Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Saturday’s puzzles alternate between Peter Chamberlain, who is also known as Cephas, and another setter
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
One of the best Saturday Prize puzzles for quite a while has no answer of less than six letters. Most of the recent puzzles from Cephas have been pangrams – that is all 26 letters of the alphabet are used – and this one is no exception.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
One of the better Saturday puzzles, but still among the easiest of the week. As has been the case for several previous weeks, this one is pangrammatic – that means it contains all 26 letters of the alphabet.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
One of the better Saturday Prize puzzles today – as long as you ignore the surface readings of a number of the clues!
Continue reading “DT 26104”
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
A better puzzle than last week – things may be on the up! Like several other Saturday puzzles, this one is pangrammatic – which means it contains all 26 letters of the alphabet – and this can sometimes help you solve those last few clues.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *
Only the Telegraph, among quality dailies, would have a prize puzzle that is this easy.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
After the previous week’s encouraging puzzle it was normal service resumed with this week’s Saturday offering. So much so, that I dashed it off and it was quickly forgotten.
It’s sad to me that puzzles like this should be in when the Friday and Sunday setters produce so much better work. Most other papers treat the Saturday puzzle as the crowning glory of the week and you get a puzzle with a bit of a challenge. I am sad that this is not the case with the DT. I wouldn’t mind one of these once a month with the others perhaps rotating.
This is a hotchpotch of a few decent clues drowned by some that one wouldn’t expect to find in an on-the-shelf puzzle magazine.
I know I may be a lone voice in this, but I just feel that those who wish to improve their solving can do so on a Friday and Sunday with beautiful constructions and ideas that challenge and stretch where on a Saturday some of that is sacrificed for the sake of surface reading of a clever clue. Perhaps in the setter’s defence, it may be a brief to which he has been asked to work, but if so, it needs to be revisited, in my opinion.
At least the grid had no double unches!
As usual, I would welcome you telling me I am a lone voice, or agreeing with me and you can do so. Feel free to rate the puzzle by the star system. As the deadline has passed Saturday answers are not hidden away in the brackets.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
This prize puzzle turned out to be very popular. It was easy enough for the newer solvers and generated a few smiles among those more experienced. I think the message to Cephas is quite clear – “Please Sir, can we have some more?”
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
On second reading I found little to change my earlier opinion. This is a reasonable puzzle which has one or two debatable clues, As Saturday puzzles go it is better than most. Enough said.
Tilsit and I have swapped for this week, and his review of last Sunday’s puzzle will be posted tomorrow.
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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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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I thought this was quite an easy puzzle, but there were a few clues that generated queries last weekend. My only real complaints were the use of “from” to indicate an anagram and the American term for a water pistol, which is rarely used in the UK, although I would be interested to read your opinion on these.
Tilsit hopes to be back in this slot next week.
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.