Sloggers & Betters (Manchester)
Saturday 4th May 2013
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Month: April 2013
NTSPP – 167
DT 27157 (Hints)
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27157 (Hints)
Big Dave’s Crossword Club
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Today is the last day you can enter the April Prize puzzle.
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.
Toughie 965
Toughie No 965 by Elkamere
An Order of Magnitude
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment *****
Elkamere has given us a very enjoyable puzzle to round off the Toughie week. Many favourites in this one, but the one that gave me the biggest smile was 25 across, even though overseas solvers, and many home solvers, may find it difficult to resolve the wordplay.
DT 27156
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27156
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
This Giovanni puzzle is about as straightforward as it gets on a Friday but he has given us some cracking clues (and one that doesn’t work). Let us know how you got on.
Continue reading “DT 27156”
DT 27151
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27151
A full review by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
The office lurgy was continuing to take its toll when I sat down to solve this puzzle last Saturday morning and it is that I am going to blame for taking three times as long as I normally take to solve a Prize Puzzle. I have based the BD rating on other solvers’ comments on the day as I felt that would be a fairer estimation of the difficulty level than basing it on my time taken!
Toughie 964
Toughie No 964 by Shamus
Hints and tips by Bufo
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ***
Yet another gentle Thursday Toughie.
DT 27155
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27155
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
I really enjoyed this one. Ray T always manages to bring a smile to my face, even though 20 down is a bit of an old chestnut!
ST 2686
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2686
A full review by gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Once again a great start to a Sunday with some trademark clues from Virgilius.
Toughie 963
Toughie No 963 by Excalibur
Can I Do You Now, Sir?
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Excalibur has a unique, quirky style which tends to polarise opinions. I can’t pretend that she’s one of my favourite setters but I do think that her puzzles have improved since the early Toughies and this is a fairly typical example with quite a lot of cryptic definitions. I didn’t find it particularly difficult – how about you?
Continue reading “Toughie 963”