Toughie No 250 by Shamus
Tough Stuff!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Very much at the top end of the scale today from Shamus. A puzzle of beautiful construction but some hard-to-parse answers. I was convinced for a while that there might be a faulty anagram at 18 across, but Gazza came to the rescue, and analysed it correctly for me.
Elegant cluemanship as always from Shamus, very much in the Giovanni mould.
As usual, the answers are hidden in between the squiggly brackets. Highlighting them reveals all. You can rate the puzzle using our star system at the end of the blog, and of course have your say and give your opinion after the blog as well. A reminder that first-time posters sometimes take a wee while to appear as they have to be approved, in order to prevent the board being hijacked by spammers.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26083
Weak after the event ……..
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
After the ferocity of last Wednesday, we are back to a more reasonable puzzle that I am sure most of you will enjoy. The clues are nicely written and should not prove too much trouble for the majority of solvers. However, we are here to point you in the right direction, if a nudge is needed. Apart from a couple of dodgy anagram indicators, I found it very reasonable fare.
However, this is where I get to be controversial. As I have said, this is quite an elegant puzzle with the anagram clues invariably written with a little thought and style. However, this puzzle is almost entirely filled with these and word-sum clues, of which there are over a dozen. It provides an ideal challenge for those learning to solve cryptics, but I prefer a variety of clue types, with an occasional mind-stretcher. This sits firmly at the opposite ends of the universe inhabited by last Wednesday’s and I am happy for these puzzles, as long as we are treated to an occasional difficult one.
The answers, if you are really stuck, are hidden between the squiggly brackets and highlighting the space between them will reveal the answer.
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Toughie No 246 by Firefly
Over-egging the Pudding
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from the drizzle-sodden Calder Valley. After yesterday’s thought-provoking Daily puzzle, it’s time to return to Toughie pastures. I would like to start by offering an apology of sorts for my posting late last evening. I was probably quite tired and emotional (not in the Private Eye sense of the phrase, as I don’t drink!), but have had a couple of difficult days health-wise which conspired to leave me feeling somewhat drained and a bit upset at what I saw as unnecessarily nasty comments about what was a decent if somewhat tougher puzzle..
Back to today’s challenge. One of my favourite programmes is on BBC2 tonight. The Restaurant with the lovely Raymond Blanc. Last week’s opening episode brought one of those TV moments where you watch almost with your hands over your eyes, as one aspiring restaurateur held a Sabatier knife by the blade and tried to hit it with a rolling pin to crack open a coconut. Today’s Toughie wasn’t as bad as that, but I feld that one or two clues were over-egged and a bit forced in terms of content. It seemed that the setter found an idea to run with, but instead of perhaps thinking enough is enough (or un oeuf is un oeuf in one case!), perseverance didn’t pay off and the clue suffered for it. Otherwise it was a reasonable challenge and quite enjoyable. It will give me an opportunity to play some favourite comedy and music and I think it’s time to have a look at it.
As usual, post your comments after the blog and you can rate the puzzle by means of the star system.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26077
Enjoyable or 5 Down?
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from the Calder Valley. I think I nearly had a relapse with today’s puzzle. Another grid that I am not too keen on, as you are only offered one way into each corner. With almost 50% of the answers you have neither the first nor last letter, and, with the exception of the two long answers, in the remainder you have only either the first or last letter. This to me adds additional difficulties in solving. The other problem is using the Clued Up software, you don’t automatically see the enumeration if the solution runs across two answer spaces, e.g. 1a and 9a.
As the setter is a very dear friend, I am used to solving some of his puzzles and he does produce some of the toughest around in the variety of dailies he sets for. I suspect here he is an acquired taste for some, and I hope you won’t be put off, particularly as one of the answers gives me a chance to play you one of the funniest pieces of comedy from TV history. If you feel you are quite blank with this, have a look at how one or two of the clues work below (especially the two log ones), and go back to it. I know sometimes when you look at a puzzle and don’t get much in reward, the temptation is to leave it, but persevere, it is worth the effort. If only for solving 20 across which made me smile. The puzzle itself is terrific and contains some wonderful clues.
As usual, you can have your say after the puzzle, and rate the puzzle using the star system. I know all the bloggers love reading what you have to say and it helps us pitch our blogs to you as well. For new visitors, your first comments always have to be moderated to prevent spammers gumming up the works. And if you wish to see the answer, it is hidden between the squiggly brackets at the start of each clue. Simply highlifght that part of the page to view the answer.
And if you do get really stuck, as the man on telly used to say, don’t have nightmares, and another will be along tomorrow, as will I with the Toughie!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26068
A Really Grumpy Old Man writes ……
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *
I manage to enjoy most puzzles that I solve, but this just left me completely cold. I am sure there are some of you who will have enjoyed this but I just found some of the cluing lazy and lacking any wit or imagination. There are few decent clues there but they are swamped by the dross. I won’t comment on the double unches in the grid as one of my esteemed colleagues will come on and point out they are OK, suffice it to say I do not.
Fortunately there are better Saturday puzzles and I shall seek solace in those. In fact, this puzzle limps a long way behind all of the others. I have no problem with an easier puzzle if the clues are elegantly written (see every Monday in the Telegraph), but most clues here today are uninspired and in a few cases hackneyed. It would be the sort of puzzle I would expect to see in a magazine such as The Puzzler rather than a serious newspaper.
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Toughie No 242 by Giovanni
Cooking the Books!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
A really enjoyable challenge from Giovanni today, but it contained a rare flaw from our setter. The answer to 4 down contained a misspelling. However all is well now and a correct spelling and clue have been inserted. I have known Giovanni for a number of years and on checking with him, and realising a slip had been made and being the professional he is, he was mortified. A quick exchange of mail and all resolved. This didn’t distract too much from the overall puzzle, which was to his usual standard.
A good balance of all types of clue in the puzzle with a couple of fairly tricky explanations. However fairness is paramount at all times, and aspiring setters should study the wording and phrasing of the clues to see how he achieves the clever surface reading.
Have your say after the review, but do remember that new posters may wait a little while (sometimes a few minutes, possibly an hour or so) to have first posts approved. This just prevents those nasty spammers from gluing up the works. You can also rate the puzzle with the star rating.
[I have now been able to access the new version, but only from the Play Puzzles / Crossword Puzzles page, not from the home page. BD]
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26071
Double D Maths
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A preponderance of Word Sums and Double Definition clues today with the odd anagram thrown in. A few of the clues were old chestnuts to me, but if you haven’t sen them before, they will probably raise a chuckle with you. It was probably a 2 ½ for difficulty rather than three, really. But I am sure a few of you will feel that three is appropriate.
Sorry for being a bit late, but clandestine meetings with Distrcit Nurses have been the order of the day!
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Toughie No 238 by Warbler
Hints and Tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Tilsit is currently being given the run-around at the hospital – being wheeled from department to department. He is hoping to be let out on parole for good behaviour this evening, and to be able to write the review then.
Sorry for the lateness with the posting but as Big Dave said, I have been ferried around the hospital in preparation for going home tomorrow. However, courtesy of a rather nice nurse, I was able to get all of today’s newspaper puzzles printed off and I was able to solve them while waiting for treatment. With the exception of today’s Independent puzzle by our old chum Elgar, this Toughie was the most enjoyable of them all.
It was quite a tough solve, though and some of the clues needed a bit of thinking outside the box. However the anagrams were nice and appropriate, although I don’t like “made up names” as in 26 across. There were also some good uses of present-day words and phrases, rather than some puzzles where you feel like you’re being transported back to the 1950’s. There were a couple of dodgy surface readings, though. Rather too many anagrams for my liking too.
Here we go. Have your say (some of you already have!) and / or rate the puzzle using the star system.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26065
Hints and tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Calderdale Hospital where yours truly is still recovering and likely to be here for a little while longer. This was a reasonably typical midweek puzzle which should please most people, although there were a couple of pitfalls here and there.
I thought a number of the surface readings were a little contrived for one or two clues, but otherwise it was a pleasant challenge.
As usual, the answers can be revealed by highlighting between the squiggly brackets and you can rate the puzzle by clicking on the star ratings. Feel free to comment, but newer posters need to be approved first to prevent those nasty spammers from peddling their rubbish.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26050
After the Lord Mayor’s Show…….
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment **
Last week we were treated to a hugely enjoyable puzzle which contained references to that well-known character Big Dave. This week we came back down to earth with a bump and while we don’t talk about solving times as part of the blog, let’s just say that cooking two hard-boiled eggs might have taken me longer.
Most of the Saturday papers tend to reserve their toughest or most elegant puzzles for a Saturday, but the Telegraph I think tends the other way, with a friendly none-too-taxing challenge, which generates lots of entries for the prize. In that respect, it ticks all the boxes. However, I prefer a puzzle that does offer a bit of a challenge. The grid was pretty awful as well, with lots of “double unches” (double unchecked letters) and a lot of four letter words which are clued rather uninspiringly. Compare with the Wednesday puzzle where the four-letter answers were clued with a bit of imagination and care.
The other slight issue was that the clue at 10 across was clued differently on line than in the paper. Luckily the answers were the same, otherwise there might have been a bigger problem.
Here are the clue explanations:-
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