Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25876 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **

For me, this was rather a disappointing puzzle. I’m not mad keen on the grid, with some 7-letter answers with only 3 letters checked, though some others have 5 checked letters. And like some other DT grids, it’s all short words – the longest entry is 9 letters. It does have a good side – the shortest answer is 6 letters so we get a day off from ERATO and tricky little 4-letter words.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25870 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***

A bit of a geography tour, this one. An easyish puzzle, though one or two words held me up a bit – finding the right “word – A = other word” at 17 in particular. * indicates an anagram in the notes below.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25864 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

I slipped up at 17D, but the rest was done in about an average time for a Times puzzle. Probably slower than it should have been, but I’m getting used to this setter’s style and tend to play safe with the answers that feel weak, like 21 and 13, and wait for plenty of checking letters. Continue reading “DT Cryptic No 25864 – Review”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25858 – Review
A full analysis by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
As many of you are aware, this crossword was accidentally released on the CluedUp website last Friday. Although it was subsequently replaced by the correct Friday puzzle, this was not before Libellule had reviewed it for us. Here is that review, revised to give all of the answers. BD

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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25852 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
This analysis is the first contribution from Peter Biddlecombe. Peter was Times crossword champion in 2000 and 2007 and is a pioneer in crossword blogging in the UK (see Times for the Times). I gave this two stars for both difficulty and enjoyment, Peter has been rather more generous and upped it to three! BD.
My time for this was about 60% longer than an average Times puzzle, but I made life hard for myself with two dud answers which had to be corrected – ROUGH OUT at 6D, though the weakness of “some golf = rough” should have made me rub this out, and INCITE at 22D. Without these, an ‘average Times’ time should have been possible.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25846 – Review
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *
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See also the original posting for DT Cryptic No 25846
Continue reading “DT Cryptic No 25846 – Review”