Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26097
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
The Friday Cryptic is often the highlight of the week and, once again, Giovanni does not disappoint. It’s full of entertaining clues, but I did find it quite tricky – let us know whether you agree or not!
As usual the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets so that you cannot see them accidentally – just highlight the white space inside the brackets and say “abracadabra” to reveal one.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26092
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *
Only the Telegraph, among quality dailies, would have a prize puzzle that is this easy.
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52.254523-2.266838
Toughie No 258 by MynoT
A Night at the Opera
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
I bet you were all wondering where Mynot would go next, having completed a series of vowel-inspired puzzles, well now we know he has invited us all to a Night at the Opera, but without the Marx Brothers.
I must admit that when I saw the convoluted clueing on this puzzle I felt like tossing it in the cyber-bin. I persevered with it, and ended up quite enjoying the result. It is very important to latch on to the theme quickly, and an inspired guess at the 1a / 28a coupling, based on just three checking letters was the key for me, even though my first guess of “clue” for 19a proved to be incorrect.
I have just had an email from Tilsit. The last I heard was that he had lost his dongle – sounds like the title of a Charlie Drake song – so he must have now found it!!
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.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26096
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Another “exactly what it says on the tin” crossword from J. Unlike last week, I can’t find anything in this to grumble about.
The answers are hidden between the curly brackets, and if you wish to leave a comment, please feel free to do so.
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Toughie No 257 by Kcit
Under False Colours
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
So you’ve raced through today’s Cryptic in record time and you’re looking for something a bit more challenging, but you’re wary of trying the Toughie because you think it will be beyond you? Think again, today’s puzzle is a pussycat, certainly no more difficult than an average Telegraph Cryptic, and easier, in my opinion, than yesterday’s Cryptic. If you’ve never tried a Toughie this is the one to start with.
It’s a perfectly good puzzle with some well-constructed and entertaining clues, but I do feel that the Telegraph is verging on a contravention of the Trades Description Act in describing it as the toughest puzzle on Fleet Street and “our most devious cryptic puzzle ever”. Certainly some Toughies fall into that category, but this one? – no.
Whether you agree or disagree, please feel free to leave a comment.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26095
Let’s all play Charades!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Tilsit would rather go back to see the lovely nurses in the Calderdale Royal Hospital than do today’s puzzle, and I don’t blame him. It was very easy and the newer solvers should enjoy finishing it. For the rest of us it offered very little.
You can add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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Toughie No 256 by Citrus
A View From the Bridge
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Another Tuesday Toughie that’s worth having a go at. There are several anagrams, and some easy cryptic definitions and other clues to get you going. Then you can take a bit more time with some of the more difficult clues. All in all it should prove to be an enjoyable adventure. Especially if you tried to tackle last Friday’s Toughie equivalent of Everest.
If you want to leave comments, please do. You can the answers directly by highlighting the letters inside the curly brackets.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26094
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
I thought that this was a bit harder than the usual Ray T puzzle when I did it in the early hours (but that may have been due to a moderate intake of Shiraz!), so I’ve given it 4 stars for difficulty. I expect that you’ll all tell me now that it was the easiest puzzle all year!!
It has all the Ray T trademarks – single word answers and definitions where you keep having to ask yourself “in what sense does x mean y?”.
Let’s see if we can get a bumper crop of comments today. We particularly want to hear from those readers who have yet to introduce themselves – we’re a friendly bunch and we won’t bite – it really doesn’t matter whether you’ve been solving crosswords for sixty years or have only just started!
As always the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets to prevent your seeing them accidentally. Just drag your cursor through the white space inside the brackets to reveal.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26093
Hints and tips by Rishi
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
I enjoyed solving this crossword from our Monday Maestro. The grid is cyclically symmetrical, that is, the pattern is the same whichever way you turn.
Clues 1a and 31a, in symmetrical positions in the grid, belong to a type known as &lit, which I think is short for ‘and literally so’ [we also use the term all-in-one for these – BD] – for definition of the word required, we have to reread the clue in its entirety. Both these clues lead to words from the world of professions – one teaching lines to children and the other making locomotives run on lines.
For me the Clue of the Crossword is 3d – all components in this charade are from roads and “by-pass” is a noun in the surface reading but a verb as definition for word required.
The last to go in was 13a – for non-UK solvers it’s always place names that are the bugbears.
As usual the solutions are whitened; please highlight the space within the curly brackets and they will show themselves.
Please do leave a Comment to record your experience with this crossword.
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