Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26434
Hints and tips by Gazza
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
We have an entertaining but fairly gentle puzzle today from an unknown setter. Let’s hope that Mr, Mrs or Ms X unmasks himself or herself in a comment. [update – No comment so far from Mr X, but Rufus (see comment #21) has identified him as Anthony Plumb who sets crosswords in the FT under the name Flimsy].
To see an answer highlight the space between the curly brackets under the clue.
Continue reading “DT 26434”
Enigmatic Toughie No 100002 by Elgar
A Perimetrical Jigsaw
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
Hope you’ve all had a grand holiday and are ready for some serious solving. This will probably sit amongst the toughest of the Toughies and features Elgar at his most devious.
If you have never solved a puzzle like this before, don’t be put off. These have been featured in the Guardian as Prize Puzzles about four or five times a year set by the venerable Araucaria. They usually have answers that start with each letter of the alphabet.
The first thing to remember is that although you are solving all of the clues without any checking letters, the clues are in alphabetical order of their answers, so the early clues are likely to begin with A, B or C and the end clues, probably start with letters from T to Z.
To solve this one, I would suggest solving the seven and ten letter clues, which should allow you to place the solutions in the grid. Once the grid is complete, a quotation will appear round the perimeter. In case you are really stuck, the quote will be placed at the end and you can highlight it.
Continue reading “Enigmatic Toughie 100002”
53.741224-2.014475
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26433
Hints and tips by Libellule
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
Rufus is on holiday today, so we have a crossword from a mystery setter. Although I found this more difficult than I would normally expect for a Monday, my enjoyment of it was marred somewhat by what I felt were a few clumsy and forced clues, 17d and 24d for example.
If you cannot work out the answer from the hints, please highlight the space between the curly brackets.
Continue reading “DT 26433”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2568 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Big Dave
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
Continue reading “ST 2568 (Hints)”
52.08391-2.27358
Toughie No 100002 by Osmosis
Signs of the Times
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
I had a bit of a struggle fitting this one in between the roast turkey and the mince pies! An early solve of 8 across is highly desirable as all of the other across clues include a “symbol of 8”.
Just after I started this review, Gnomethang made me an offer I couldn’t refuse and will be writing the hints for the down clues.
Continue reading “Toughie 100002”
52.08391-2.27358
Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 046 (Review)
A Christmas Special by Prolixic
+– + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
[Crypticsue] This time Prolixic has given us a very entertaining themed puzzle, some clues reflecting the religious significance of this time of year and others some of the more secular aspects of the seasonal celebrations. Highly recommended to all.
Continue reading “NTSPP – 046 (Review)”
51.3807220.529774
Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 046
A Christmas Special by Prolixic
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Welcome to the forty sixth in our series of weekly puzzles.
Prolixic has prepared a special Christmas puzzle – enjoy!
Continue reading “NTSPP – 046 (Comments)”
51.430897-0.547493
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 100002 (Hints)
Big Dave’s Christmas Crossword Club
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Merry Christmas – I hope some of you get around to tackling this web-only puzzle.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
Continue reading “DT 100002 (Hints)”
52.08391-2.27358
Christmas Puzzles
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Phil McNeill has kindly provided me with the puzzle publication and closing dates over the Christmas period, so I have produced a table which also includes the dates you can expect to see those puzzles reviewed here.
Continue reading “Christmas Puzzles”
52.08391-2.27358
Toughie No 482 by Elgar
Seasonal Rhyme Time!
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
1 / 27 / 14 / 17 / 19
12 / 21 / 10 / 26 / 4
28 / 8 / 29 / 10 / 18d / 10 / 23
28 / 8 / 15 / 18d / 10 / then / 34
A suitably seasonal offering from Elgar and one which sits comfortably at the tougher end of the scale. However, I was somewhat derailed by the confusing numbering in the clue format and would probably have welcomed seeing the quote as above. Even with the above, there is also a clever little word play which had me flummoxed for a bit! In this review, I have taken the liberty of diverting from the numbering on line and in the paper to explain the lines of the quote.
I suspect that this will divide the regular Toughie solvers somewhat but I would urge you to persevere and admire the way our setter has managed to get virtually the whole verse into the grid. Unfortunately it was used (very differently) in another newspaper puzzle earlier in the week, which gave me a bit of a head start once I’d seen how 1a 27a worked out.
Continue reading “Toughie 482”
53.741224-2.014475