October 26, 2011 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie 656

Toughie No 656 by Excalibur

Bob’s Your Uncle

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment **

Well, there’s one example of a weird surface (22a) and a couple of cryptic definitions which don’t work very well in my opinion, but on the whole I thought this one was pretty reasonable if not too stimulating. It’s not terribly difficult – I completed three-quarters of it in almost record time but then slowed down in the NW corner, so I think this setter definitely belongs to Tuesdays rather than Wednesdays (Puzzles Editor please note) – perhaps a swap with Beam would be in order? :D

Let us know how you got on and please take the time to record your enjoyment of it by clicking on one of the stars below.

Continue reading “Toughie 656”

DT 26693

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26693

Hints and tips by Falcon

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment ***

Greetings from Canada where we are bracing for the first frost of the season. Today, we have a quintessential Jay puzzle, populated with lots of charades, plenty of clues where one must either take or delete the first, last or middle letters, and sprinkled with a few substitutions (A for B type clues). It took me longer than normal to complete it – but that is undoubtedly due to attempting to watch a hockey game at the same time (and, yes, my team did win).

Continue reading “DT 26693”

Puzzles for Wednesday 26th of October

Puzzles for Wednesday 26th of October

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + –  + – + – + – +

Today’s puzzles have kindly been provided by Phil McNeill, the Telegraph’s Puzzles Editor.

In view of the improved performance on the Telegraph Puzzles site, this will be the final day that this facility will be provided.

Continue reading “Puzzles for Wednesday 26th of October”