Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26081
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
I struggled a bit with the North West corner – mainly because it was a while before I realised that (6-4) for 1 across was really (5’1-4). It seems strange that hyphens are shown in the enumeration, but not apostrophes; perhaps that would give too much away. Many thanks to our Monday Maestro for a good, solid puzzle (once I had overcome the aforementioned hang-up!).
This weekend, being the coldest for some time, was when our central heating decided to stop working. The lateness of this post is due, in part, to the presence of the engineer. His prognosis was that the controller was faulty, which he demonstrated by switching it on, off and back on again. Sometimes it worked, and others it didn’t! A trip to the plumbing supply shop has been added to today’s itinerary.
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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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2509 – Hints
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Sunday has come round again, and here is yet another in this long run of excellent puzzles.
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
A full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Friday, 13th November (lucky for some!).
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26080 – Hints
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Yesterday’s popular puzzle from Giovanni is followed today by one from Cephas that should prove to be just as enjoyable. A good cross-section of clues and only the one, well-known, place name. I await, with some interest, your comments.
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them. A full review of this puzzle by Tilsit will be published at 12.00 on Thursday, 12th November.
Continue reading “DT 26080 – Hints”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2508
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Tilsit’s review is a little late, so I have decided to publish the answers and the essentials of the wordplay.
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52.254523-2.266838
Toughie No 247 by Elgar
Like for unlike
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
Tackling this one at 1am was possibly not a great idea – a bit of a struggle. Finally slotted the last bits, then went back to see what had held me up. Mostly it was instances of implied double meanings and puns whose grammar didn’t seem to stack up, but I suppose when the intention is to raise a few smiles – which, in fairness, they did – the setter deserves to be given some latitude.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26079
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Giovanni is on form today and has given us an excellent puzzle with many entertaining clues. For those who normally have problems on a Friday, it is worth persevering with – there are a number of easier clues, such as 18a, 7d and 22d which should give you toeholds to get into it.
As usual the answers are inside the curly brackets for those who need them – just highlight the space inside the brackets.
We are, as always, reliant on your comments to keep the blog lively and entertaining – so please don’t disappoint.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26074
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
On second reading I found little to change my earlier opinion. This is a reasonable puzzle which has one or two debatable clues, As Saturday puzzles go it is better than most. Enough said.
Tilsit and I have swapped for this week, and his review of last Sunday’s puzzle will be posted tomorrow.
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Toughie No 246 by Firefly
Over-egging the Pudding
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from the drizzle-sodden Calder Valley. After yesterday’s thought-provoking Daily puzzle, it’s time to return to Toughie pastures. I would like to start by offering an apology of sorts for my posting late last evening. I was probably quite tired and emotional (not in the Private Eye sense of the phrase, as I don’t drink!), but have had a couple of difficult days health-wise which conspired to leave me feeling somewhat drained and a bit upset at what I saw as unnecessarily nasty comments about what was a decent if somewhat tougher puzzle..
Back to today’s challenge. One of my favourite programmes is on BBC2 tonight. The Restaurant with the lovely Raymond Blanc. Last week’s opening episode brought one of those TV moments where you watch almost with your hands over your eyes, as one aspiring restaurateur held a Sabatier knife by the blade and tried to hit it with a rolling pin to crack open a coconut. Today’s Toughie wasn’t as bad as that, but I feld that one or two clues were over-egged and a bit forced in terms of content. It seemed that the setter found an idea to run with, but instead of perhaps thinking enough is enough (or un oeuf is un oeuf in one case!), perseverance didn’t pay off and the clue suffered for it. Otherwise it was a reasonable challenge and quite enjoyable. It will give me an opportunity to play some favourite comedy and music and I think it’s time to have a look at it.
As usual, post your comments after the blog and you can rate the puzzle by means of the star system.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26078
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Well it’s November 5th and we have a suitably themed crossword today. First of all I don’t think the setter of this crossword is our normal Thursday setter, although if someone can prove me wrong I would appreciate it. Nope, its J. (see comment below) I think it was just me having a bad day. Secondly when I did this crossword I wasn’t particularly thrilled with it, but on reflection and on attempting to work out all the word play it did become much better than I originally thought.
As usual all comments are appreciated.
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Toughie No 245 by Messinae
My Kingdom for a Norse
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Those who are having a struggle with today’s Cryptic may like to have a go at this one, which is in my opinion (which is of course totally subjective) easier than the Cryptic. I’ve only given it three stars for difficulty, rather than two, because it contains a couple of words new to me, but it’s full of well-constructed and very fair clues.
So, especially if you’ve never tried a Toughie before, give this one a go, and let us know how you get on via a comment.
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