Puzzles for Friday 14th of October
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Today’s puzzles have kindly been provided by Phil McNeill, the Telegraph’s Puzzles Editor.
Toughie 649
Toughie No 649 by MynoT
A Load of C
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from the Calder Valley. Bufo and I have swapped duties this week as I have a couple of hospital appointments tomorrow. Thanks to him for agreeing to this. I eagerly awaited the appearance of the puzzle at midnight and my heart sank when I saw it was by MynoT, who I have to say is not one of my favourite setters. My gloom deepened when I saw the grid full of double unchecked squares (another bête-noir) and so I set to.
However, I was pleasantly surprised and appreciated the effort that went into the puzzle. I am aware that for the gimmick hidden within the puzzle (all the answers contain the letter C) to work, you probably need to use a grid like this, so I’ll say no more on the topic (cue sighs of relief from the TCE!). Not up to the really high standards of the past few puzzles, but still a worthy member of the Toughie canon.
DT 26682
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26682
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
I found this to be one of Ray T’s tougher back-page puzzles. I put this down to misdirection as every clue was easily solvable.
Puzzles for Thursday 13th of October
Puzzles for Thursday 13th of October
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Today’s puzzles, courtesy of Phil McNeill, the Telegraph’s Puzzles Editor. Today we also have the Sudoku, Kakuro, Codewords and Mind Gym puzzles.
Toughie 648
Toughie No 648 by Osmosis
Just a Couple of Showers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
This is an enjoyable, moderately difficult puzzle from Osmosis with, as usual from him, lots of clues involving initial letters, final letters, insertions and reversals. It has only two anagrams which may be some sort of record and certainly earns an extra enjoyment star from me.
Let us know how you found it and please take the time to click on one of the stars below to record your enjoyment factor.
DT 26681
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26681
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja. Â Â The usual Wednesday wizardry from Jay this week. Not too taxing on the whole but a couple of slightly tricky ones to keep us alert! Â I did really enjoy this one though and there’s a lot of blue today. It must be the lack of stress from not having to try for ages to get into the website so thanks to BD and Phil for the new service! Just hope it’s not needed for too long.
Like last week the picture opportunities are a bit limited but my Technical Director has been taken back on as a consultant today (at exorbitant rates) and is currently searching for a suitable video clip for 22a so many thanks to her!
Puzzles for Wednesday 12th of October
Puzzles for Wednesday 12th of October
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Today’s puzzles, courtesy of Phil McNeill, the Telegraph’s Puzzles Editor. Today we also have the Sudoku, Kakuro, Codewords and Mind Gym puzzles.
Toughie 647
Toughie No 647 by Shamus
Indian Takeaway!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
A much harder puzzle than we usually get from Shamus – and all the better for it.
DT 26680
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26680
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A big thank you to Gazza for stepping in to do the blog yesterday. I had to take an “emergency” trip to the dentist after losing a large filling.
I quite enjoyed doing the crossword today, but thought it was awkward to write up. Probably due to a lot of clues using the start or end letters of various words.
Puzzles for Tuesday 11th of October
Puzzles for Tuesday 11th of October
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Following a highly successful three-day trial Phil McNeill, the Telegraph’s Puzzles Editor, has kindly agreed to continue providing the pdfs for the daily puzzles.