Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2528 – 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, 26th March.
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NTSPP – 006 Review
Air Travel by Radler
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
I found this puzzle to be entertaining in spite of the use of some difficult constructs. My advice to Radler would be twofold. First, try to avoid the use of words that are not in common usage. Second, look very carefully at the solvers ability to progress from the synonym to the answer.
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Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 006
Air Travel by Radler
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Welcome to the sixth in our series of weekly puzzles.
This is the second by Radler – another of our rising stars.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26193 – 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, 25th March.
Continue reading “DT 26193 – Hints”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2527
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
Sorry for lateness of this report – lost copy and had to resolve. The usual elegant but not too difficult Sunday outing, with some special bits to note.
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Toughie No 322 by Elgar
Under pressure!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
I feel awful about this. Time constraints mean I’m writing this review in a desperate rush, so I can’t be as expansive as usual in my comments.
This was a tough one for me, the NW corner taking an age to fall into place. Some wordplay I didn’t understand at the time of completing the grid but, on reflection, it’s the usual mix of entertaining wickedness from Elgar – a fine, occasionally naughty, but ultimately satisfying challenge.
My favourite clues are in blue.
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 26192
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Normal service is resumed today with another thoroughly entertaining puzzle from Giovanni. I believe, though, that there is a mistake in 12a (I’ll have oeuf on the old visage if I’m wrong about this!). Let us know what you thought of the puzzle, what you liked and disliked, what you found tricky or straightforward.
(I know that regular readers will get sick of seeing this bit, but please remember that new readers are joining us all the time) The answer to each clue is masked out between the curly brackets underneath it – just drag your cursor through the white space between the brackets to reveal it.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26187
A full analysis by Tilsit
A Classy Act
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from the Calder Valley and having been able to stay hospital-free for at least four days, I am pleased to be back blogging. I am still feeling a bit weak but I am starting to go out a little and get a little fresh air.
In the meantime I am also wrestling with a brand new PC, which has been a bit of a pain (Helpful Tip of The Day: Don’t Ever Buy Anything from PC World!) but is now coming together.
Back to Saturday’s Prize Puzzle. I really enjoyed it and was so pleased to see Cephas at the top of his game. Some good challenging clues and little in the way of “padding”, though I think the clue at 19 across could have been better worded, or the word used been avoided all together. Virtually everyone who posted on Saturday had had problems with it.
As usual, have your say about the puzzle after the review and don’t forget the star rating system as well.
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Toughie No 321 by Messinae
The Good, the Bad and the Mediocre
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
One of those puzzles where you feel that you should have enjoyed it, but were let down by some of the clues. Favourites are highlighted in blue.
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 26191
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Well its Thursday again. I liked 23d. Enough said really or am I being a bit harsh?
Please leave a comment if you have something to say, and if you can’t deduce the answer from the hint, highlighting the space between the curly brackets will reveal the answer.
Continue reading “DT 26191”