Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 023
A Puzzle by Prolixic
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Welcome to the twenty third in our series of weekly puzzles.
This week we have another puzzle from Prolific Prolixic.
Month: July 2010
DT 26295 (Hints)
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26295 (Hints)
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
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.
A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 22nd July.
Toughie 390
Toughie No 390 by Micawber
The Friday Fair
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
There are times when, on seeing a setter’s name, you think to yourself “OK, I could be in for a few nasty surprises here”. When you see the Micawber tag you know you’re going to get fair, accurate clueing, and that was the case here. It was a pretty easy puzzle for me precisely because of that; solidly faithful clues and no head-scratching trying to work out wordplay after solving, although I was left with one minor quibble.
It’s by no means a spectacular puzzle, but it’s accurate and very well constructed – with the added bonus of several beautifully smooth (and indeed deceptive) surface readings, and at least one or two crafty little definitions thrown in for good measure. Not spectacular – but very high quality.
ST 2544 – Wot, no vuvuzelas?
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2544
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
This took me about twice as long as an average Sunday puzzle, despite having thematic material nearly identical to a puzzle I blogged at the beginning of the 2010 World Cup. I can’t see now why it took so long – there are plenty of anagrams that now seem rather obvious. And I have to tip my neophyte setter’s cap to the clue-writing skill here – as well as the thematic aspects discussed below, he somehow gets away with four uses of SA or South Africa, and deftly marshals the crossword clichés like SAY and ED in 28 and meanings like those of “players”, and “supporter”.
DT 26294
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26294
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Today’s Giovanni is a bit of a pussycat (of course you may disagree, and if you do please feel free to say so in a comment). But as we’ve said so often in the past puzzles do not have to be difficult to be entertaining, and this one has some very enjoyable clues.
The answers are hidden between the curly brackets under each clue. Just highlight the space between the brackets to reveal one.
Toughie 389
Toughie No 389 by Excalibur
Hints and tips by Bufo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
No real problems with this one. I was a bit slow in finishing off the top left-hand corner but I put that down to the brain not functioning fully following a hard day at Uttoxeter races yesterday.
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.
DT 26289
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26289
A full review by Gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Afternoon All!. After last weeks shenanigans we have a pretty non-controversial puzzle that still manages to entertain whilst making one think.
DT 26293
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26293
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
This week’s mystery setter has given us a puzzle that I can think of little to say about, so that’s what I’ll do.
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.
Toughie 388
Toughie No 388 by Monsieur Busman
Let’s Parler Franglais
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Zut alors! Bearing in mind the date Busman has donned a beret and lit up a Gauloises to give a Gallic motif to today’s puzzle. I suspect that solvers will either love it or hate it. I found it enjoyable as a one-off (though the theme does impose restrictions), so full marks and merci beaucoup to Monsieur Busman for trying something different.
A large number of the clues refer to 18, which is 18d. If I tried to write all the hints for these clues without disclosing what 18d is it would be laborious to write and tedious to read, and since I can’t believe that anyone has got this far without knowing the theme, I’m going to use “French” in the hints rather than constantly referring to “the language of the person defined in 18d”.
Were you enchanted or irritated by it? Let us know in a comment!
DT 26292
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26292
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
A harder puzzle this week from Jay but, apart from 13a, all the answers should be in the average person’s vocabulary. I came down on the side of four stars for difficulty, rather than three, largely because of this one clue, although I had remembered the answer from a very old Toughie (No 162).
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.