May 2012 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Month: May 2012

Toughie 781

by bufo  

Toughie No 781 by Petitjean

Hints and Tips by Bufo

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

I found this to be a puzzle that was enjoyable even though I struggled with it throughout. The design of the grid means that the puzzle is effectively four minipuzzles linked by the four 3-letter words in the centre. I did these minipuzzles in the order NW/SW/SE/NE and none of them were easy. Perhaps I haven’t yet got back into gear having had a week off last week.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.  You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.


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DT 26880

by Gazza  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26880

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

Big Dave has not yet made it home after yesterday’s festivities in London so I’ve been given the opportunity to review a Thursday puzzle. This wasn’t one of my favourites – some of the surface readings are a bit weak and few of the clues stood out. Let me know your thoughts about it.
If you want to see an answer just highlight the space between the brackets under the clue.

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ST 2640

by crypticsue  

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2640

A full review by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

 

If weekend reviews had subtitles, the review of the puzzle for Sunday 20 May  would be ‘the one where we had to go out and buy a paper’  as the online system was not working for most of the morning.   Well worth a trip to the paper shop or we would have missed another splendid crossword from Virgilius.

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Toughie 780

by Gazza  

Toughie No 780 by Firefly

Great Expectations

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

This is an enjoyable but fairly meaty Toughie – I struggled with the SE corner where the last few clues took me as long as the rest of the puzzle put together. The last time I blogged a Firefly Toughie I missed the fairly obvious theme – I’ve looked a bit harder at this one but can’t spot anything (famous last words). Thanks to Firefly for the entertainment.
Please let us know how you got on and use the star system (below) to indicate how much you enjoyed it.

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DT 26879

by pommers  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26879

Hints and tips by pommers

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

Hola from the Vega Baja.  The usual excellent stuff to brighten up an already bright and sunny Wednesday morning! Maybe I’m just in a good mood today but I really enjoyed this puzzle even though it didn’t last long. As is often the case with a Jay puzzle it’s probably better to start with the downs – on first pass through I got 5 of the acrosses but then 12 of the downs and for once the two long anagrams fell quickly!

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Toughie 779

by Big Dave  

Toughie No 779 by Excalibur

Surprise, Surprise!

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

Yes, I was surprised as this is not a bad puzzle. A few minor quibbles, but overall a big improvement on recent crosswords from this setter.

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DT 26878

by Gazza  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26878

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

Most of the clues today are fairly straightforward but the compiler has thrown in a few trickier ones (18a and 7d, for example) to keep us on our toes and there are also a couple where a bit of general knowledge is required, so I’ve upped the difficulty rating to three stars. Let us know how you got on.
If you need to reveal an answer just highlight the space between the brackets below the clue.

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