Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26169 – Hints
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
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A few hints for today’s Prize puzzle.
Starting this week, there will be no ratings or comment until the full analysis is published.
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. A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 25th February.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26163 – Hints
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
The return of the pangram! In order to get every letter of the alphabet into this puzzle, there are a few awkward words. A setter that I spoke to last Saturday said that in a proper pangram all 26 letters should be checked – here J, Q, V, X and Z are all unchecked.
If this one isn’t enough for you, then have a go at our alternative puzzle, which is available at midday.
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. A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 18th February.
Continue reading “DT 26163 – Hints”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26157 – Hints
Hints by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
Big Dave is off on a jolly researching the latest developments in crossword theory today, so I’ve put together a few hints for the prize puzzle.
BD and Tilsit have complained often that the Saturday prize crossword, which should be the flagship product for the Telegraph, is not up to the standard of the other quality papers, and all I can say is that I agree.
Leave a comment with your views, and if you’re really stuck on a clue let me know and I’ll see what I can do. But, please don’t put any full or partial answers in your comments or they may be censored.
As usual, the full review of this puzzle will appear next Thursday, after the deadline for submitting entries has passed.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26151 – Hints
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Next Saturday Tilsit and I plan to be in the White Horse on Parson’s Green between the hours of 11.00am and 7.00pm. Feel free to join us there for some or all of the time. If the last session is anything to go by then you can also expect to meet some or all of Elgar, Jetdoc, Notabilis, MynoT and Derek Harrison. For Listener fans, there will be a large contingent of setters and others connected with that puzzle. I’ll try and get a more accurate idea by next Saturday
That’s the interesting bit. Today’s Prize puzzle offered very little. Both of the enjoyment stars were earned by 16 across.
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. A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 4th February.
Continue reading “DT 26151 – Hints”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26145 – Hints
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Today’s Prize puzzle was neither difficult nor particularly enjoyable, but it was pangrammatic. Having spotted 4 out of J,K,Q, X and Z made solving one of the clues just that little bit easier!
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. A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 28th January.
Continue reading “DT 26145 – Hints”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26139 – Hints
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
One of the better Saturday Prize puzzles, but with a handful of difficult answers. No pangram this week (for a change).
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. A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 21st January.
Continue reading “DT 26139 – Hints”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26133 – Hints
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
Those of you who were expecting a very easy puzzle today could well be disappointed. I have given half a dozen hints to get you started but there are a few tricky clues so I may add some extra help later.
The run of pangrams (see below) continues following a break last week.
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. A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 14th January.
Continue reading “DT 26133 – Hints”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26127 – Hints
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
You won’t need an atlas today for this relatively straightforward Prize puzzle.
Last week I said “One Saturday Cephas will fool us by setting a puzzle that is not a pangram” – how prophetic that turned out to be. Having spotted J, K, Q and X I was looking out for V and Z, but in vain.
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. A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 7th January.
Continue reading “DT 26127 – Hints”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26121 – Hints
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I hope you all enjoyed Christmas yesterday and that you are not suffering from a hangover this morning.
One Saturday Cephas will fool us by setting a puzzle that is not a pangram, but not yet! This one is relatively easy, but with one or two slightly tricky clues. The construct used in 16 down will be unfamiliar to many of you as it is usually only found in the more difficult Toughies.
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. A full review of this puzzle will be published on Wednesday, 6th January 2010.
Continue reading “DT 26121 – Hints”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26116 – Hints
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
A number of you said that you didn’t like having too many four-letter words in a puzzle – well Cephas has delivered on his promise and the shortest answer today is six letters. The result is one of the best Saturday Prize puzzles for quite a while. Remember that most of the recent puzzles from this setter have been pangrams – that is all 26 letters of the alphabet are used – as this may help you with the final few answers.
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. A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 24th December.
Continue reading “DT 26116 – Hints”