NTSPP – 165
A Puzzle by Hieroglyph
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Month: April 2013
DT 27145 (Hints)
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27145 (Hints)
Big Dave’s Crossword Club
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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.
Prize Puzzle – April 2013
Monthly Prize Puzzle No 11 (April 2013) by Prolixic
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Why not have a go at our eleventh Monthly Prize Puzzle? The winner will receive their choice of any of the current Telegraph Crossword Books.
Please note that, due to punitive postal charges, while the competition is open to all, the prize is only available to UK solvers.
A review will follow after the closing date (20th April 2013).
Toughie 957
Toughie No 957 by Elgar
If I had a hammer!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
As we all know by now, having reached no 957 in the series, while some days the Toughies can be on the fluffy side, when you see Elgar’s name at the top of the page there is no doubt that it will definitely be one of the ‘most devious cryptic puzzles ever’.
Chambers defines ‘hammer’ (amongst other things) as a verb meaning ‘to contrive or think out by intellectual labour’ which certainly fits the solving process today. It is a proper hob-nailed, impaler of an Elgar, one of those cryptics where the more complicated clues blind you to the really straightforward stuff (with at least five d’oh moments), but the solving process is helped once you realise that it is a pangram.
DT 27144
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27144
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
For the last few weeks Giovanni has shown his gentler side but today he’s given us a more substantial problem to tackle. Even so there are some pretty easy clues interspersed with the trickier ones to get us started. I found it very enjoyable but I anticipate, after yesterday’s avalanche of complaints, that not everyone will agree. Do let us know how you got on.
Continue reading “DT 27144”
DT 27139
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27139
A full review by gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Morning All! The Saturday Mysteron gave us a reasonably straightforward puzzle that I found quite enjoyable.
Toughie 956
Toughie No 956 by MynoT
Nothing to write home about
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
I thought this MynoT Toughie was a bit dull, but maybe it’s just me.
DT 27143
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27143
Engaging Pencil before Brain
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from the Calder Valley! I’m helping BD out today as his Toughie blogger is not around. We have a pleasant offering from Ray T (I thought it was Petitjean because of the pop references!). Nothing too taxing, although I hadn’t heard of the alternative spellings of 4 down and 5 across, which I had only seen in the Bible in that form. I wonder how many of you have an answer at 7 down which is actually correct. I had an answer in there which when I came to parse it, I couldn’t and realised with a prod from BD, that I was wrong. A good example of answering without thinking fully.
ST 2684
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2684
A full review by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Virgilius with his slightly trickier hat on – but oh what fun! As I work my way through a puzzle, I put dots by the clues I like, and the down clues in particular looked like they were suffering from an outbreak of measles!
Toughie 955
Toughie No 955 by Osmosis
Woman Hitler? (6-2-3)
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
This isn’t a terribly difficult Toughie with the four long clues round the periphery giving me a good start, but I did find it enjoyable.
Continue reading “Toughie 955”