Toughie No 508 by Elgar
Wipe my brow please, Nurse!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
It was a lovely surprise this morning to find that I had an Elgar to review, though tinged with trepidation for what may be in store for the rest of the week to top this. There’s a theme, indicated by 15d/14a, based on many terms associated with a hospital theatre. I got the theme fairly quickly, but the grid is “cornery” and I was held up for some time in the NW and SE corners. I found it very enjoyable with the usual stock of “doh” moments which Elgar invariably provides. Although it is difficult I’ve only given it four stars for difficulty because Elgar can be even trickier and the theme, once you’ve got it, does make it a bit easier.
Let us know what you thought and please remember to click on one of the stars below to show how much you enjoyed it.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26471
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Another fine puzzle from our Wednesday Wizard. Keep them coming, Jay.
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Toughie No 507 by Beam
A lesson in English
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment *****
Beam (aka Ray T) lives in Paris, where he teaches the finer points of the English language to French journalists. This is evident in the two long answers in today’s excellent puzzle.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26470
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
We have a workmanlike puzzle today from one of our unknown setters – let us know how you got on with it in a comment.
If you’re really stuck for an answer you’re allowed to highlight the space between the brackets under the troubling clue.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26469
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
A very enjoyable crossword today, I romped happily through most of it and then died a horrible death in the NE corner. For some reason the answers to 9a and 8d eluded me for ages. So they get my vote for the two best clues.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26468 (Hints)
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
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Toughie No 506 by Osmosis
Hints and tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from a wind and rain-lashed Calder Valley and a feeling-grotty Blogger.
Whether it’s the weather or my grottiness, but I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as others by Osmosis, who is normally one of my favourite setters. I found it a bit of a slog rather than a challenge with a few weak, almost contrived clues on display rather than the usual elegant surface readings. There is still much to be admired in the puzzle and I have highlighted favourite clues in blue.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26467
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
I’m feeling in a particularly good mood today (the start of the Six Nations rugby tournament always cheers me up) and I really enjoyed this Giovanni puzzle. Let us know whether you feel the same way about it in a comment.
The answers, should you need them, are lurking between the curly brackets under the clues. Highlight the space between the brackets to reveal one.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26462
A full review by Gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Morning All!. We had a pretty standard difficutly puzzle from Cephas this week but my enjoyment was spoilt by the Charade count – the whole puzzle felt a bit samey and a few very good clues didn’t really help improve my opinion.
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Toughie No 505 by Kcit
Hints and tips by Bufo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Another pleasant offering from Kcit which didn’t cause too many problems. The last two in were 12 across and 8 down.
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