Toughie No 328 by MynoT
Weights and Measures
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment **
I can’t pretend that I enjoyed this puzzle very much. In fact it was a bit of a slog with a fair few obscure words and not many laughs. You may, of course, disagree – we’d love to get a comment with your views.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26202
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
The usual great stuff from Jay – and I don’t want to hear any excuses from the Clueless Club today.
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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52.254523-2.266838
Toughie No 327 by Warbler
Birds of a Feather
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I always look forward to Warbler’s puzzles, but felt that this one was not as good as the previous one. We know that she can set harder puzzles as she was responsible for last Sunday’s Enigmatic Variations No 908.
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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52.254523-2.266838
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26201
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
I expect that this Ray T puzzle will divide opinion (as they usually do). I enjoyed it but it did (as they usually do) necessitate regular use of Chambers. Your comments, as always, are very welcome.
If you’re new to the site and wondering where the answers are, they’re hidden so that you don’t see them accidentally. Select the white space between the brackets under a clue to reveal the answer.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26200
Hints and tips by Rishi
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
[This will be the last review from Rishi for a while as he is taking a break due to family and business commitments. I would like to thank him for the enlightenment he has brought to crossword solving over the last few months, and hope that he will be able to return later in the year. Libellule will be in this spot from next Monday. BD]
An easy outing! Actually I solved this crossword while travelling in a public transport known as autorikshaw on public thoroughfares here in Madras that is Chennai, India, to fulfil a private engagement in a different part of the city away from my home.
I especially liked 19a, 3d, 16d and 22d for their excellent surface reading. I also liked 1a, 11a, 17a, 19a, 31a, 2d and 6d for their smoothness.
Some like 25a, 29a and 21d and 25d, we have met before many times if we are veteran solvers.
The answer tucked away under each clue will show up if you highlight the white space between the curly brackets.
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13.06041680.249634
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2529 – Hints
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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The usual few hints to get you started.
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, 2nd April.
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52.254523-2.266838
NTSPP – 007 Review
No, there’s no Bond theme! by Anax
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Anax says that he wanted to create a puzzle magazine crossword that they would consider a “mega-tough” cryptic puzzle. He wisely added, “we all know that what passes for mega-tough in a puzzle mag is probably on the easy side for solvers of quality daily newspaper cryptics. So here was the challenge; how advanced could I make the clues while sticking to the notion that they were to be not quite as hard as it might say on the tin?”
Personally, I found this a lot easier than Anax’s previous puzzle, NTSPP – 004. It was nonetheless enjoyable and well clued. There are a few minor comments below but this is an excellent introduction to an Anax puzzle – a lot of his playfulness, some of his hidden indicators and enjoyment all around.
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52.254523-2.266838
Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 007
No, there’s no Bond theme! by Anax
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Welcome to the seventh in our series of weekly puzzles. If you were wondering about the title, this is puzzle no. 007.
Anax is experimenting once more. This one should be medium difficult, say four stars. See if you agree.
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52.254523-2.266838
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26199 – Hints
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
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A few hints to get you started.
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,1st April.
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52.254523-2.266838
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2528
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
This puzzle has a grid that looked a bit scruffy but grew on me after I looked harder – every word length from 4 to 12 is included, and 11, 12 and 13-letter words can easily be under-used, so 3 of these is a good feature. And of course someone who contributed to the Times puzzle’s exemplary set of grids is not going to give us one with isolated sections or under-checked words. Quite a tricky puzzle by Sunday standards, taking me about as long as an average Times cryptic.
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