Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2474
Selected hints by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
The second Sunday in a row that I have enjoyed the puzzle – things are looking up. Only one minor grumble – the top right and bottom left corners of the grid are a bit isolated from the rest.
As Spring is fast approaching, I have changed the header picture once more. The intention is to show the same view for the current month of the year – those for January and February are still in the Gallery, along with a few new pictures. The large van in the centre of the picture is the Mobile Library – a lifeline for Mrs BD.
Some of you may have noticed that The Mine is growing too – Popes and Antipopes are among the new additions. Later today, following one of the clues in today’s General Knowledge puzzle, I intend to add the Hebrew / Jewish calendar.
For the weekend prize crosswords I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them. A full analysis of this puzzle will be available at 12.00 next Thursday, March 12th.
Some hints to get you started: Continue reading “ST Cryptic No 2474 – Hints”
ScrewedUp News – Mar 7
Edition 8
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15.50 – Father Brian reports that the Giant GK is now online. I checked, and he is right, unless you try to access it from the Home page!!
It’s Saturday again and, as several of you have reported, the Giant General Knowledge No 12252 is missing – let’s hope thay make a better job of sorting it out than they did last week!
Continue reading “ScrewedUp News – Mar 7”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25870
Selected hints
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Today’s prize crossword is a little harder than recent Saturday puzzles, but mainly because of the use of place names in several of the answers, and in one case as part of the wordplay. The usual few hints to get you started.
A full review of this puzzle, by crossword blogging veteran Peter Biddlecombe, will be published at 12.00 on Thursday, 12th March.
Continue reading “DT Cryptic No 25870 – Hints”
Toughie No 107 by Shamus
Shamus sets another relatively easy puzzle
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
After yesterday’s epic, today we have a much easier, but nonetheless enjoyable puzzle. If you are new to Toughies, you should start with one like this. I should point out that the difficulty ratings that I give are relative to the type of puzzle, so three stars here would be at least four on a regular cryptic.
Continue reading “Toughie No 107”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25869
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Libellule is back in his usual Friday slot (last Friday he preferred to go and see France play Wales in Paris). BD
The rugby was excellent. Although a Friday night kick-off at 9.00pm was a little strange. Libellule
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Continue reading “DT Cryptic No 25869”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2473 – Review
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
As I wrote on Sunday, this puzzle didn’t leave me feeling disappointed as previous Sunday crosswords have. While not easy, there was satisfaction to be derived from solving some of the clues, although rather too many of them were double definitions. And as for 23 down, I look forward to reading your views. Continue reading “ST Cryptic No 2473 – Review”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25864 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I slipped up at 17D, but the rest was done in about an average time for a Times puzzle. Probably slower than it should have been, but I’m getting used to this setter’s style and tend to play safe with the answers that feel weak, like 21 and 13, and wait for plenty of checking letters. Continue reading “DT Cryptic No 25864 – Review”
Toughie No 106 by Elgar
A difficult but enjoyable puzzle
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
A difficult puzzle, with a phrase that spreads over three clues. This was made even more difficult online as the order of the second and third clues was not immediately obvious. I think the best way to tackle this particular puzzle is to complete the centre block of 6 clues and then work outwards from there, although 1 across and 2 down give a good foothold into the top part.
Continue reading “Toughie No 106”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25868
Today’s hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I was sailing through this one at a rate of knots until I hit 24a, where the wordplay held me up for ages until the penny finally dropped, swiftly followed by a bout of self-kicking! As usual the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets – select the white space inside the brackets to display the answer, but do try to get it from the hints first.
Continue reading “DT Cryptic No 25868”
Toughie No 105 by Giovanni
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
This is my first attempt at doing a write-up for a Toughie and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s got some challenging clues, as well as some easy ones, and doesn’t have too many obscure words.
Continue reading “Toughie No 105”