Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2642 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the more difficult clues and provide hints for them.
NTSPP – 121
Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 121
A Puzzle by Gazza
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A super puzzle from our very own Gazza
DT 26882 (Hints)
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26882 (Hints)
Big Dave’s Crossword Club
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Don’t forget to have a go at our very own, brand new, Prize crossword.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, an assortment of clues, including some of the more difficult ones, have been selected and hints provided for them.
Prize Puzzle – June 2012
Monthly Prize Puzzle No 1 (June 2012) by Zaphod
In association with Hamlyn Books,
the publishers of Telegraph Crossword Books
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Why not have a go at our new Monthly Prize Puzzle? The winner will be able to choose any two of The Telegraph All New Cryptic Crosswords Books or The Telegraph All New Toughie Crossword Books published by Hamlyn.
A review will follow after the closing date (16th June 2012).
Toughie 782
Toughie No 782 by Elgar
A Portrait of the Artist
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
Greetings from the Calder Valley (I think!). Thanks to Big Dave for looking after things while I was in hospital and getting poked and prodded last week.
I have returned to another absolutely stunning Toughie from Elgar (or Vlad the Impaler, as Crypticsue is wont to call him!). This one however is rather unusual. I suspect most of you will have solved it without realising that there are FIFTEEN (at least!) themed references in either the answers or the clues. If you get all fifteen then I suspect you are Elgar or (Mrs Elgar!).
DT 26881
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26881
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
I’m still knackered for my excesses of the last couple of days, so in many ways I was grateful that I was able to complete this puzzle quickly while still half-asleep. To be fair it fits the brief for a back-page puzzle but without causing me to get the blue highlighter out. I started top left and worked steadily through, none of the clues requiring more than a second glance. Many thanks to Gazza for standing in for me yesterday.
DT 26876
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26876
A full review by gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Morning All!. I found this a good test for a Saturday and this was reflected in my solving time which might have edged the **** difficulty.
Toughie 781
Toughie No 781 by Petitjean
Hints and Tips by Bufo
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ****
I found this to be a puzzle that was enjoyable even though I struggled with it throughout. The design of the grid means that the puzzle is effectively four minipuzzles linked by the four 3-letter words in the centre. I did these minipuzzles in the order NW/SW/SE/NE and none of them were easy. Perhaps I haven’t yet got back into gear having had a week off last week.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
DT 26880
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26880
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment **
Big Dave has not yet made it home after yesterday’s festivities in London so I’ve been given the opportunity to review a Thursday puzzle. This wasn’t one of my favourites – some of the surface readings are a bit weak and few of the clues stood out. Let me know your thoughts about it.
If you want to see an answer just highlight the space between the brackets under the clue.
ST 2640
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2640
A full review by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
If weekend reviews had subtitles, the review of the puzzle for Sunday 20 May would be ‘the one where we had to go out and buy a paper’ as the online system was not working for most of the morning. Well worth a trip to the paper shop or we would have missed another splendid crossword from Virgilius.