Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30915
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Sorry, but it is me again, as I sneak ever closer to Huntsman in the race to 100 blogs. According to the stats on the Meet the Blogger section of this wonderful site, today will bring me level with him at 95 blogs each. Please don’t tell him though, as I might try to sneak another extra blog in during May to pip him at the post!
A beautiful morning here in sunny Hertfordshire and I believe most of the country is blessed with similar weather. A day in the garden beckons as soon as I have finished this.
I enjoyed the puzzle today, which seemed to be pitched at about the right level for a Thursday. It is definitely not RayT and something tells me that it is not Silvanus either. That leaves me bereft of ideas for Guess the Setter, so over to you, dear solver. Ticks from me for the anagram at 1a, the spoonerism at 2d (light blue touch paper and retire) and the Rhine swimmer at 4d.
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 3467 by Silvanus
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Silvanus is as enjoyable as always. Many thanks to him.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30909
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
No prizes for “Guess the Setter” today – most of the hallmarks of RayT are in evidence, including sweetheart at 3d (although he is again teasing us on this one), single word solutions and brevity of clueing in the Cryptic and single word clues and solutions in the Quickie. Don’t waste one of your hard-earned loonies on this one, Senf.
If my arithmetic is correct, Ray has used just one word too many to average five words per clue. Surely we can find just one disposable word in this puzzle…?
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 30909”
Toughie No 3463 by Kcit
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Another enjoyable puzzle from Kcit. Thanks to him.
Continue reading “Toughie 3463”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30903
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
I don’t know about you, but I found this quite tricky, requiring my full attention throughout. That is not a bad thing, of course, particularly on a Thursday and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. Perhaps the slightly unfriendly grid didn’t help, but more likely I was just being a bit slow to unravel some beautifully written clues.
Much to my granddaughter’s disgust, I had never heard of the film franchise at 2d, but the answer was gettable without this knowledge. The England cricketer at 17d of course posed no issues to this sportsman (retired!). For once, I will opt for the Spoonerism at 21a as my CoD – very amusing!
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.
Thank you, setter for a very decent challenge.
Continue reading “DT 30903”
Toughie No 3459 by Django
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Great fun from Django today. Many thanks to him.
Continue reading “Toughie 3459”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30897
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from sunny Welwyn Garden City. I hope the weather is being kind to you, wherever you are.
It didn’t take me long to realise that this puzzle is the handiwork of RayT, albeit in fairly benign mood. Please let us know how you got on. I am still struggling with the Quickie Pun. Any help gratefully received. The current Mrs Shabbo has come to the rescue!
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.
Thank you, Ray.
Continue reading “DT 30897”
Toughie No 3455 by Beam
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
Beam comes round regularly every fourth Thursday and this is a typical example of his setting art though fairly gentle if you’re aware of his little tricks. Thanks to him for the enjoyment.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30891
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
A most enjoyable puzzle and it’s definitely not one of RayT’s, so that leaves…
Ticks from me are awarded to 13a, 15a, 20a, 1d, 7d and 17d, with a double tick to 27a.
Great stuff!
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.
Thank you, setter.
Continue reading “DT 30891”
Toughie No 3451 by Silvanus
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***/**** – Enjoyment ****
I thought that Silvanus had upped his difficulty level a bit today whilst maintaining the very high enjoyment factor which is his trademark. I added half a point to my difficulty rating due to the time it took me to twig how 1d worked. Thanks to Silvanus.
Continue reading “Toughie 3451”