Crosswords – Page 1306 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie No 100

Toughie No 100 by Myops

The landmark 100th Toughie lived up to its name

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

Was it as good as last Friday’s?  Not quite, but a good puzzle nevertheless.  I found it difficult to get started, and had to fight my way out of the bottom right-hand corner.

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DT Cryptic No 25860

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25860

Today’s hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ***

It seems you all like Gazza’s hints and tips, so I’ve twisted his arm and he’s agreed to do two days a week, starting today, and then back on Thursday.  I’ve added a few new bits and pieces to The Mine – Birthstones, Roman Numerals and Zodiac Signs – with more in the pipeline.  BD

Today’s puzzle is quite interesting and certainly a bit harder than yesterday’s. There’s one clue (24 across) where I’m unable to provide a very satisfactory explanation of the wordplay and I’d be grateful for comments [stop press – mystery now solved – see clue below] Continue reading “DT Cryptic No 25860”

DT Cryptic No 25859

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25859

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***

Once again you have a nice easy start to the week, with this honest, straightforward puzzle.  Try and do as much of this as you can without my help (but don’t put me out of business)!!

Continue reading “DT Cryptic No 25859”

ST Cryptic No 2472 – Hints

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2472

Selected hints by Big Dave

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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment **

For the weekend prize crosswords I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.  A full analysis of this puzzle will be available at 12.00 next Thursday,  February 26th.

Some hints to get you started: Continue reading “ST Cryptic No 2472 – Hints”

DT Cryptic No 25858 – Hints

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25858

Selected hints

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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ***

We published a full review, by Libellule, of this puzzle yesterday when it was accidentally released online.  As our policy here is to provide hints only for the weekend prize crosswords that review has been removed, and will be reposted at 12.00 next Thursday,  February 26th.   Instead I have selected a few hints from that review.  This will mean that Peter Biddlecombe will have a week off and be back on Thursday, 5th March with a review of next Saturday’s puzzle.

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Toughie No 99

Toughie No 99 by Elgar

An excellent, challenging puzzle

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

This puzzle has 5 stars for both difficulty and enjoyment.  I knew soon after starting that it was going to be a struggle, but as I opened up each clue, I began to enjoy the contest.  I will be interested to know what Dr B, my American friend, makes of this one as some of the clues have a uniquely British flavour.  As usual, the links provide additional content which is usually useful, occassionally totally frivolous.

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DT Cryptic No 25857

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25857

A full analysis by Big Dave

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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ***

This is a review of the puzzle as published in the newspaper and now available online – the one that was originally published online turned out to be the Saturday Prize crossword!.  Neither puzzle was anything special – nothing particularly good or annoyingly bad.  For a real puzzle, see today’s Toughie No 99.

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ST Cryptic No 2471 – Review

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2471 – Review

A full analysis by Big Dave

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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment **

I never look forward to the Sunday puzzle, and I’m seldom surprised. This is another one that takes quite a while to complete, but leaves you wondering why you bothered. Continue reading “ST Cryptic No 2471 – Review”

DT Cryptic No 25852 – Review

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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Toughie No 98

Toughie No 98 by Giovanni

Another enjoyable puzzle

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

A better day on CluedUp, so these are a lot earlier than has been the norm recently.  When I first looked at the puzzle I wondered just where I was going to start, then one or two easier clues came to light and it all fell into place.  As usual, there are several clues where you need to find an answer that satisfies one part of the wordplay and rack your brains to find how on earth it fits the other – 10 across being a good example.  There are a few words which are not in the average vocabulary, but the wordplay points you in the right direction.

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