Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2553
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
This was a very easy puzzle for me – apart from the beginning of an indecipherable jotting for 7A, presumably interrupted by spotting the answer or deciding to move on, my copy has no writing other than the completed grid and the timing. Part of the easiness probably came from the two long answers which are old crossword favourites. The clues include some of BG’s lively twists on cryptic wordplay, and as usual they make good sense in both the cryptic and surface readings.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26348
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
I’d be interested to hear from those who did Wednesday’s Toughie (also by Giovanni) as to how you think that one compares with this one. It seems to me that they are of a very similar standard of difficulty. If you didn’t do Wednesday’s Toughie I’d still like to hear what you thought of this one.
For newcomers, the answers are concealed between the brackets under the relevant clues. Just drag your cursor through the space between the brackets to unhide one.
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NTSPP – 031 (Review)
A Puzzle By Tilsit & Prolixic
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Thanks to the devious duo of Tilsit and Prolixic for some excellent entertainment over the weekend. I thought that this puzzle was middle-Toughie standard in terms of difficulty and it had a number of very fine clues and one outstanding one (1a).
There are a few clues where I’m not 100% sure of the explanation so any corrections or additions would be welcome.
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Toughie No 425 by Kcit
Hints and tips by Bufo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
I enjoyed this Kcit puzzle. It wasn’t too difficult, it contained nothing too obscure, and I couldn’t find anything to complain about.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26343
A full review by Crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Another nice Saturday offering from Cephas. I did enjoy the solving experience as there was a nice variety of clues, some quite simple (too simple for some, apparently) and others to make you think, including the fairly unpopular 14a.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26347
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Not much to say about today’s puzzle. With one or two exceptions you look at a clue, insert the answer and move on to the next one. I did, however, smile when I solved 26 across.
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Toughie No 424 by Giovanni
The Lonesome Crustacean
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
I don’t think that this is substantially different, in terms of difficulty, from some of Giovanni’s normal cryptic puzzles on Fridays. There are a couple of uncommon words (or rather, uncommon meanings of common words), but nothing that’s not gettable from the wordplay. Do you agree or not? Let me know in a comment.
Please remember to click on one of the stars below to show how much you enjoyed the puzzle.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26346
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Welcome to the Wednesday blog. Before getting down to business, let me give you a brief background about myself. I am a retired engineer living in Ottawa, Canada as well as a relative newcomer to cryptic crosswords, having taken up the pastime (to which I quickly became addicted) only a couple of years ago, following my retirement. However, I do have a fairly solid foundation, having been a longtime solver of regular crossword puzzles. Furthermore, my training has been greatly accelerated by closely following a number of British cryptic crossword sites, in particular, this one.
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Toughie No 423 by Messinae
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Messinae tends to produce puzzles at the easy end of the Toughie spectrum, and this one is no exception. It is, however, very enjoyable to solve.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26345
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
We have a pleasant puzzle today (presumably from Shamus) which is like Baby Bear’s bed (not too hard and not too soft). It’s also a pangram, i.e. it contains at least one instance of each letter of the alphabet (and BD tells me that the Quickie is also a pangram). Let us know what you thought of it in a comment.
The answers are concealed between the brackets under the clues to prevent your seeing them accidentally. Just highlight the space between the brackets if you want to reveal one.
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