July 2019 – Page 2 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Month: July 2019

DT29108

by gnomethang  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29108

A full review by gnomethang

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This puzzle was published on 20th July 2019

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

Morning All! Some very nice surface readings here and about the right level of difficulty for a Saturday Prize Puzzle in my opinion.

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Toughie 2269

by Miffypops  

Toughie No 2269 by Beam
A Prime Number For A Prime Puzzle
Hints and tips by Shaft

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

Some years ago I spent about three weeks struggling through a Beam Toughie ending up with one unsolved clue of four letters with two checkers. I puzzled over that clue several times a day for many weeks. In desperation I typed the clue into Google and found Big Dave’s Crossword Blog. I would never have thought that one day I would write the hints for a Beam toughie. Well that day has arrived and it is thanks to Big Dave and his team of bloggers that I can sit here confidently writing these hints and tips. Continue reading “Toughie 2269”

DT 29111

by 2Kiwis  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29111

Hints and tips by 2Kiwis

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

Kia ora from Aotearoa.

We’re back in the Wednesday blogging chair again. Thanks Miffypops for doing the honours in our absence and for keeping up a New Zealand theme.

Still in the midst of winter here, albeit a mild one, but a few adventurous spring flowers are just starting to appear.

A quality puzzle from Jay once again.

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Toughie 2267

by Big Dave  

Toughie No 2267 by Donnybrook

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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

I struggled with some of the clues but looking back the only ones that involved something I had never encountered were the Chinese port in 10 Across and the American “spin” in 7 Down. This was certainly not a typical (Fluffy) Tuesday puzzle! Continue reading “Toughie 2267”

DT 29110

by Mr K  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29110

Hints and tips by Mr K

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BD Rating  -  Difficulty *** -  Enjoyment ****

 

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another Tuesday.  Today's puzzle features several clues with cunning misdirection, which I came to appreciate even more while writing the hints.  I'm partial to clues like that, so I've bumped up the enjoyment rating.  I look forward to reading what everybody thought of it.  I'm wondering if our setter might be a (1-4) sports car?

Many thanks from me and BD to the hundreds of readers who replied to last week's survey.  We learned that the most popular devices used to read the blog are iPads (38%), Windows computers (24%), and Android phones and tablets (24%).  Only 8% of respondents don't like the new theme and everybody thinks the site is fast enough.  Several responses mentioned difficulties following the threaded comments, which we have now tried to address by reducing white space inside comments and by adding a number and a border to top-level comments.  We also learned that iPad users like the big font and wide spacing, while readers using computers would like pages to appear more compressed on their big screens.  In the hints and tips section of my blog today I'm trialling a smaller font.  I'd appreciate hearing whether it looks better on computer screens and if it's still legible on iPads.  Any other comments that will help us fine tune the theme are most welcome.

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