Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2528
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
This puzzle has a grid that looked a bit scruffy but grew on me after I looked harder – every word length from 4 to 12 is included, and 11, 12 and 13-letter words can easily be under-used, so 3 of these is a good feature. And of course someone who contributed to the Times puzzle’s exemplary set of grids is not going to give us one with isolated sections or under-checked words. Quite a tricky puzzle by Sunday standards, taking me about as long as an average Times cryptic.
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Toughie No 326 by Myops
Identity Crikey
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
A quick glance over the clues, and this puzzle seemed to have Elgar written all over it, albeit without the linked answers and smattering of numerical grid references. On solving, many clues had that close-to-the-edge risk factor to convince me even more. And it turns out I was completely wrong. What an aficionado I am.
So, you might think I enjoyed this, and (unlike a Jeremy Clarkson sentence starting with those same words) you’d be right. There’s lovely, imaginative stuff all over the place, coupled with some real challenges that took a lot of unravelling.
The clues that made my flag flutter are shown in blue – do yours match?
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53.408488-2.149293
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26198
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
We have a fairly tough challenge from Giovanni today (with three words which were new to me) but all clued in his usual, impeccably fair way. Let us know your thoughts on the puzzle by sending a comment, and please remember to grade the puzzle on how much you enjoyed it by clicking on one of the stars below.
The answers are in the review, but hidden so that you don’t see them by accident. To see one, drag your cursor through the white space between the brackets under the relevant clue.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26193
A full analysis by Tilsit
All in the Mind
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Another enjoyable puzzle from Cephas with some clever clues and only one or two to make you suck your teeth. I especially liked 18 across, which was a nice anagram, but suffers from a lack of an anagram indicator. One of the difficulties I have with the Telegraph puzzles is the preponderance of cryptic definitions and while the good ones are very clever, there are a lot of less than satisfactory ones about. 15 across today is a good one.
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52.254523-2.266838
Toughie No 325 by Busman
Rather pedestrian
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
A workmanlike puzzle that left me wanting something more exciting, especially coming straight after yesterday’s tour de force.
OK, I missed the obvious Nina all round the outside unchecked letters – thanks Tilsit!
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52.254523-2.266838
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26197
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
An improvement on last Thursday’s, but I still can’t get over excited. There are some good clues here, and some good surface readings, but the crossword on the whole is pulled down by the large number of its “same” style of clues and a general lack of inventiveness. Anyway “tant pis” as they say over here in France.
If you cannot decipher the answer from the hint, all you have to do is highlight the space in the curly brackets to reveal the answer.
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Toughie No 324 by Micawber
Whack-O
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
It’s my lucky day – I get a terrific puzzle from my favourite Telegraph setter to review. There are some brilliant clues and one (that’s probably brilliant!) which I can’t fully understand – so your assistance on this would be very welcome. Additionally, please feel free to leave a comment telling us what you liked or didn’t like about the puzzle.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26196
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Other setters may be easier, harder, more elegant, more devious but Jay continues to provide one of the best puzzles of the week.
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52.254523-2.266838
Toughie No 323 by Citrus
Return of the Grumpy Old Man
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
What could have been an entertaining puzzle was, for me at least, spoiled by some of the constructs. I was particularly unhappy with wasting a lot of time on 13 across, only to find out that you had to solve one homophone before tackling the next.
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52.254523-2.266838
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26195
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I thought that today’s puzzle was less tricky than most Shamus puzzles (I assume that it’s by Shamus – apologies if I’ve got that wrong), but as we’ve said before a puzzle doesn’t have to be very difficult to be entertaining. It does have rather a lot of place names (three in England and one in South America) which I know that some people won’t like – let us know what you think of all the place names and of the puzzle generally with a comment!
The answer to each clue is concealed between the brackets under it – just drag your cursor through the space between the brackets if you want to reveal it.
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