Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26432
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Rufus told us on Monday that the Christmas Eve puzzle would be by him, and he’s given us a cracker with a seasonal theme and plenty of pies. I look forward to your comments on it.
May I take this opportunity to wish everyone in our extended blogging family (setters, co-bloggers, commenters and lurkers) a Very Happy Christmas.
Much to my surprise (which you will be aware of if you saw the hints earlier) this is a prize puzzle. I’m providing a few hints here and a full review will appear on or after the final date. Please feel free to comment but please don’t reveal any answers or part-answers otherwise the blue pencil may be activated.
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Toughie No 481 by MynoT
Hints and tips by Bufo
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment **
I lost interest in this puzzle when I was half-way through it but managed to struggle to the end eventually. At this point I had 3 or 4 tentative answers and several others which I hadn’t fully understood. I have since resolved all of my uncertainties
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26431
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Our mystery setter serves up some Christmas fare today.
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Toughie No 480 by Giovanni
Looking On The Bright Side
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from a very cold, white Devon, where it looks as though the snow has decided to stick around until next year, but never mind – we’ve got past the shortest day and it can only get better from now on, can’t it?
We have a middle-of-the-road Toughie from Giovanni today, neither too easy nor too difficult (though I had to consult Chambers quite a lot). Let us know how you fared in a comment, and please take the time to click on one of the stars below to register how much you liked it.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26430
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
I enjoyed this puzzle (from Jay?) in spite of missing the obvious hidden word at 1a until the very end!
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Toughie No 479 by Cephas
The lull before the storm!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Cephas gives us a very gentle start to the week – it could well get tougher in the run-up to Christmas!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26429
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Apologies for the late posting, which was due to my loss of broadband for about 90 minutes. This appears to be a puzzle by Ray T, doing a bit of moonlighting from his new Thursday patch. Whoever it is has given us a whole host of double-entendres in what I thought was an amusing and entertaining puzzle. Give us your views in a comment!
To reveal an answer just drag your cursor through the space between the curly brackets under the clue.
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Merry Christmas to all our readers
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Big Dave and the team of bloggers would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.… Continue reading
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26428
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Usual Rufus, always enjoyable, although I thought this was bit more complicated than normal, but thats probably down to the bad cold I have at the moment. I wasn’t too thrilled about 8d and 13d, but I did like 9a and 15d. Since this will be my last blog before Christmas, can I wish you all (and Rufus) a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
If you are struggling to get the answer from the hints, just highlight the space between the curly brackets.
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Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 045 (Review)
A Puzzle by Isla
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This week we have a sterling quality debut puzzle from Isla – hopefully the first of many. In his post on the “Comments” thread, Isla acknowledges some help from a more experienced cruciverbalist. However, to produce such a good puzzle, the initial version must have been spectacular to start with. In one or two places, I think I detected the hand of Anax in the final version of clues – was he our rising star’s mentor for this puzzle?
This puzzle was certainly at the tough end of the spectrum with some delightful wordplay with only a couple of possibly too obscure references.
Finally, my apologies for the late arrival of the review. I have been busy preparing Christmas services.
Continue reading “NTSPP – 045 (Review)”