Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26057
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Many thanks to Gazza and Libellule for looking after the blog this weekend while I was away in Cheltenham.
I don’t know if it was because I was recovering from the excesses of the weekend, but I found today’s contribution from the Monday Maestro to be a fair bit harder than usual (cue complaints from the usual suspects!). The cryptic definition at 1 across was one of the best in a Monday puzzle for a long time and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge that Rufus has set.
Another minor landmark – this is the 500th post on the blog (and the 5,000th comment was added last week).
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26051
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A typical offering from our Monday Maestro. You can get a bit lost in the isolated corners and I wasn’t too happy about “in Pakistan” as the definition of a river. There were, however, a few smiles along the way.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26045
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
It was nice to get going on this typical Rufus puzzle after my earlier brush with DT 49. I had missed the wonderful cryptic definitions that are to be found here.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26039
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Yet another relatively easy puzzle from Rufus to get the week off to a good start.
Big Dave Towers seems strangely empty today as the 3-litre Capri Ghia that we have owned for the last 23 years, 15 of which it spent motionless in the carport, went off to a new home yesterday.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26033
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
The usuall gentle start to the week, ideal for those who are cryptic novices but still enjoyable for the more experienced solvers.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26027
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Rufus usually gives us a fairly easy start to the week, but I’m sure I’m not the only one that found today’s puzzle to be a little more difficult. The usual excellent cryptic definitions from our Monday Maestro are to be found amongst today’s clues.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26021
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
This puzzle would make an excellent introduction for someone new to cryptic crosswords. All of the main elements of a good puzzle are here, and with the exception of the rather unusual definition used in 18 across, many of you will have completed and understood it without recourse to a dictionary. Thanks once again to Rufus, our Monday Maestro, for putting a smile on our faces on this Bank Holiday Monday.
If you were expecting Tilsit today, he will be here on Wednesdays in future.
Feel free to add your comments while the review is in preparation.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26015
Hints and Tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Time for another battle with the Monday Maestro. I have a feeling that those who find him to be extremely easy might have had a surprise today. There were one or two clues that caused me to scratch the old noggin and raise a few sparks. Overall quite a nice balance of clues, where some weeks we seem to have a preponderance of one type or another.
As usual, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts and welcome your contributions. A couple of things to remember, first time posters take a little longer to appear purely as they are vetted just to make sure they are not spammers being a pain in the rectum. There’s also a star rating facilitiy at the end of the blog and you can click on that to show your rating the puzzle. It’s purely for fun.
Oh, and for those who haven’t seen this in today’s papers!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26009
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Tilsit has a hospital appointment this morning, so I am, as the DJs say, sitting in for him, and he will reciprocate tomorrow.
The Monday Maestro has produced another puzzle with plenty of cryptic definitions to keep us amused. Let us know how you rate it by clicking on one of the stars at the bottom. As always we’d love to get your comments.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26003
The Return of the Native
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Back from my short stay in Stalag Luft Calderdale Hospital, where I staged a daring escape by making a small but serviceable glider from pee pots that were stashed in my secret store there. With a good wind I was able to launch myself off the roof and soar majestically down the Calder Valley and landed safe and sound back in Hebden Bridge.
And after a weekend allegedly recuperating, we have the Monday Maestro to tackle. After last week’s plethora of double definition clues, we seem to have an abundance of cryptic definitions which you either love or hate.
I found today’s puzzle pleasant and the usual fine warm-up to the week, but I do have an issue that the answer to one of the clues is almost handed to you on a plate by the clue to the intersecting answer. The answer is at 23 across and the clue at 21 down. I just think it looks untidy and would it have made the puzzle ultra-difficult by letting 21 down read “23 across-ed sheep tear about”? The expression at 10 across is new to me, and there could have been an ambiguity at 8 down, but it is resolved by the subsidiary indications. There are also issues with the use of “a”, which in some clues is essential, but in others is padding and would affect the clue’s surface reading if left out.
Let’s go……
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