Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26251
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***– Enjoyment **
I quite enjoyed the crossword when I did it, but when I started writing it up and realised just how much first and last letters are used, and the fact that there are 12 anagrams in 30 clues I began to change my mind… The Thursday crosswords seemed to be getting better over recent weeks, this one seems like a step backwards. Anyway feel free to leave a coment.
Hopefully the hint should give you all you need to get the answer, but if you still have a problem highlight the space between the curly brackets.
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Toughie No 360 by Giovanni
It’s Definitely Not Mr Bean
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
There were several words which were new to me in this puzzle, but it’s by Giovanni so all the wordplay is very fair and the surface readings are good. Let us know how you found it, and please don’t forget to vote by clicking on one of the stars below.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26250
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Jay is as reliable as ever, and gives us an enjoyable, not-too-difficult puzzle.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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Toughie No 359 by Warbler
A chirpy puzzle
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Warbler always delivers an enjoyable puzzle and today’s is no exception. Tuesday has become the repository for the easier Toughies, so today is a very good day if you want to start trying them.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26249
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ****– Enjoyment ****
We have a very entertaining puzzle from Ray T today with some highly amusing clues, but without his normal ration of two hidden words. What did you think of it? Tell us in a comment, and please don’t forget to grade it by clicking on one of the five stars below.
As always the answers, for those who want to see them, are hidden between the brackets under the clues. Just highlight the spaces between the brackets to reveal one.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26248
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty **– Enjoyment ***
A typical Monday morning crossword from Rufus gently easing everybody into a new crossword week. I’m now off to enjoy my bank holiday and reflect on the fact that I now need to replace my Toulouse rugby shirt.
If you cannot work out the answer from the hint just highlight the space between the curly brackets.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26247 – Hints
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
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The usual few hints to get you started.
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. Gnomethang’s full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 27th May.
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Toughie No 358 by Firefly
A little fun in the sun
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
This was quite a straightforward solve with mostly easy clues; in fact the only really tough bit was the sting in the tail wordplay conundrum posed by the very last clue.
There were just a couple of moments where I thought the legitimacy of the wordplay was questionable, but it was never anything that hindered solving and the clues rarely fall foul of Ximenean standards. The enjoyment rating for me was strictly moderate – good clues all round, but no “Wow” moments bar 7a which I think is very cleverly observed.
Favourite clues are highlighted in blue; how do they compare with yours?
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26246
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
We have a good selection of smooth, entertaining clues from Giovanni today, but sprinkled among them are quite a few pretty easy ones (and I dithered between two and three stars for difficulty – I think that this is a definite 2½). Do you agree or not? In either case we’d love to get a comment telling us what you think of it.
The answers, should you need them, are hidden between the curly brackets under the relevant clue. Just select the space between the brackets to reveal them.
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Toughie No 357 by MynoT
Hints and tips by Bufo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
It was down to earth after last week’s gentle introduction. I gave up on this after half-an-hour’s hard slog with 3 answers missing and several others not fully understood. I then filled the gaps with the aid of TEA and Chambers but was still left with 2 or 3 answers for which I need enlightenment. I am sure that someone will oblige. I found the top half more difficult than the bottom half.
The puzzle contains several clues that contain no wordplay. This means that you stand no chance if you don’t happen to be familiar with the answer. For instance I couldn’t remember the answer to 14 across and so I had no alternative to looking it up. I also didn’t like the fact that there are also several answers (or part answers) that appear only in Chambers and not in the COD or Collins.
I have taken note of last week’s comments about not revealing the answers in my hints.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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