Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30951
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Another excellent Thursday puzzle which was a joy to solve. I will not attempt to guess the setter, as that would spoil it for you, dear reader. Just one observation – it’s not RayT!
Ticks for me for 10a, 11a, 23a, 24a, 28a, 8d, 15d, 17d, 19d and 22d. Which ones did you like best?
In the blog below, the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the “Click Here” buttons. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on and what you thought of the puzzle. Please also try to be positive – it’s only a bit of fun.
Many thanks to our setter and the DT Crossword Team.
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Toughie No 3491 by Silvanus
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
This is my last Thursday Toughie blog (at least for the time being); ALP will be moving to this seat from next week and we have a brand new blogger taking over the Tuesday Toughie blog.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30945
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Two sweethearts and the Queen suggest that this has to be a RayT puzzle, although at times it didn’t feel like one of his – maybe it’s just me. Other RayT indicators are single-word answers in the Cryptic and single-word answers and clues in the Quickie. At 5.4 words/clue, it is still very concisely clued, even if it doesn’t quite match the extraordinary brevity of his previous puzzle. No need to pop in to confirm ownership, Ray, but it would be lovely to hear from you, as ever. A first class puzzle, beautifully and succinctly worded. Thank you Ray.
I found it quite tricky in parts, but then I did solve it at midnight, so was probably not at my sharpest. Bizarrely, the puzzle was available on my phone at about 23.30 last night, but I gave up waiting for it to arrive on my laptop. All is well this morning, however, so let’s go…
In the blog below, the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the “Click Here” buttons. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on and what you thought of the puzzle. Please also try to be positive – it’s only a bit of fun.
Many thanks to our setter and the DT Crossword Team.
Continue reading “DT 30945”
Toughie No 3487 by Beam
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Beam is being extremely gentle with us today and I doubt whether my hints will be required. Thanks to him for the puzzle.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30939
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment *****
Today’s puzzle was a steady solve for me with plenty of smiles along the way and wonderfully smooth surface reads throughout. My very crowded podium consists of 1a, 10a, 13a, 17a, 2d, 8d and 16d, but I could have listed many more. The Quickie Pun also has a big tick on my paper.
When I am blogging, I tend to concentrate on the parsing of each clue and it is very easy to miss how good the surface reads are. I have just re-read all of the clues and the surfaces are quite outstanding, so I have increased my enjoyment rating to 5*. Take a bow, clever setter.
In the blog below, the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the “Click Here” buttons. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on and what you thought of the puzzle. Please also try to be positive – it’s only a bit of fun.
Many thanks to our setter and the DT Crossword Team.
Continue reading “DT 30939”
Toughie No 3483 by Hudson
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
It’s a real pleasure to get a visit from Hudson on a Thursday and he’s brought with him a very entertaining puzzle with lots of humour. Many thanks to him.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30933
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
We are back from our week in the Highlands and I would again like to thank Huntsman for standing in for me at short notice last Thursday. It was much appreciated.
There is no doubt that this is the work of RayT, as all of his usual hallmarks are there. He has excelled himself on brevity this week, averaging a fraction below 5. I think this is the first time on my watch that he has dipped below the 5 words/clue barrier. Quite remarkable.
My podium clues are 24a, 8d and 14d. I found the puzzle about right for a Thursday in terms of difficulty. What did you think?
In the blog below, the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the “Click Here” buttons. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on and what you thought of the puzzle. Please also try to be positive – it’s only a bit of fun.
Many thanks to our setter and the DT Crossword Team.
Continue reading “DT 30933”
Toughie No 3479 by Silvanus
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
This is a very entertaining and not too tricky puzzle from the prolific Silvanus. Many thanks to him.
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Toughie No 3475 by Django
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
This is really great fun and not very tough. Many thanks to Django for the enjoyment.
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Toughie No 3471 by Beam
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
We have a typical Beam puzzle today. Thanks to him.
One thing we can be sure of with Beam is that his puzzles won’t leak on to a second page of printout.
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