November 2016 – Page 3 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Month: November 2016

MPP 054 – Review

by crypticsue  

Monthly Prize Puzzle – 054

November 2016

A Puzzle by Phibs

Two men who share a profession both need her to be found.

Identify them and put their surnames in the box

 

This crossword put up quite a fight but eventually I solved it all, saw where Nina fitted at the bottom of the grid and then had the biggest d’oh moment when I saw how she fitted in at the top.   Two famous books are revealed – Three Men in a Boat and Anna Karenina and so the surnames we needed to put ‘in the box’ were the authors (sharing the profession of writing) of the two works – Jerome and Tolstoy.

Thank you to Mrs BD for her assistance in drawing the winner  from the electronic ‘hat’ – many congratulations to R C Teuton  –  I hope he enjoys his prize of a Daily Telegraph puzzle book.

Thanks to Phibs for the challenge – writing the review I certainly appreciated some lovely surface readings.

 

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DT 28276 (Hints)

by Big Dave  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28276 (Hints)

Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club

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With regret I have had to withdraw the subscription facility.  It was provided by an outside source and, as it has not been updated for over a year, is not compatible with the latest version of WordPress.  It was responsible for the unavailability of the blog last Wednesday, which is the main reason it was withdrawn. 

One way of being informed of new posts and/or comments is via an RSS feed – a link has been provided in the sidebar to assist with this.  As this is a pull notification it is entirely under the control of the subscriber, which means both subscription and unsubscription are easily achieved.  There are many ways of operating an RSS feed  but my own personal preference is by using the Firefox add-on Brief.

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 1711

by Dutch  

Toughie No 1711 by Notabilis

Hints and tips by Dutch

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

Another beautifully precise puzzle from Notabilis. I managed to finish this in what for me is 3* time, but in the top half I was helped by the Nina which I boldly entered before the answers – I can imagine it might take a little longer if you don’t do that.… Continue reading

DT 28270

by crypticsue  

Daily Telegraph No 28270

A full review by crypticsue

This puzzle was published on 12th November 2016

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

The commenters on the day appeared to enjoy this puzzle but I’m afraid that once I’d groaned and filled in the solution to the ancient wrinkled chestnut that was 1a, I didn’t find an awful lot to cheer me up, so this Saturday Prize Puzzle wasn’t much of a birthday treat.

I did ask someone whether it was just me, and was advised that they thought it was ‘average’ but was surprised that no-one had commented on all the double unches.   I never consciously look at the grid until I’ve entered fair few solutions, so the sixteen double unches went unnoticed until I was reminded to look for them.

 

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