NTSPP – 212
A Puzzle by Alchemi
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Author: crypticsue
DT 27414
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27414
A full review by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
The Mysteron obviously noticed that Cephas didn’t have so many anagrams as usual last week, so he made up for it by giving us eight this week!
MPP – 021 (review)
Monthly Prize Puzzle – February 2014
A crossword by Alchemi
Reviewed by crypticsue
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Congratulations to Jez Wagg who followed the instructions in rows 2, 8 and 14 of the grid and correctly spotted that not only were there 11 ‘aitches’ in the solutions to this crossword but that there were two black H shapes in the grid, making a total of 13. [Some entrants included the word “aitch” as a 14th occurrence and these were also included in the draw. BD] He wins a copy of The Telegraph Centenary Crossword Collection, The book was kindly donated by Phil McNeill, the Telegraph Puzzles Editor, and has been signed by Phil and six of the Telegraph setters who are featured in the book (Elgar, Roger Squires/Rufus, Micawber, Peter Chamberlain/Cephas, Notabilis and Don Manley/Giovanni).
NTSPP – 210
NTSPP – 210
Two Birthday Puzzles by Prolixic
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DT 27408
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27408
A full review by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I spent last Saturday afternoon in a nice pub in Bristol with my fellow bloggers telling me that ‘today’s puzzle wouldn’t take me long’. Trouble was I had to wait until the evening to solve it as I didn’t see it until I got back to the paper waiting for me at my brother’s house – the promised morning print-out having been swallowed by Gnomey’s printer. ‘They’ were right! I found it a slightly different Cephas crossword this week – there seemed to be more cryptic definitions than his usual sprinkling of anagrams
ST 2729
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2729
A full review by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Lovely stuff as usual on a Sunday morning. My top favourites were 10a and 14a. If I had one slight quibble, it would be that I did have to type anagram quite a lot in this review.
ST 2728
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2728
A full review by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ****
A Virgilius crossword with four fourteen letter clues always appears to take longer to sort out than most, but actually it didn’t take that long to solve at all.
DT 27390
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27390
A full review by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
A fairly typical Saturday prize puzzle from the Mysteron, but with a few too many ‘old friends’ for my liking. Perhaps I have been doing these crosswords too long!!
MPP – 020 (review)
Monthly Prize Puzzle – January 2014
A crossword by Prolixic
Reviewed by crypticsue
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Interesting that one of the simplest questions ever posed in the Monthly Prize Puzzle series, requiring no arcane knowledge, geographical, mathematical or language skills, just the ability to spot that the initial letter of each clue told you where to look, should prove so tricky for many solvers! If you didn’t ‘see’ it, I will let you have time to put your shin pads on (as it will hurt when you kick yourself), and reveal all in a grid at the end of the review.
Congratulations to Kiwi Colin who wins a copy of The Telegraph Centenary Crossword Collection, an extra special prize which BD will endeavour to get to him. The book was kindly donated by Phil McNeill, the Telegraph Puzzles Editor, and has been signed by Phil and six of the Telegraph setters who are featured in the book (Elgar, Roger Squires/Rufus, Micawber, Peter Chamberlain/Cephas, Notabilis and Don Manley/Giovanni).
DT 27384
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27384
A full review by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
It is quite rare to get a Pangram in a Saturday prize puzzle but Cephas provided us a crossword which included all the letters of the alphabet in addition to several of his usual nicely-indicated anagrams.