May 3, 2010 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

NTSPP – 012 Review

NTSPP – 012 Review

A Puzzle by Prolixic

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Many thanks to Prolixic for providing us with another really good puzzle for a wet Bank Holiday Saturday. We’re getting used to his clever wordplay, lovely bits of misdirection and very smooth (and witty) surface readings, as well as the good variety of clue types. If I have one minor criticism it’s that the cryptic definitions (16a and 6d) don’t quite come up to the excellent standard of the other clues, but as Tilsit has explained in the past, good cryptic definitions are the most difficult clues to produce.

In terms of difficulty I would rate this one **** on the Daily Cryptic scale. I know that some comments have been left already, but I’m sure that Prolixic would welcome as much feedback as you can provide.

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DT 26230

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26230

Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***

First of all I would like to congratulate (as I suspect will many of his fans) Rufus on his achievement of having 1,000 puzzles printed in the Daily Telegraph.

Today’s crossword is the usual gentle start to the week, with its own nina.

If this was a normal Monday I might complain about the number of anagrams, and the double reference to a particular school, but because it’s a special day I am going to say nothing. Just sit back and enjoy!

As usual, if you cannot work out the answer from the hint, just highlight the space between the curly brackets. Please feel free to leave a comment and/or congratulate Rufus!

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