Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26269
Hints and tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I suspect this has the hand of Campbell all over it. Very similar to his puzzles in the FT and Toughie. Not the hardest of puzzles to solve, and I suspect that many of you will feel contented at solving this. There’s nothing too contentious here, although a couple of cryptic definitions brought about some tooth-sucking. Cryptic definitions to me are almost an acquired taste. When I’m compiling, I probably use one per puzzle, but for some setters they are the main clue-type. Rufus is far and away the Master of such definitions, but even he occasionally brings about a bout of dental slurping.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26265
A full review by Gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Afternoon, All!. In my opinion this week’s Saturday Prize Puzzle from Cephas was an improvement on the last couple of weeks (particularly the Cryptic Definitions). There were, however, a couple of clues that caused great rumblings from ‘bloggers on the day; some justified and some, perhaps not. Whilst I was expecting the usual pangram puzzle (Cephas’ trademark) we were left lacking a ‘K’. Whether this was due to a last minute editorial change or simply to fox us will, I fear, remain a mystery.
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Toughie No 372 by Citrus
This One’s a Lemon
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *
I really didn’t enjoy this one. It’s not up to Toughie standard and many of the clues felt as though they’d been generated by computer (not helped by having no less than eight 4-letter answers). Furthermore there are significant errors in two of the clues (9a and 29a).
Let us know whether you agree or disagree with me by leaving a comment, and please remember to indicate your enjoyment (or lack of it) by clicking on one of the stars below.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26268
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Another good puzzle from our Wednesday Wizard. Many of you will be please to know that this one is a lot easier than yesterday’s!
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Toughie No 371 by Giovanni
Use your loaf
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Today we have a couple of clues that use bakery-related slang terms for money. I finished this more quickly than today’s regular cryptic, but thoroughly enjoyed both of them.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26267
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***– Enjoyment ****
We have an entertaining puzzle from Shamus today (but no Nina, as far as I can tell!). Let us know your thoughts in a comment!
As always, the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets under the clues. Highlight the space between the brackets to reveal them.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26266
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***– Enjoyment ***
Hello everybody welcome to Monday! I thought this crossword was a little more difficult that we have had for the last few weeks, however it did not detract from the enjoyment. Are there too many anagrams? Possibly, but it’s still a very good puzzle. Favourite clues have to be 11a and 28a just for their sheer simplicity.
If the hint is not enough to allow you to work out the answer, just highlight the space between the curly brackets.
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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2540 – Hints
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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The usual few hints to get you started.
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
Peter Biddlecombe’s full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Friday, 18th June.
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NTSPP – 018 Review
A puzzle by Tim Moorey
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Big Dave met Tim at the Sloggers and Betters meeting in London a few weeks ago. Out of the blue, Tim submitted a puzzle for the Blog. To have a setter of Tim’s calibre volunteering a puzzle is something of a coup. They flock to Big Dave’s door these days!
This crossword was joy to solve. It should be well within the abilities of most solvers. The only clue where the wordplay detained me was 9a where the answer was obvious but how you got to it was not. Many thanks to Big Dave for putting me on the straight and narrow. Thanks too to Tim for the crossword.
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Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 018
A Puzzle by Tim Moorey
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Welcome to the eighteenth in our series of weekly puzzles.
This week we are fortunate to have a puzzle from Tim Moorey. Tim is a crossword setter for the Sunday Times, The Week and others. He is the author of How to Master The Times Crossword, published by HarperCollins, and a consultant for Chambers Crossword Dictionary.
An experienced adult tutor, he is a sought after speaker on crosswords, for example being on the WI speaker panels for Surrey, Kent and Essex. You can read more about his Crossword Workshops here or visit his website here.
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