Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26235
A full review by Gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Morning All! Following our recent meeting at the White Horse, Parson’s Green (where we were discussing the cutting edge of crossword theory) BD asked if I might like to take on the Saturday review. Working full time precludes getting a review out on the day so this is a perfect compromise as I have 4 days to get the writing done. Thanks to BD for the opportunity (I was going to suggest it anyway!).
Whilst there were a few obscure and abstruse words here they were in general clued sufficiently clearly to allow solving (with maybe a dictionary confirmation afterwards). The two star rating reflects my solving experience as compared to some recent Cephas puzzles but please let us know what you think.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26229
A full review by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
An enjoyable Prize puzzle from Cephas, with no major grumbles from me!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26223
A full review by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Although there are a number of weakish clues, this prize puzzle is not too bad.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26217
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
The usual mix of good and not-so-good, but continuing the steady improvement.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26211
A full review by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
This puzzle received a mixed reception. My own view is that, although there is room for improvement, the Saturday puzzles have come a long way in the last twelve months.
My advice to all setters, would be as follows: if the first draft of a new puzzle contains phrases like 9a and 14a, words that are in nobody’s vocabulary, boys or girls names, places other than major cities or countries, scrap the puzzle and start again!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26205
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Another of the new, improved Saturday Prize puzzles. Let us know what you think – too easy?, too hard?, like it?, don’t like it?
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26199
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
One of the most difficult aspects of any cryptic crossword is the definition. Often the setter’s idea of a synonym is somewhat different from yours. See what you think about 4a, 24a, 5d and 17d – with better definitions this would probably be 4* rather than 3*.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26193
A full analysis by Tilsit
All in the Mind
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Another enjoyable puzzle from Cephas with some clever clues and only one or two to make you suck your teeth. I especially liked 18 across, which was a nice anagram, but suffers from a lack of an anagram indicator. One of the difficulties I have with the Telegraph puzzles is the preponderance of cryptic definitions and while the good ones are very clever, there are a lot of less than satisfactory ones about. 15 across today is a good one.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26187
A full analysis by Tilsit
A Classy Act
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from the Calder Valley and having been able to stay hospital-free for at least four days, I am pleased to be back blogging. I am still feeling a bit weak but I am starting to go out a little and get a little fresh air.
In the meantime I am also wrestling with a brand new PC, which has been a bit of a pain (Helpful Tip of The Day: Don’t Ever Buy Anything from PC World!) but is now coming together.
Back to Saturday’s Prize Puzzle. I really enjoyed it and was so pleased to see Cephas at the top of his game. Some good challenging clues and little in the way of “padding”, though I think the clue at 19 across could have been better worded, or the word used been avoided all together. Virtually everyone who posted on Saturday had had problems with it.
As usual, have your say about the puzzle after the review and don’t forget the star rating system as well.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26181
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
A bit harder than last week – heading in the right direction!
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