25984 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

DT 25984 – Review

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25984 – Review

A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe

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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ***

More difficult than usual – I certainly struggled with 21A, as the S_R_T_ER with possible choices for the blanks takes up quite a bit of the print-out’s white space. A slightly unsatisfactory grid – answers like 1 and 10 are underchecked, but ones like 12, 15 and 17 are overchecked.

And now for something completely different – a bit of shameless advertising: Next Thursday, I’m cycling 60 miles along the Grand Union and Regents Canal towpaths in aid of Helen and Douglas House, a home providing respite and end of life care for children and young adults with life-shortening conditions, as well as support and friendship for their families.

If you would like to sponsor me for the ride (or read more), please visit http://www.justgiving.com/peters-canal-ride/

Continue reading “DT 25984 – Review”

DT 25984 – Hints

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25984 – Hints

Selected hints by Big Dave

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***

This has been a particularly good week, and it does seem that many of the setters are raising their game.  I hope that is in part due to the feedback that they have received from this blog.  While I would expect that some notice is taken of the opinions of the person writing the individual review, it is your comments that have the biggest impact, so keep them rolling in.  Everyone concerned, whether thay be bloggers or setters, is interested in what you have to say.

Now to today’s puzzle.  A improvement on last Saturday, but while the inclusion of two well-known places, and names from art and literature were absolutely fine, I was disappointed by the girl’s name at 26 across.  I do wish that these prize puzzles were a bit harder, but I’ve gone over that ground before.  I was sent a copy of last Saturday’s prize puzzle from The Independent, and it was a breath of fresh air!

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, 23rd July.

Continue reading “DT 25984 – Hints”