November 2013 – Page 6 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

DT 27325

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27325

A full review by gnomethang

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ****

Morning All! I was breezing through this puzzle on the day but had to stop a couple of times in order to admire some clues and also to make sure that I had the correct answer on a couple of others. A very good puzzle in my opinion.

 

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Toughie 1080

Toughie No 1080 by MynoT

Hints and tips by Bufo

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

My heart sank when I saw that my first blogging assignment for four weeks was to be a MynoT puzzle. But I soon cheered up when I found it to be a really a good puzzle and a vast improvement on many of MynoT’s offerings. Once again I showed that I am one of the world’s worse nina spotters because I didn’t see the rather obvious nina until after I’d finished the puzzle. But this was probably a good thing because had I spotted it early on I might now be complaining that the puzzle was too easy! There were a couple of answers that I hadn’t met before but these could readily be worked out from the wordplay.

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ST 2715

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2715

A full review by gnomethang

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

Morning All!. This was an absolute corker of a puzzle from Mr Brian Greer (Virgilius) that placed two themes inside: The Times Crossword Championship 2013 (John H being a previous winner) which occurred on the Saturday 19th October and then the 50th Birthday of John Henderson (Elgar to you over here in the Toughie and also Nimrod in the Independent, Enigmatist in the Guardian, and IO in the FT. He also sets in the Listener series of barred thematic cryptics. Lots of these thematic materials appear in this puzzle and they are highlighted in RED and BLUE as required in the blog.

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DT 27329

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27329

Hints and tips by Falcon

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Greetings from Ottawa where temperatures have been unseasonably mild and we have so far escaped with no more than an insignificant dusting of snow.

Aside from 1d, I found today’s puzzle to be a bit on the gentle side but also quite an enjoyable exercise for the most part.

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Toughie 1079

Toughie No 1079 by Micawber

Chuckles Galore

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

I always get a lovely warm feeling from a Micawber Toughie and today is no exception. There are lots of chuckles and nothing very obscure (although I didn’t know the word for the hummus ingredient in 6a).
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Toughie 1078

Toughie No 1078 by Warbler

Warpaint!

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ****

Once again my favourite lady setter on the Telegraph panel demonstrates that a puzzle doesn’t have to be difficult to be very enjoyable. There’s a collection of thematic answers and, in 22 across and 20 down, a clever construct that I don’t recall seeing before.

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DT 27326

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27326

Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***

The usual consistent crossword from the Maestro, but I don’t think it offered as much entertainment as we usually expect.

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ST 2716 (Hints)

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2716 (Hints)

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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The November prize puzzle is now available.

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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