Tuesday – Page 85 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

DT 26632

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26632

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment *****

What a lovely surprise! We have a superb puzzle today, a breath of fresh air chock-full of excellent and amusing clues. Even without the big hint at 20a I would have guessed that one of our newest Toughie setters has graduated to the back page. If the Telegraph Puzzles Editor is reading this, could I stress the need to keep this setter for Tuesdays. :D
If you want to see an answer just highlight the space between the brackets under the relevant clue.

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DT 26626

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26626

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty */**Enjoyment **

This is a pretty gentle puzzle for a Tuesday. My problem with it is not its relative ease, but that the compiler seems to have put all his/her effort into getting the wordplay right without paying too much attention to the surface readings. As a result the surface in a number of the clues is clunky or meaningless. Do you agree or disagree? – let us know in a comment.
In the unlikely event that you need to see an answer just drag your cursor through the space between the brackets under the clue.

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DT 26620

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26620

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment **

There’s nothing too difficult in today’s puzzle but nothing that really stands out either. How did it grab you?
If you want to see an answer just highlight the space between the curly brackets under the relevant clue.

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DT 26614

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26614

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Today’s puzzle from the Mysteron is quite pleasant but not too taxing. How did you find it?
To reveal an answer just highlight the space between the brackets under the clue.

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DT 26608

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26608

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty */**Enjoyment ***

It didn’t take long to write in the answers for this puzzle, but some of the wordplay is a bit trickier (and I needed the help of a fellow blogger to get to the bottom of one clue) so I quite enjoyed it. It seems to have a bit of a food theme. How did you get on?
If you want to see an answer highlight the space between the brackets under the relevant clue.

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DT 26602

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26602

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment **

We were taken to task yesterday, in a comment from StevieG, for referring to some puzzles as fairly straightforward, because this might be discouraging to some solvers who don’t find them straightforward at all. However, if we’re writing a review we have to be able to say how difficult we found the puzzle relative to the average back-pager, and in my opinion this one is, well, fairly straightforward. It does have a few entertaining clues (but too many anagrams for my taste). Do feel free to agree or disagree.
If you want to see an answer just drag your cursor through the space between the brackets under the clue.

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DT 26596

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26596

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Perhaps we’re going to get a “North American” week because, after yesterday’s Independence Day theme, today’s puzzle has a distinctly American flavour. It didn’t take me too long to solve and I wasn’t too impressed at first, but I did warm to it more when writing the review. What did you think?
If you want to reveal an answer drag your cursor through the space between the brackets under the clue.

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DT 26590

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26590

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

I made a complete dog’s breakfast of 1a at the start, but once I’d sorted that out this enjoyable puzzle by Shamus didn’t take overlong. How did you find it?
If you want to see an answer highlight the space between the brackets under the relevant clue.

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DT 26584

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26584

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment **/***

We have a puzzle with a bit of an American flavour from a mystery setter today. It didn’t really grab me when I was solving it, but I did like it a bit better when I was writing the blog. Let us know your views in a comment.
To reveal an answer just highlight the space between the brackets under the clue.

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DT 26578

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26578

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment ***

We have an enjoyable puzzle from one of our mystery setters today, although I have a couple of quibbles. I found the bottom half more difficult than the top – let us know how you found it.
To reveal an answer drag your cursor through the space between the brackets under the clue.

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