26151 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Tag: 26151

DT 26151

by tilsit  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26151

Redeeming Features?

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *

A puzzle that stimulated a lot of debate on these boards last Saturday with a large number of people agreeing with Big Dave and myself that it was not one of the better puzzles and at the moment we seem to be going backwards instead of forwards in terms of quality on a Saturday. This week we have seen a very strong set of daily puzzles where the setters have worked hard to produce accessible and fair puzzles.

Contrary to popular belief, it gives me no pleasure to write about a puzzle in negative terms. I basically end up wondering that if that puzzle had been submitted to the other three main editors, would it have made their paper? The resounding answer is almost certainly not, for a variety of reasons, but the main one being on quality.

In every other paper, the Saturday puzle is the Showcase Puzzle of the week and there was stiff competition last weekend with a strong Araucaria puzzle in the Guardian and our very own Anax’s wonderful (and ferociously difficult) Independent, as well as a lovely Times puzzle. This limped in some way behind even the Financial Times puzzle.

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DT 26151 – Hints

by Big Dave  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26151 – Hints

Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **

Next Saturday Tilsit and I plan to be in the White Horse on Parson’s Green between the hours of 11.00am and 7.00pm. Feel free to join us there for some or all of the time. If the last session is anything to go by then you can also expect to meet some or all of Elgar, Jetdoc, Notabilis, MynoT and Derek Harrison. For Listener fans, there will be a large contingent of setters and others connected with that puzzle. I’ll try and get a more accurate idea by next Saturday

That’s the interesting bit. Today’s Prize puzzle offered very little. Both of the enjoyment stars were earned by 16 across.

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 on Thursday, 4th February.

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