Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25890
Today’s hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***

I had a sense of déjà vu when doing this puzzle since many of the answers seemed to have cropped up recently! It’s a typical Tuesday puzzle – nothing too complicated or tricky.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25889
Get your week off the ground with this typical DT cryptic
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Monday’s puzzles are usually relatively easy, and satisfyingly lacking in obscure or tenuous clues. Today’s is no exception.
Tilsit is still in hospital, but hopes to return next week.
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Toughie No 119 by Micawber
Today’s hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Tilsit was due to review today’s Toughie, but he was rushed into hospital on Monday. He had still hoped to be able to do this review as he didn’t want to disappoint his new fans. I am sure you will all be joining me in wishing him a speedy recovery.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25887
A nice easy puzzle to end the week
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Libellule is on holiday this week – he did the Wednesday review instead. I can see why he likes these Friday puzzles. This one is on the easy side, but at the same time a pleasure to complete. A couple of the down clues may be a bit of a problem, but the rest is very straightforward.
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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2476 – Review
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****

A hardish crossword, but the improvement in the Sunday puzzles continues.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25882 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***

Another strange grid – if you don’t get the 15-letter answers, this is four separate crosswords, with uneven checking – the 9-letter answers are underchecked (4 of 9) and the 3s and 15s are overchecked – 3/3 and 9/15. And of course, the 4/5/7/8/10/…-letter words can’t come out to play.
Lots of the clues seem like gentle puns rather than really cryptic clues, and several of the more cryptic ones use words/definitions so close together that the clue is very easy or might lead to more than one answer Continue reading “DT Cryptic No 25882 – Review”
Toughie No 118 by Giovanni
Relatively easy despite some long answers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
I made steady progress through this puzzle, and the one long word was soon revealed by the checking letters (together with Chamber’s online); this could have been a little difficult look up if you were doing this on the 7.55 to 3 down!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25886
Today’s hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

A typical Thursday puzzle with some interesting clues but not too taxing.
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Toughie No 117 by Messinae
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

I thought that this Toughie was somewhat easier than usual. Of course these views are totally subjective, and if you think differently please let us know via a comment.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25885
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****

A very enjoyable crossword today with a good variety of clues. By that I found that both the variety of types of clues and the complexity of clues was very well balanced.
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