Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25998
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
We can be pretty certain that there will be no discussion today about whether an answer should be hyphenated or not, since one of the trademarks of this setter is that all the answers are single words. Another trademark is that all the clues are beautifully constructed and often amusing. I was thoroughly entertained by it – what about you? Please take the time to click on one of the stars at the bottom of the review to vote for the entertainment factor.
As usual, the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets – select the white space to reveal them.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25997
Hints and tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
The sun beats down on the tropical Calder Valley (Griff Rhys Jones missed us out with his river tour and went across the Pennines via Huddersfield last night!) and here we go with another week of crossword challenges. As usual, the Monday Maestro gives us a nice gentle start to the week and I’m pleased that this week we have a more balanced set of clues after last week’s abundance of cryptic definitions. Today’s workout should give the newer solver a broader introduction into cryptic crossword clues, although the old hand may have seen a few of them before.
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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2495 – Hints
Selected hints by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
This is a crossword for those who love crosswords. Comparitively easy, so it should be within the reach of most solvers, it has some excellent clues. I have given hints for those which I think will cause the most problems.
At the bottom of the post you will see an array of five stars – use these to 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.
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 Friday, 7th August.
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ScrewedUp News – Aug 01
Edition 21
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03-08-2009 – As Libellule reports, this was corrected at some time today.
The site has been relatively well behaved in recent weeks, apart from an occasional glitch with the numbers on Codewords, the random presentation of the wrong grid which is corrected when you try again and the ever-present poor performance which becomes intolerable at certain times of the day.
Today Libellule reports that the Quick GK – No. 106 provides the clues but no grid. This applies to both the playable and printable versions.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25996 – Hints
Selected hints by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment: ***
Once again we are presented with an easy prize puzzle. 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. Peter Biddlecombe’s full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Thursday, 6th August.
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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2494 – Review
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A good puzzle maintaining the standard set for the Sunday puzzles.
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Toughie No 191 by Osmosis
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
You have to work to get the answers in this very enjoyable puzzle. One or two clues have wordplay that takes a bit of unravelling, but there is nothing here that is beyond the capabilities of the average Toughie solver. That’s what I wrote twelve weeks ago, the last time I reviewed a Toughie from this setter, and little seems to have changed!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25995
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
A tougher crossword I think today than we have had for a number of weeks. But still very enjoyable. I do however have a small whinge about the definition for 8 down and 11 across. The answers are as usual are hidden between the curly brackets, just highlight the blank space. Comments as always appreciated.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25990 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
A mostly easy puzzle, helped by straightforward clues to 15-letter answers. Only delay was in NW corner, where 11, 4, 2, 8 were the last few answers. A pretty good puzzle this – only a couple of weak CDs, and pretty solid surface meanings – only 13’s “axe a version” seemed really silly to me, and about half were as good as you could hope for – 8, 15 and 18 for example.
The charity bike ride which should have been happening on the day this appears has been postponed in the hope of getting two dry days in a row next week, riding on the second after the muddy sections of towpath have dried out on the first. Continue reading “DT 25990 – Review”
