Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26001
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
An interesting puzzle today, but thankfully it is nowhere near as difficult as yesterdays. A number of accessible clues that allows access to the rest of the crossword by providing some of the relevant checking letters. There is the usual nice mix of well defined clues, and at least two or three that raise a smile. All in all a nice pleasant ramble after yesterday’s workout. 10a is a new word for me today.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25996 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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A fairly straightforward puzzle except for the obscurity at 10A which took me as long as the rest of the puzzle. I’m not keen on puzzles with one stinker clue like this after 29 easy ones – if, as I did, you already knew about orfes, peccadilloes, Lethean and Salieri.
When you read this I should be pedalling my bike about halfway between Tring and Limehouse, so I’ll respond to any feedback on Friday.
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Toughie No 194 by Busman
Charabancs of Fire!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Calderdale Hospital, where I am having a very short stay (hopefully home this evening!). I have just been served with a bowl of the finest NHS Chicken Soup and a Cheese Sandwich for lunch. Rather oddly, I have also been served with Cheese and Biscuits for dessert!
I was admitted at some rather ungodly hour this morning and while waiting for the ambulance to bring me in, I managed to tackle this Toughie. When I eventually solved it, I tried to play the game of guess the setter (I do wish they would tell us on the website!) and came up with six other suspects rather than Busman.
I have a feeling this may divide the Community; some will like it and others hate it. I am disappointed with the rating it got on the website, it certainly wasn’t that weak.
Whether it’s the medication I am been filled up with, I feel rather sanguine about it. In some ways I am disappointed as Busman’s alter ego produces some absolutely terrific puzzles in The Spectator series (http://www.spectator.co.uk/article_assets/articledir_10457/5228953/crossword.pdf was last week’s cracker), and this doesn’t feel like a Toughie (today’s DT 26000 was much more ferocious!), but there were clues to make me smile and 8 across was a brilliant clue. When I finished solving online, I submitted the solution and found I had five mistakes – two were typos, but 2 down, 21 down and 26 across left me having to rethink.
Anyway, let’s dive in and see what lurks within.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26000
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
Today marks a significant milestone for the Telegraph crossword – look at the crossword number – and the setter has incorporated references to this milestone in the clues. Additionally, there is a gimmick described at 16a/1a.
So, it’s a bit different from the usual daily cryptic; I liked it – what about you? – give us your views via a comment. And please take the time to click on one of the stars at the bottom of the review to vote for the entertainment factor.
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Toughie No 193 by Shamus
Hints and Tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
This is an interesting puzzle from Shamus who has been kind enough to make all four of the 15-letter clues relatively easy, which is a massive help in solving the rest. I’d like to give it two and a half stars for difficulty, but that’s not possible – how many would you give it? – leave us a comment!
Also, please don’t forget to vote for the entertainment factor by clicking on one of the stars at the bottom of the review.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25999
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
This enjoyable puzzle is only spoilt a little by the dodgy anagram indicators.
You can add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
For new viewers, the answers can be seen by selecting the space between the curly brackets – we do this so that you can look up one or two answers without seeing all of them. The first time you leave a comment it will need to be moderated before others can view it – this is to prevent the site being overrun by spammers; over 800 have been intercepted so far!
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Toughie No 192 by Giovanni
Giovanni gives us an easy ride
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Last time we had a puzzle from Giovanni, it was a tough time. This time he has been a lot kinder to us. A smattering of new / lesser known words, but altogether the same excellent standard that we have come to expect.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25998
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
We can be pretty certain that there will be no discussion today about whether an answer should be hyphenated or not, since one of the trademarks of this setter is that all the answers are single words. Another trademark is that all the clues are beautifully constructed and often amusing. I was thoroughly entertained by it – what about you? Please take the time to click on one of the stars at the bottom of the review to vote for the entertainment factor.
As usual, the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets – select the white space to reveal them.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25997
Hints and tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
The sun beats down on the tropical Calder Valley (Griff Rhys Jones missed us out with his river tour and went across the Pennines via Huddersfield last night!) and here we go with another week of crossword challenges. As usual, the Monday Maestro gives us a nice gentle start to the week and I’m pleased that this week we have a more balanced set of clues after last week’s abundance of cryptic definitions. Today’s workout should give the newer solver a broader introduction into cryptic crossword clues, although the old hand may have seen a few of them before.
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ScrewedUp News – Aug 01
Edition 21
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03-08-2009 – As Libellule reports, this was corrected at some time today.
The site has been relatively well behaved in recent weeks, apart from an occasional glitch with the numbers on Codewords, the random presentation of the wrong grid which is corrected when you try again and the ever-present poor performance which becomes intolerable at certain times of the day.
Today Libellule reports that the Quick GK – No. 106 provides the clues but no grid. This applies to both the playable and printable versions.
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