Toughie No 448 by Excalibur
There’s Good News and ….
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
I’ve not reviewed one of Excalibur’s puzzles for some time and the good news is that this is nowhere near as poor as some that we had last year. On the other hand we still get a number of clues where the wordplay is backwards and some where the surface reading doesn’t make any sense. I progressed through it at a rate of knots before getting stuck for ages in the SE corner.
Your views are welcome, as always, and please remember to grade the puzzle by clicking on one of the stars below.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26382
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Jay entertains us once again with a typical Telegraph-quality puzzle. I found this slightly easier than some recent Wednesday offerings.
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Toughie No 447 by Beam
I did it My Way!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Ray T’s second outing as a Toughie setter was quite enjoyable. Once you get used to the stretched definitions, the clues are straightforward if a bit tough.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26381
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Shamus has given us another pangram today and they’re rapidly becoming a trademark of his. It’s a pleasant puzzle with very fair clueing. Let us know what you thought of it in a comment.
Those who need to see an answer will find it lurking between the curly brackets under the relevant clue. Highlight the space between the brackets to reveal it.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26380
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
The crossword today seems slightly trickier than normal, but there are plenty of clues to get you started. No particular clues stood out and on the whole it seemed to lack Rufus’ normal wit. Please leave a comment and let us know what you think.
If you cannot get the answer from the hint just highlight the space between the curly brackets.
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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2559 (Hints)
Hints and tips from Big Dave
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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 (a few more than usual this week!).
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Not The Saturday Prize Puzzle – 037 (Review)
A Puzzle by Radler
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Radler’s puzzles can be at the tough end of the spectrum. Having test solved the first draft of this puzzle; I found it easier than some of his previous crosswords, but by no means an “easy” crossword to solve. It is difficult to judge how difficult your own crosswords are. I think that Radler sometimes underestimates how difficult some of his clues are. Having said this, the final version of the crossword is a lot more approachable with a good range of clues that give an entry into the puzzle.
There are some clues in the crossword that you will not usually see in the Daily Telegraph and where different setters and solvers have diverging opinions on their usage. I have tried to indicate these fairly without judging their acceptability.
As always, you can reveal an answer by highlighting the word or words between the curly brackets. Do let us have your comments on the puzzle as well. It is always good for the setter to get feedback and acknowledgment of the hard work that has gone into creating the crossword.
Many thanks to Radler for the challenge this week.
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Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 037
A Puzzle by Radler
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Welcome to the thirty seventh in our series of weekly puzzles.
This week we have an unthemed puzzle from Radler.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26379 (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.
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Toughie No 446 by Elgar
sdrawkcaB knihT
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
Greetings from the Calder Valley and we have probably the toughest Toughie for quite some time to work with today. The sense of pride and achievement in entering the last answer is something I shall remember, for, gentle solver; this was a seriously nasty beast. Indeed I was tempted to give it a lot more stars for difficulty!
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