February 2010 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

ST 2525 – Hints

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2525 – Hints

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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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, 5th March.
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NTSPP – 003 Review

NTSPP – 003 Review

Home in the North West by Radler

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The following notes were written by Radler.

This isn’t a review as that’s not for me to provide!   However, I write explanatory notes during the compilation process and it makes sense for me to make these available instead of somebody else undertaking the work.  Please do comment to let me know what you liked or hated and which were the easier and harder clues.  I do have my own favourites, but I’ll resist the temptation to say which they are; it’s your opinions that count.

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NTSPP – 003

Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 003

Home in the North West by Radler

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This is the third in a series of additional weekend puzzles.

This week we have a puzzle from Radler.   Anax pointed him in the direction of the Alberich site (see the sidebar) and you will discover two more of his puzzles there.  We are very pleased to be publishing a third puzzle by this setter.

As with last week’s puzzle, this one has a theme.  You are strongly recommended to read the preamble as this explains that certain clues have only wordplay and lack definition.  The solving of 29,27 and 12,32 are key to the solving of the whole puzzle.

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DT 26175 – Hints

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26175 – Hints

Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club

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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 will be published on Thursday, 4th March.

Continue reading “DT 26175 – Hints”

ST 2524

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2524

A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe

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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ****

Back to normality after the Valentine puzzle – no theme, and unusually for BG, no &lits/all-in-ones. But there are a couple of unusual bits of wordplay. Well I said no theme, but several clues and wordplays have sporting references. Difficulty: pretty gentle.
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Toughie 310

Toughie No 310 by Myops

I am about to tackle today’s Toughie. I may be gone for some time.

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** Enjoyment ***

Did I have this one coming? After several weeks of easy-to-moderate Fridays this came along with “absolute stinker” tattooed on its forehead. Some tricky wordplay is combined with several very obscure answers.

There is a theme, but there is also a departure from the thematic norm in that the completed grid appears not to contain any thematic material. Instead, we have clues presented as rhyming couplets (hence the forward slash bits) and, spread among them in sequence, all twelve of the calendar months. As a result some of the surface readings come close to being nonsensical but that’s hardly surprising given the constraints imposed by two thematic elements.

My favourite clues are in blue.

Please tell us what you thought of this one, and add your assessment of it by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.

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DT 26174

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26174

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment ****

Having to describe every clue makes you realise how beautifully crafted all Giovanni’s clues are, with every word counting and no excess fat. I don’t think that this is one of his more difficult puzzles and it gives all solvers a very fair chance of completing it.
Leave us a comment, telling us how you got on and what you liked (or didn’t like) about it.
As always the answer to each clue is hidden between the curly brackets under the clue. To reveal an answer just drag your cursor through the white space between the brackets.

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DT 26169

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26169

Much Ado About Something

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BD Rating – Difficulty **** Enjoyment ****

After what was a turbulent week for the site in one way or another, I was somewhat apprehensive when tackling this puzzle. Although I had resolved to simply review the clues and analyse them without overall comments, I feel I cannot let pass what for me was a really enjoyable puzzle and the sort that I look for in a Saturday puzzle, so thank you to Cephas.

Feel free to have your say as usual and don’t forget the star rating system; simply click in the box with your award.

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Toughie 309

Toughie No 309 by MynoT

Brush up your Shakespeare!

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BD Rating – Difficulty **** Enjoyment ****

It’s not unusual for MynoT to provide an education as part of his puzzles. Today’s lesson includes Shakespeare’s Othello, French and Greek history, motor cars and their drivers and Anglo-Saxon servants.

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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DT 26173

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26173

Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ***

An interesting crossword today, I started this at a brisk gallop, and then started to slow down, and continued to slow down until the last clue went in. Some of it is very straightforward, some of it is more complicated, but all in all an enjoyable piece of entertainment.

If you have any thoughts on this crossword, you can leave a comment below.

If you are a new visitor to the blog all you need to do is highlight the area between the curly brackets to see the full answer.

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