangle

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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment **

There are some good clues in this puzzle, but the overall effect is spoilt, for me, by the way the word order in many clues is mangled in an attempt to improve the surface reading. Also there are many (too many?) very short answers, a lot of them double definitions; too many of any one type of clue can make the whole puzzle unbalanced. I’d love to hear your views on it, and please take the time to cast your vote for the enjoyment factor by clicking on one of the stars at the bottom of the review.

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DT 26005

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26005

Let’s all play charades

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment **

If you enjoy playing charades, then this is the puzzle for you.  For the rest of us it was an average puzzle apart from the one or two new words.

You can add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.

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