Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26412
Hints and tips by Crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
An excellent Wednesday crossword from Jay today. I enjoyed the solving process and am even more of a fan having written the review. A very nice mix of clues, some nice misleads and some lovely double definitions. I can already see the comments regarding my difficulty rating but that’s how I found it. I just hope you all found it as entertaining as I did. Thanks Jay.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26403
A full review by Crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
This Saturday’s offering was one with which I initially struggled but found that going from the bottom upwards made everything soon fall into place. Typing this review has confirmed my thoughts on finishing – that the mystery setter should be thanked for providing a most enjoyable crossword, a nice mix of excellent clues and very good entertainment. (Cephas posted on Sunday afternoon that he wasn’t responsible for this one as after just over 200 consecutive Saturdays, he had this week off) The only shame is that it’s a Saturday puzzle as were it one of Gazza’s days to review, he would have had a field day inserting ‘suitable’ pictures throughout, but sadly the technological complications of so doing are beyond my computer skills!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26391
A full review by Crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Once again, Cephas provided us with a most enjoyable crossword for a fine Saturday morning – a very nice mix of clues – a couple of which caused confusion for some on the day – but I thoroughly enjoyed both the solving and the subsequent analysis for this review.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26379
A full review by Crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Many thanks are due to Cephas for another very enjoyable Saturday puzzle. I have given it 3* for difficulty as my solving time was fairly quick – the only real problem I had was with my senior moment at 15d – my handwriting for all the other clues is extremely neat so I obviously didn’t have to struggle much with anything else. Other solvers didn’t agree but luckily the blog lived up to Big Dave’s introduction – “the wordplay will be explained by fellow solvers in simple, easy to understand, terms”. Today Mary was the fellow solver who did more than any of us to give explanations, although she has declined BD’s offer to produce next week’s hints!
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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2558
A full review by Crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***/**** – Enjoyment ***
Although I have been solving the daily cryptics for many years, I am a late convert to the Sunday Prize Puzzle, enjoy them greatly and can’t think why I didn’t do them before. As Peter Biddlecombe is on holiday, I have the pleasure of reviewing this week’s offering from Virgilius. I have given this crossword 3.5* for difficulty because of the struggle I had with a few of the clues and the fact that my total solving time was two-thirds longer than usual, which I don’t think was entirely due to blogger’s nerves or my attempts to overcomplicate the clues and thus be unable to see the solution! Thanks to Virgilius for the Sunday brain stretching. Peter will be back on duty next week and I can return to my usual routine – solving the Sunday puzzle while cooking the lunch!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26376
Hints and tips by Crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Like Gazza yesterday, I wasn’t sure I enjoyed this much while I was solving it, particularly as I had quite a struggle with some clues, but having typed the review, I find it has grown on me. Thanks to Jay for a good Wednesday morning brain workout.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26367
A full review by Crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I really enjoyed this nice Saturday puzzle – it didn’t take me too long to solve and had a nice mix of clues. I always imagine that someone new to the DT Cryptic might start with a Saturday puzzle as they would have more time to work out how the clues work. This particular puzzle would be an ideal one for a novice, but didn’t disappoint this experienced solver either.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26370
Hints and tips by Crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
I had a slight case of blogger’s nerves when I read the first few clues but soon settled down and thoroughly enjoyed Jay’s puzzle which has a very nice mix of clues including quite a few insertions and some very nice anagrams. Thanks to Jay for the very nice Wednesday work out – we do seem to be returning to the ‘old’ system where the difficulty increased on a daily basis with Friday being the ‘hardest’.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26355
A full review by Crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
When I had finished this crossword, taking twice as long as usual to do so(but still relatively quickly), I wasn’t sure whether I had really enjoyed the process or not. It turned out that I wasn’t the only one – comments ranged from ‘lacklustre’, ‘no pleasure’, and ‘boring’ to it being a ‘typical Saturday puzzle’. I tend to solve the puzzle on a sort of automatic pilot as, if I think about analysing what the type of clue is, I have trouble concentrating on the solving process; so don’t think about this until I do the review and my conclusions about this puzzle are given at the end.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26352
Hints and tips by Crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
Jay gave us a puzzle requiring quite a bit of thought which was a bit of a shock after three consecutive puzzles which took me no time at all – shame Other Dave wasn’t out of the office on Monday or Tuesday!! I didn’t notice when solving the puzzle but writing the review has made me realise that there is a slight leaning towards the United States today.
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