Friday – Page 26 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Category: Friday

Friday’s current setter is Don Manley who is also known as Giovanni, Duck, Pasquale, Quixote, and Bradman (all punningly connected with the name Don or Donald)

DT 30352

by Mr K  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30352

Hints and tips by Mr K

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BD Rating  -  Difficulty *** -  Enjoyment ****

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday.  The use in the grid of all letters but X, the intricate and precise clueing, and the numerous penny drops suggest that today’s fine puzzle is the work of proXimal. As an experiment I have today included more detailed explanations of the clues that I found trickiest to parse, thinking that perhaps others had the same experience and this will help them out when the hint alone is not enough. Continue reading "DT 30352"

DT 30334

by Mr K  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30334

Hints and tips by Mr K

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BD Rating  -  Difficulty ****/***** -  Enjoyment ***

Hello, everyone. Perhaps it’s the high temperatures over here making it hard to think, but I found this puzzle tough.  After I’d filled the grid and written the straightforward hints, I still had three clues unparsed. That is definitely a first in my blogging career. I think I figured them all out in the end, but the extended head-scratching meant that there was not much time left before bed to search for pictures.  Continue reading "DT 30334"

DT 30328

by Mr K  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30328

Hints and tips by Mr K

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BD Rating  -  Difficulty *** -  Enjoyment ***

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday.  I felt that there was a lot of complex and intricate wordplay in this puzzle, which detracted a little from the enjoyment because the solve didn’t flow and a lot of the parsing happened after finding the correct answer. On the other hand, there weren’t any obscurities, which is always a good thing.  Continue reading "DT 30328"

DT 30322

by Mr K  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30322

Hints and tips by Mr K

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BD Rating  -  Difficulty ** -  Enjoyment ***

Hello, everyone, and welcome to an excellent Friday puzzle whose grid contains every letter except X. That probably means that it’s the work of proXimal. Continue reading "DT 30322"

DT 30316

by Mr K  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30316

Hints and tips by Mr K

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BD Rating  -  Difficulty **** -  Enjoyment ***

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. My solve for this puzzle was slow and erratic, requiring many passes through the grid to get all the answers in place. I don’t know if that’s because it’s a harder-than-average puzzle, or because I was distracted by the very sad news about Big Dave. We hope to know more about the future of the site soon.  Continue reading "DT 30316"

DT 30304

by Mr K  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30304

Hints and tips by Mr K

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BD Rating  -  Difficulty **/*** -  Enjoyment ****

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday.  Today’s offering felt more straightforward than the Friday average, but perhaps I was just in the zone while having fun solving this puzzle whose grid contains every letter but X. Continue reading "DT 30304"