Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25871
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
If you have been lulled into a false sense of security by recent Monday puzzles, you may find this one little harder.
Don’t forget – just highlight the space between the curly brackets to reveal the answer.
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ScrewedUp News – Mar 7
Edition 8
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15.50 – Father Brian reports that the Giant GK is now online. I checked, and he is right, unless you try to access it from the Home page!!
It’s Saturday again and, as several of you have reported, the Giant General Knowledge No 12252 is missing – let’s hope thay make a better job of sorting it out than they did last week!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25870
Selected hints
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Today’s prize crossword is a little harder than recent Saturday puzzles, but mainly because of the use of place names in several of the answers, and in one case as part of the wordplay. The usual few hints to get you started.
A full review of this puzzle, by crossword blogging veteran Peter Biddlecombe, will be published at 12.00 on Thursday, 12th March.
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Toughie No 107 by Shamus
Shamus sets another relatively easy puzzle
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
After yesterday’s epic, today we have a much easier, but nonetheless enjoyable puzzle. If you are new to Toughies, you should start with one like this. I should point out that the difficulty ratings that I give are relative to the type of puzzle, so three stars here would be at least four on a regular cryptic.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25869
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Libellule is back in his usual Friday slot (last Friday he preferred to go and see France play Wales in Paris). BD

The rugby was excellent. Although a Friday night kick-off at 9.00pm was a little strange. Libellule
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25864 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

I slipped up at 17D, but the rest was done in about an average time for a Times puzzle. Probably slower than it should have been, but I’m getting used to this setter’s style and tend to play safe with the answers that feel weak, like 21 and 13, and wait for plenty of checking letters. Continue reading “DT Cryptic No 25864 – Review”
Toughie No 106 by Elgar
A difficult but enjoyable puzzle
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
A difficult puzzle, with a phrase that spreads over three clues. This was made even more difficult online as the order of the second and third clues was not immediately obvious. I think the best way to tackle this particular puzzle is to complete the centre block of 6 clues and then work outwards from there, although 1 across and 2 down give a good foothold into the top part.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25868
Today’s hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

I was sailing through this one at a rate of knots until I hit 24a, where the wordplay held me up for ages until the penny finally dropped, swiftly followed by a bout of self-kicking! As usual the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets – select the white space inside the brackets to display the answer, but do try to get it from the hints first.
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Toughie No 105 by Giovanni
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****

This is my first attempt at doing a write-up for a Toughie and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s got some challenging clues, as well as some easy ones, and doesn’t have too many obscure words.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25867
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A slightly tricky puzzle – I was sailing along thinking I must be in tune with the setter, then got a bit bogged down. No particularly difficult clues, apart from getting the precise wording for 27 across. My first attempt hampered me from getting 24 down, I should have tackled them the other way around.
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