April 2012 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

NTSPP – 116 (Review)

Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 116

A puzzle by Donk

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A new name joins the ranks of the NTSPP setters.    When you’ve been solving cryptics for as long as I have, it is good to try new setters’ puzzles and I thoroughly enjoyed Donk’s first NTSPP and hope we see more of him soon.

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NTSPP – 116

Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 116

A Puzzle by Donk

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Welcome to the latest in our series of puzzles, which have now been running every week for over two years.

Those of you who follow the DIY COW clue writing competition will have some idea of what to expect from Donk’s first NTSPP puzzle.  For others there is a real treat in store!

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DT 26852 (Hints)

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26852 (Hints)

Big Dave’s Crossword Club

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There are some pictures of last week’s S&B meeting in Todmorden on the blog’s Facebook page.

As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, an assortment of clues, including some of the more difficult ones, have been selected and hints provided for them.

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Toughie 762

Toughie No 762 by Notabilis

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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BD Rating – Difficulty ****Enjoyment *****

Tilsit had forgotten that an ambulance was arriving this morning, so I have put this review together at short notice.

Another excellent puzzle from Notabilis. I thought afterwards that maybe I should have solved it more quickly than I did. The puzzle is littered with the usual superb clues, with a number of “Doh!” moments.

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ST 2636

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2636

A full review by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Difficulty */**Enjoyment ****

From this coming Sunday, April 29th, the closing date for the Sunday puzzles is being extended by six days.  The Telegraph Puzzles editor has taken this decision, because of the huge increase in postal rates due to come in on the following day, in order to allow solvers to use second class post.  As a result the reviews of the Sunday puzzles will now be published six days later than at present.  The next review will be on Thursday 10th May, and there will be no review next week.  BD

Many thanks to Virgilius once again for brightening up Sunday morning with a slightly more straightforward than usual crossword, but with the same high enjoyment factor as ever.   My favourites are highlighted in blue.

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DT 26851

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26851

Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty **** Enjoyment ***

First of all I would like to thank everybody for their birthday wishes last Saturday as I hit my 50th. Then secondly I would like to thank Gazza for stepping into the Monday spot at short notice (I had a sick cat to pick up from the vets). That left me with the opportunity of blogging a Friday Giovanni. I don’t know about the rest of you but this seemed to be a tough one and took longer than normal. Just in case you missed it, it is also a pangram.

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DT 26846

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26846

A full review by gnomethang

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Morning All! This week’s Prize Puzzle looks like a Cephas production containing, as it does, a number of charades and some very appropriate anagram indicators. I enjoyed it a great deal.

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