Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26032 – Hints
No whingeing today!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment: ****
I actually enjoyed this one! The best Saturday prize puzzle in a while just about creeps into 3-star difficulty. The only proper noun is a Biblical character who is considerately clued as an anagram.
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 by Tilsit will be published at 12.00 on Thursday, 17th September.
Continue reading “DT 26032 – Hints”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26026 – Hints
Weekend Whinge by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment: **
I have been thinking for some time now of having “Weekend Whinge”, and today has offered me a good opportunity to start. This was very nearly a good puzzle, but a few issues completely spoiled it for me. Afrit, one of the founding fathers of the cryptic crossword, wrote “I need not mean what I say, but I must say what I mean”. In my opinion, the first three clues in today’s puzzle fail that simple test. I would like to know your views on this subject, so please leave a comment.
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 by Tilsit will be published at 12.00 on Thursday, 10th September. Continue reading “DT 26026 – Hints”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26020 – Hints
Selected hints by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment: ***
Saturday’s puzzles have improved since the number of names has been reduced – just the one boy today! Let’s hope that future puzzles are as good or better than this one.
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 at 12.00 on Thursday, 3rd September.
After reviewing the Saturday puzzles for over six months, this week Peter Biddlecombe is taking over the review of the Sunday puzzle. You have already seen that Gazza and Libellule have swapped the Thursday and Friday reviews. Next week Tilsit and I are swapping the Monday and Wednesday reviews. In addition Libellule will be doing his first Toughie review on Tuesday.
Continue reading “DT 26020 – Hints”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26014 – Hints
Selected hints by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment: **
The girls are back in town – or at least one of them – and you still need to keep your atlas handy for this Saturday puzzle. The grid is one of those dreadful ones that only the Telegraph, among quality dailies, still allows. This is four puzzles in one, joined only by the two long answers.
If you are using CluedUp today, then check the printable version for the correct wording of 9 across. This problem has now been fixed! Just why this site can’t handle accented words and randomly drops apostrophes is a mystery.
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 Thursday, 27th August.
Continue reading “DT 26014 – Hints”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26008 – Hints
Selected hints by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment: ***
You still need to keep your atlas handy for the Saturday puzzle, but at least there are none of those girls’ names to contend with.
If you are using CluedUp today, the quick crossword is a little tricky to find. The one offered up is actually last Sunday’s Quick GK 108, but if you go to the main puzzles screen and click the right arrow, you will find Q 26008.
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 Thursday, 20th August.
Continue reading “DT 26008 – Hints”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26002 – Hints
Selected hints by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment: ***
A better-than-usual prize puzzle that, for me at least, was a little spoilt by cluing a place as “in France” when the place concerned has historical significance that surely could have been worked into the clue.
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 Thursday, 13th August.
Continue reading “DT 26002 – Hints”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25996 – Hints
Selected hints by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment: ***
Once again we are presented with an easy prize puzzle. 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 Thursday, 6th August.
Continue reading “DT 25996 – Hints”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25990 – Hints
Selected hints by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment: ***
As with most Suturday puzzles, this one is quite easy.
For the next two days I am trying an experiment with a new WordPress feature. At the bottom of the post you will see an array of five stars – use these to 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. Please remember you are assessing the puzzle and not my attempt to explain it! If enough of you use this feature then it will be retained for future puzzles, so it’s up to you – vote now.
At the moment the rating system can’t be turned on post by post, which means you can rate any previous puzzle. While you are welcome to do that (and some already have) it would seem unlikely that the numbers entered will be sufficient for a realistic rating.
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 Thursday, 30th July.
Continue reading “DT 25990 – Hints”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25984 – Hints
Selected hints by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
This has been a particularly good week, and it does seem that many of the setters are raising their game. I hope that is in part due to the feedback that they have received from this blog. While I would expect that some notice is taken of the opinions of the person writing the individual review, it is your comments that have the biggest impact, so keep them rolling in. Everyone concerned, whether thay be bloggers or setters, is interested in what you have to say.
Now to today’s puzzle. A improvement on last Saturday, but while the inclusion of two well-known places, and names from art and literature were absolutely fine, I was disappointed by the girl’s name at 26 across. I do wish that these prize puzzles were a bit harder, but I’ve gone over that ground before. I was sent a copy of last Saturday’s prize puzzle from The Independent, and it was a breath of fresh air!
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 Thursday, 23rd July.
Continue reading “DT 25984 – Hints”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25978 – Hints
Selected hints by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
A disappointing crossword with some clues, like 17a and 3d, that are past their sell-by date, some, like 15a and 6d, that just don’t work and others, like 10a and 5d that are not worthy of being in a prize puzzle. And I haven’t even mentioned the proper nouns as, apart from 5d, they are acceptable.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them. Peter Biddlecombe should, by now, have returned from holiday ready to do a full review of this puzzle in time for 12.00 on Thursday, 16th July.
Continue reading “DT 25978 – Hints”