April 2014 – Page 5 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie 1169

Toughie No 1169 by Beam

Hints and tips by Tilsit

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment ***

Greetings from the Calder Valley. When I was wondering who I was going to face today, I have to say the last person I would have expected was Ray T but we have a pleasant Friday challenge that won’t stretch the mind like most Friday Toughies. However, it was fun to tackle and full of the hallmarks of a Ray T puzzle, no hyphenated or multiple word answers and the odd risqué clue.

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DT 27461

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27461

Hints and tips by Deep Threat

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Good morning from South Staffs on a brightish Spring morning.

The usual sprinkling of lesser-known words this morning from Giovanni, but nothing from Scripture. Comfortably ** difficulty for me.

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DT 27456

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27456

A full review by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

This puzzle was published on  Saturday, 5th April 2014

A fairly typical Saturday puzzle – were  a couple of the clues  inspired by a visit to the zoo?

 

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Toughie 1168

Toughie No 1168 by Kcit

Hints and tips by Bufo

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

I enjoyed this puzzle which I thought was somewhat more difficult than Kcit puzzles normally are. It was still fairly straightforward and, unlike last week, there were no problems in sorting out the wordplay. The diagram with its four isolated corners probably added to the difficulty although it was nice not to be held up by tricky four-letter answers

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DT 27460

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27460

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment **

The only problem I had today was the minute or so that I spent on the wordplay for 13 down before the penny dropped. This lifted the difficulty to just inside a two-star rating.

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ST 2737

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2737

A full review by crypticsue

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

This puzzle was published on  Sunday, 30th March 2014

The clocks changing meant that I solved this very enjoyable Virgilius puzzle at what seemed to my sleepy head a very early hour but that didn’t detract from the entertainment.   Top favourites have to be 19a and 25d, the latter because I love the way our setter always hides something more than once.

 

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Toughie 1167

Toughie No 1167 by Sparks

I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment ***

The most difficulty I had in this enjoyable puzzle was in working out some of the wordplay (especially 26a).
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