Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Hints and tips for completing Daily Telegraph Cryptic crosswords
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
A pleasant enough stroll for a Thursday morning, very friendly for newer solvers, and very reminiscent of the Everyman puzzle from the Observer newspaper, presumably the same setter. Setting these puzzles does require a particular skill, despite what many may think, and our compiler today demonstrates this very well.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *
Bufo is on holiday this week – he is doubly lucky!
Excalibur does seem to be the Marmite of Crosswordland.
Before you read this review I feel that it is only fair to disclose that personally I can’t stand Marmite.
The puzzle was certainly not enhanced by the use of one of the Telegraph’s cornery grids – these should have been consigned to the scrapheap many years ago. Take a look at any Times puzzle and you will see what I mean. For me the puzzle broke down into those four corners – the North and South East were very easy, but I got bogged down in the other two.
Favourite clues are highlighted in blue!
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post. I will find this particularly interesting today, hence the sub-heading.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Quite often if the Friday Cryptic and Toughie have been particularly testing, the Saturday Prize Puzzle can seem a bit easier in comparison. DT 26,252 and Toughie 362 were splendid examples of the compiler’s art so I started this Saturday’s puzzle expecting a less taxing challenge. How wrong I was, there was a complete range of interesting clues and more exciting for me, as I wasn’t aware of such a thing until I became a fan of Big Dave’s blog, was that the puzzle is a Pangram! Thanks too to Gnomethang for giving me the chance to practice my reviewing skills.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
I know that Osmosis is not everyone’s cup of tea with his complicated wordplay and seemingly endless supply of reversals, but I normally enjoy battling with him and I enjoyed this one. Let us know what you thought of it, and please remember to click on one of the five stars below.
I won’t be blogging again until next Tuesday, since Gnomethang is standing in for me on the Friday Cryptic.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Light relief for some after yesterday, this is a reasonably straightforward puzzle from Jay.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
As well as a trademark Geography lesson, today’s rather easy puzzle from Cephas features kitchen utensils in the wordplay.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
Shamus has given us a good workout today with a slightly more difficult puzzle than his usual fare. Of course, that’s just my opinion, and whether you agree or disagree we’d love to hear your views.
As always the answers are present, but hidden, inside the curly brackets under each clue. Just drag your cursor through the white space between the brackets to reveal.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
[In case you missed Crypticsue’s first appearance last Thursday, she has joined the team as our first lady blogger. Other commitments mean that she will only be able to contribute occasionally, and Libellule has stepped aside today to allow her to take advantage of the Spring Bank Holiday. She will be back on Thursday with a review of last Saturday’s puzzle and is then off on holiday (lucky her!)]
Ten days ago, I was just Sue, a long time fan of the DT cryptic (40 years which apparently equates to over 10,000 puzzles, even allowing for time off for good behaviour), when following an email approach by Big Dave to confirm whether his detective work was right and I would be too busy to be a reviewer (he was), I couldn’t resist a challenge and am now Crypticsue, the first lady reviewer on his blog, here with my comments on today’s puzzle. Despite my long experience, I was quite nervous this morning but needn’t have worried, Rufus has given us all, novice reviewer, experienced and non-experienced puzzle solvers alike, a very nice Bank Holiday puzzle, with a good mix of clues, some straightforward and some needing a little deliberation.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ****
Morning All!
During the recent Cruciverbalist’s Convention at the White Horse, Parson’s Green, as well as agreeing to “blog the Thursday Toughie”, Bufo also generously volunteered to throw in a puzzle for the NTSPP series. And here it is. It is not especially difficult and I plumped for 2.5 stars as there are a smattering of unusual words and some wordplay that is not immediately obvious.
Nevertheless, this should appeal to all solving abilities and is highly recommended.
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A 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, 4th June.