Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26030
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Because I’m away tomorrow, Libellule has kindly agreed to swap reviews and he will be doing tomorrow’s. The one he’s missed out on today is pretty straightforward with well-crafted clues but nothing to make you break out in peals of laughter.
As usual the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets so that you cannot see them accidentally – just select the white space between the brackets if you want to reveal one.
As always we’d love to get comments from you.
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Toughie No 213 by Myops
A Three Pipe Problem
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
I reckon that even Sherlock Holmes would have been stretched by some of the wordplay in this one, but you do get a sense of satisfaction from unravelling some of these clues. Along the way I seem to have mislaid a couple of anagram indicators – if you can find them please let me know!
We’d love to get a comment from you about the puzzle, the review or even the weather (lovely in the South-West today!). Also, please click on one of the five stars at the bottom of the review to record your assessment of the puzzle.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26029
All Puzzled Out!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from the Peoples’ Republic of Hebden Bridge, and before I start, a quick word of thanks to Gazza for covering last Thursday’s Toughie for me at short notice. I must confess to feeling somewhat drained as I have managed to do the Telegraph, Guardian, Independent and Times puzzles today. I figured that one or two might have something special going on (09/09/09), and was right. Today’s Telegraph wasn’t one of them, but then I wasn’t expecting it to be.
I wrote last week about clues hitting the target, but not the bullseye or gold and today’s puzzle is like that. The surface reading of some clues is off the mark, and others just seem inaccurate (What is a carbon-free decree?) Should we expect our clues to make sense, or are we spoilt when some setters spend their time achieving accuracy in their surface readings? As an aspiring compiler, I spend a lot of my time trying to write clues that read well and make sense both literally and factually. The fact that many of my attempts end up in the waste or recycle bin because they don’t must say something.
I found today’s DT puzzle to be reasonable, nothing more or less. There was nothing in there that really troubled me and I would be terribly surprised if most of the regulars felt differently. What I did miss was anything to make me smile and I did find that in abundance in the other three daily puzzles I solved. I did deliberately make sure this was the first one I solved today, but it just seemed rather humdrum, I’m afraid.
As usual, I’d love to see your thoughts, and you can leave them after the blog. Newer visitors should note that the clue answers are hidden between the curly brackets, and you need to highlight between the brackets with your mouse to view them. New message posters should note that your first post also takes a little while to appear, as they are moderated for spammers.
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Toughie No 212 by Campbell
A gentle start to the week
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Only a handful of tricky clues separate this Toughie from a regular daily cryptic. I haven’t been out to get a paper today, so don’t know who the setter is yet.
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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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26028
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
This one is pretty straightforward and would make an ideal introduction for new solvers. For those who found that it did not really stretch them, if you have never attempted the Toughie then why not give it a go?
As always the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets; to reveal an answer just highlight the white space inside.
We’d love to get a comment from you with your views or queries about the puzzle or the review. So, those of you who regularly read the reviews but have never left a comment – now’s the time to introduce yourselves!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26027
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Rufus usually gives us a fairly easy start to the week, but I’m sure I’m not the only one that found today’s puzzle to be a little more difficult. The usual excellent cryptic definitions from our Monday Maestro are to be found amongst today’s clues.
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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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2500 – Hints
Selected hints by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
We asked for a special crossword for number 2500, and here it is. The best single tip for solving this puzzle is to read the clue for 25 across first, then you will have an idea of the theme and where it is featured. And don’t forget to heed the warning given:
(WARNING: Two answers in this special 2500th puzzle require numbers as well as letters. The figure zero must be entered as a capital O.)
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.
Peter Biddlecombe’s full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Friday, 11th September.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26026 – Hints
Weekend Whinge by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment: **
I have been thinking for some time now of having “Weekend Whinge”, and today has offered me a good opportunity to start. This was very nearly a good puzzle, but a few issues completely spoiled it for me. Afrit, one of the founding fathers of the cryptic crossword, wrote “I need not mean what I say, but I must say what I mean”. In my opinion, the first three clues in today’s puzzle fail that simple test. I would like to know your views on this subject, so please leave a comment.
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, 10th September. Continue reading “DT 26026 – Hints”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2499
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
After a few months of the variable delights of the Saturday puzzle, Dave has given me the privilege of writing about the Sunday puzzle in its new style. What a change! Instead of wondering how much to bang on about the clues that annoy me, I’m now trying to make sure I don’t miss any of the very clever aspects of these clues. It seems to be current DT policy not to name the setter for each day, but if this puzzle wasn’t written by Brian Greer (Brendan and Virgilius elsewhere and a former Times xwd editor, now back on their setting team), it’s by someone who’s learned a lot from Brian and other good setters. This puzzle was relatively tricky for Brian – his scrupulously fair clues mean that I can get through some of his puzzles pretty swiftly. I look forward to something with an extra twist to celebrate ST No. 2500 next week.
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Toughie No 211 by Kcit
A Tough Time!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Yesterday we had one of the tougher Toughies, and we have another today. I struggled with the North East corner in particular but it was, in general, the clues that were hard not the answers. Unfortunately two of the exceptions were the first two across clues, both of which were new words for me.
This week I bought a new laptop, which is currently giving me familiarisation problems. I am trying to post this directly from Word 2007, which will be great if it works but please be patient! Continue reading “Toughie 211”