Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26038 – Hints
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Class!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment: ***
Once again the Saturday prize puzzle just about creeps into 3-star difficulty. The handful of proper nouns are all well known and there is no need this week for an atlas. One minor quibble concerns the long down answer – this is a saying with which not everyone will be familiar, so the combination of a cryptic definition and two double unches (two consecutive squares without a checked letter) will make it a struggle for some.
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.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them. A full review of this puzzle by Tilsit will be published at 12.00 on Thursday, 24th September.
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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2501
After the Lord Mayor’s show?
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
(This is written without looking at the Sunday hints message to see what’s been said so far.) We couldn’t really expect this puzzle to match the anniversary one last week, and we’re back to everyday fare here. There are some fairly easy clues, especially for old hands, but there’s lots of crossword-setting craft – in particular, consistently solid surface meanings. 3D is a particular favourite of mine, being a former distance runner, conjuring up images of someone like Emil Zatopek, whose laboured style can be seen in this film about his rivalry with Alan Mimoun. Meanwhile, back to the clues ….
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Toughie No 219 by Osmosis
The Robots of Dawn
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
I found this puzzle to be a bit too mechanical. The clues are all technically correct (although you might question some of the indicators) but somehow lacking in that Wow! factor.
I will be interested to know what you think, so leave a comment to say whether you agree or disagree.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26037
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Friday’s puzzle is more often than not both the most difficult and the most entertaining one of the week, and this one is no exception. I have reservations about a couple of the clues, but overall it was very enjoyable.
As usual the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets – if you’re stuck you can highlight the white space inside to reveal them.
As always we welcome comments. If you’re a regular visitor and have never left a comment, now is the time to introduce yourself and let us know what you like, or don’t like, about the blog!
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WordPress Software Upgrade
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Yesterday morning I upgraded the software used for the blog from version 1.1 to 1.6.1 (the intervening versions were not officially released). … Continue reading
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26032
A full analysis by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment: ***
My first bite at the Saturday Puzzle, and until this week it has tended to be the last of the weekend puzzles that I solve, simply because the others usually have themes or gimmicks that I love to solve. In most papers the Saturday puzzle is usually the most difficult of the week, but I don’t think this applies to the DT. However, it will now be the top of the list each week. I hope my reviews are as helpful as Peter’s were and if not, I’m sure you’ll let me know.
This was an interesting puzzle and is a curious mix of clues with some fine ones, plus one or two duds. The Telegraph is spoilt for cryptic definition clue writers, as Monday’s Maestro is probably one of the finest exponents of this genre around, and I sometimes think that even he overeggs the pudding occasionally. As a result, other attempts at cryptic definitions often hit the target, but not the bull, to use an expression from archery.
Anyway, let’s have a look at last Saturday’s challenge. One of the first things I notice is the brevity of clue writing in most cases. On first inspection that suggests to me a preponderance of cryptic definitions. Let’s see if I’m right.
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Toughie No 218 by Giovanni
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Tilsit has had to go to the clinic, so I have produced this review at short notice.
A tough but, as you might expect from Giovanni, extremely fair puzzle that surprised me by including my local town among the answers.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26036
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A peculiar crossword today, with a mixture of clues, some good, some average. some bad, and one that would be better off in a quick crossword, even if it looks like a deliberate double bluff. If you have anything further to add, please leave a comment.
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Toughie No 217 by MynoT
O-Level Examination
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Having completely failed to notice (until it was pointed out) that only one vowel was used in all the answers in each of MynoT’s last three Toughies, I was on the lookout for this one! However, even when you’ve grasped what’s going on, it’s far from easy, with some pretty obscure words. You get a real sense of satisfaction from finishing a puzzle like this, and I really enjoyed it.
As usual we’d love to get your views via a comment.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26035
A Grumpy Old Man writes……
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Greetings from the Calder Valley where I have been largely incarcerated in my flat , as the old illness has been playing up. One of the joys of my imprisonment, apart from the chance to get my blood nice and angry watching the Jeremy Kyle Show and other daytime delights, has been that I have been solving (and compiling) quite a few crosswords from all of the national newspapers.
This has left me in a bit of a dilemma about today’s cryptic. While I am sure that a few of you will feel happy about it because you have been able to solve it, I actually feel cheated of a challenge with it. I just felt it was not worthy of its place in a national newspaper. Some of the clues were utterly dreadful and downright unfair. If you are asked to name a little boy, would you think of the answer NAT? An answer worthy of the new BBC2 daytime quiz show Pointless, where the object is to get answers no-one thinks of.
I am not sure who the setter was today but it was almost my fastest Telegraph solve of all time.
Time for you to feel the love.
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