Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26325
A full review by Gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Afternoon All!. There seemed to be an awful lot of heads and tails being cut off in this puzzle which may have made it easier for some. I personally thought that a couple of the Cryptic Definitions were a tad weak but as usual from Cephas there were a few charades that were not so easy. On the whole I found this as enjoyable as ever. I selected 3 stars for difficulty based on my head-scratching whilst mopping up the last few.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26313
A full review by Gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Afternoon All!. I solved this between a Bacon Sandwich and a round of Golf. When I got back to the ‘blog I saw a number of comments rating it as poor. Having just reviewed it for Thursday I still found it enjoyable (despite some quibbles) and not too hard, but certainly not poor.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26301
A full review by Gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Afternoon All!. We have an archetypal Cephas puzzle with no really difficulties but one possible bone of contention at 24d. Personally I enjoyed it, hence the 3 stars.
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NTSPP – 023 (Review)
A Puzzle By Prolixic
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Good Evening All! Prolixic has given us another very enjoyable puzzle for the NTSPP series. I found slightly tougher than his last but there is nothing really problematical that I can see having reviewed it a few weeks after test solving it. Continue reading “NTSPP – 023 (Review)”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26289
A full review by Gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Afternoon All!. After last weeks shenanigans we have a pretty non-controversial puzzle that still manages to entertain whilst making one think.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26277
A full review by Gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Afternoon All! We had a puzzle that, judging from many of the comments, was reasonably straightforward but nonetheless enjoyable and had some very good clues. I have tried to address some of the discussions in last Saturday’s blog where some words could not be mentioned!
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Not The Saturday Prize Puzzle – 019
A Puzzle by Prolixic
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Evening All!. For the 19th in our NTSPP collection we have a very entertaining puzzle from Prolixic. I found this much more balanced than his earlier offerings and the difficulty level should appeal to all. Enjoy!.
As ever you can leave you assessment via the stars at the bottom and you can check the answers between the curly brackets
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26270
Hints and tips by Gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Morning All!. I really enjoyed solving this puzzle. It was one of those that looked quite daunting on the first read through but with time and a bit of Crypticsue’s ‘cogitation’ each clue unlocked itself. As one comes to expect from Giovanni there are some lovely surface readings and images therein and a few diverting clues that require the crossword equivalent of a gentle a tap with a taffy hammer before they can be broken down.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post and as ever, if you still feel the need, you can get the answers by dragging your cursor between the curly brackets.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26265
A full review by Gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Afternoon, All!. In my opinion this week’s Saturday Prize Puzzle from Cephas was an improvement on the last couple of weeks (particularly the Cryptic Definitions). There were, however, a couple of clues that caused great rumblings from ‘bloggers on the day; some justified and some, perhaps not. Whilst I was expecting the usual pangram puzzle (Cephas’ trademark) we were left lacking a ‘K’. Whether this was due to a last minute editorial change or simply to fox us will, I fear, remain a mystery.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26259
A full review by Gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Once again, as last week, I thought that this puzzle was let down by some clues that didn’t really cut the mustard, in particular some of the cryptic definitions. Also some of the surface reading telegraphed the wordplay instruction which made the puzzle very straightforward as a result. This is a shame really as more recent Saturday Prize Puzzles have been more tricky and, for me, more enjoyable.
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