Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25996 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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A fairly straightforward puzzle except for the obscurity at 10A which took me as long as the rest of the puzzle. I’m not keen on puzzles with one stinker clue like this after 29 easy ones – if, as I did, you already knew about orfes, peccadilloes, Lethean and Salieri.
When you read this I should be pedalling my bike about halfway between Tring and Limehouse, so I’ll respond to any feedback on Friday.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25990 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
A mostly easy puzzle, helped by straightforward clues to 15-letter answers. Only delay was in NW corner, where 11, 4, 2, 8 were the last few answers. A pretty good puzzle this – only a couple of weak CDs, and pretty solid surface meanings – only 13’s “axe a version” seemed really silly to me, and about half were as good as you could hope for – 8, 15 and 18 for example.
The charity bike ride which should have been happening on the day this appears has been postponed in the hope of getting two dry days in a row next week, riding on the second after the muddy sections of towpath have dried out on the first. Continue reading “DT 25990 – Review”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25984 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
More difficult than usual – I certainly struggled with 21A, as the S_R_T_ER with possible choices for the blanks takes up quite a bit of the print-out’s white space. A slightly unsatisfactory grid – answers like 1 and 10 are underchecked, but ones like 12, 15 and 17 are overchecked.
And now for something completely different – a bit of shameless advertising: Next Thursday, I’m cycling 60 miles along the Grand Union and Regents Canal towpaths in aid of Helen and Douglas House, a home providing respite and end of life care for children and young adults with life-shortening conditions, as well as support and friendship for their families.
If you would like to sponsor me for the ride (or read more), please visit http://www.justgiving.com/peters-canal-ride/
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25978 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
The difficulty of this puzzle was about average for a Saturday Telegraph. I didn’t enjoy this one much because there seemed to be quite a few problems of various kinds with the clues. So let’s get down to business.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25972 – Review
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
Peter Biddlecombe is taking a well-deserved break this week, but will be back next week.
Saturday puzzles recently have not deserved the accolade of prize puzzles, but this one was a lot better. I had a few minor grumbles,which are outlined in the review.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25966 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
A pretty easy puzzle, which will have disappointed those who want a bit more to chew over on a Saturday. In its favour, the surface readings are nearly all convincing. The grid seems to be a direct match of a Times one, dreamt up by their former xwd editor Edmund Akenhead, with a big black E as a “signature”. It’s now a bit eccentric at the Times – their only grid with any fully checked answers – but much better than some of the DT ones.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25960 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Much harder than most recent Saturday puzzles – something like double my average time for them. Mostly good grid, though it does have eight 7-letter words with only three checked letters. Some of my potential quibbles disappeared after looking up words in Chambers, so there are only a couple of clues I’d count as unfair. That said, there are some very easy cryptic definition clues to go with the difficult ones. Generally a better puzzle than most Saturdays as others said in the hints posting. My main reservation is the number of cryptic definitions which seem weak to me, like 28A. It seems very hard to make these difficult unless they’re unfairly vague. Did any readers get the same satisfaction from this as from working out the wordplay and def in a clue like 17, or even just half-remembering Polly Flinders at 2? Continue reading “DT 25960 – Review”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25954 – back into the atlas
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Decent grid, harder clues than usual for me – say 50% longer than a typical Saturday timing. Quite a few place-names, though I’d only count one as difficult. Last few answers in approx order for me: 11, 8, 1A, 5, 2, 4. (Dave says I should put A or D next to all the numbers, but I’m too good at choosing the wrong one and generating “You did really mean 8A didn’t you?” comments. So no letters from me except where they’re essential. Tough answer words or wordplay elements were: 8 (medlar), 11, 5, 23. Most of the clues were good, but some really let the side down.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25948 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A pretty sound puzzle of moderate difficulty. No grid gripes, no geography, no arbitary people. Rejoice! Well, there are some gripes below but it feels like fewer than usual.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25942 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
An extra enjoyment star as I liked this more than most Saturday puzzles. The grid is sound with one small reservation – the NW and SE corners are a bit isolated, and swapping the lengths of 12 and 13 (and of course 22 and 23) would fix this. There are no placename answers, just a couple of islands in wordplay. There are still arbitrary people – three ladies (Anne, Crystal, Lizzie) and one gent (Gus). There are a few tricky answer words, including 6D and 11A, so their crossing might be a tricky area. Surface meanings are mostly good, and I only found four cases of “surface padding”. Curiously, all the 3-letter answers have a U in the middle, and none of them have to – I don’t know whether this is significant.
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