January 2013 – Page 3 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

DT 27082

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27082

Hints and tips by scchua

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Quite straightforward, but enjoyable, today. Thanks to setter. A 2.5*/3* for difficulty/enjoyment. There seems to be a glitch with 2down, which I’m trying to resolve. Please bear with me.  P.S.  It’s a technical glitch with the software, not with the blogger!  Resolved now after much trial and error – every time I typed “recent******” with a bracket in front, it would download images from the media library!  Got to ask BD why, or if any of you could advise.  Thanks.  [It seems that “recent” preceded by a square bracket is a NextGEN gallery shortcode to show recent gallery pictures.  Now fixed.  BD]

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Toughie 914

Toughie No 914 by Dada

By Jove!

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ****

Dada never fails to entertain, but many of us wish that his Toughies were more like those of Paul, his Guardian alter-ego. Toughies aren’t meant to be easy.

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DT 27081

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27081

Hints and tips by Deep Threat

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment ***

Good morning from a cold, frosty and snow-covered South Staffs, where the early morning sun and blue sky suggest that today at least I may be spared snow clearance duties.

I found the top half of today’s puzzle trickier than the bottom, and it took some time for the answer to 1a to emerge,  hence my *** rating.

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DT 27080

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27080

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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BD Rating – Difficulty *Enjoyment ****

Libellule is unable to do today’s blog, so we have swapped and he will be with you on Thursday. If you like anagrams you should have no trouble with the down clues today.

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MPP – 008 (Review)

Monthly Prize Puzzle No 8 (January 2012) by Alchemi

In association with Hamlyn Books,

the publishers of Telegraph Crossword Books

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Congratulations to Keith Williams, the lucky person whose name I ‘drew’ out of the electronic ‘hat’.   He wins a choice of two of the great Telegraph puzzle books published by Hamlyn Books as he correctly worked out that the missing American Vice-President was Rockefeller.   As the instructions state, not only is Rockefeller missing from the list, but there isn’t an 11 letter solution in the grid so he wouldn’t have fitted in anyway.

Alchemi provided an interesting challenge for the January puzzle competition –  I bet I wasn’t the only solver to think we were looking for Presidents of the USA before realizing we needed some of the Vice-Presidents!   .  I have marked the themed solutions  in green.

As always, thanks to our sponsors, Hamlyn Books. Do take a moment to look at some of their publications below Continue reading “MPP – 008 (Review)”

ST 2675 (Hints)

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2675 (Hints)

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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Congratulations to Prolixic.  Today, as Kairos, he has his first puzzle published in a national newspaper, the Independent on Sunday.

As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the more difficult clues and provide hints for them.

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DT 27079 (Hints)

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27079 (Hints)

Big Dave’s Crossword Club

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Today is your last chance to have a go at our January Prize crossword.

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 913

Toughie No 913 by Notabilis

Quality Always Shines Through

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

Greeting from a snow-bound Worcestershire. The third, and best, of a trio of excellent Toughies, this puzzle really was a pleasure to solve.

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DT 27078

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27078

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Good morning from a white North Devon. The lights have been flickering all morning so if this is the last you hear from me today you’ll know that we’ve had one of our fairly regular power cuts! Today’s puzzle is not as easy as last Friday’s but, I thought, still fairly gentle for one of Giovanni’s. Let us know how you got on.

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