Toughie No 242 by Giovanni
Cooking the Books!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
A really enjoyable challenge from Giovanni today, but it contained a rare flaw from our setter. The answer to 4 down contained a misspelling. However all is well now and a correct spelling and clue have been inserted. I have known Giovanni for a number of years and on checking with him, and realising a slip had been made and being the professional he is, he was mortified. A quick exchange of mail and all resolved. This didn’t distract too much from the overall puzzle, which was to his usual standard.
A good balance of all types of clue in the puzzle with a couple of fairly tricky explanations. However fairness is paramount at all times, and aspiring setters should study the wording and phrasing of the clues to see how he achieves the clever surface reading.
Have your say after the review, but do remember that new posters may wait a little while (sometimes a few minutes, possibly an hour or so) to have first posts approved. This just prevents those nasty spammers from gluing up the works. You can also rate the puzzle with the star rating.
[I have now been able to access the new version, but only from the Play Puzzles / Crossword Puzzles page, not from the home page. BD]
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26072
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ***
Once again I didn’t find this crossword particularly taxing (although I am sure some of you will disagree), but enjoyed the ramble through it nevertheless. As usual a good mixture of clues and a nice range of complexity. But today I have to congratulate J. on a cracking clue. 17a.
Any comments are appreciated.
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Toughie No 241 by Micawber
Wheear ‘ast ta bin sin’ ah saw thee?
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
We can rely on Micawber to provide a challenging and witty puzzle, and today’s is no exception. For me there are two elements, both enjoyable, to solving a puzzle such as this – firstly getting the answers, and secondly untangling some of the trickier bits of the wordplay.
How did you like it, and how do you think it compares to yesterday’s Toughie, which was also excellent? For me yesterday’s was slightly tougher, but today’s just noses ahead in the enjoyment stakes – leave us a comment with your views!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26071
Double D Maths
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A preponderance of Word Sums and Double Definition clues today with the odd anagram thrown in. A few of the clues were old chestnuts to me, but if you haven’t sen them before, they will probably raise a chuckle with you. It was probably a 2 ½ for difficulty rather than three, really. But I am sure a few of you will feel that three is appropriate.
Sorry for being a bit late, but clandestine meetings with Distrcit Nurses have been the order of the day!
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Toughie No 240 by Notabilis
The Iceman Cometh
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
For some reason I really struggled on both the crossword and on deriving the word play when I was doing the crossword and also when I was writing the blog, and only finished the blog with a little help from Gazza.
Not the sort of Toughie I usually expect to deal with on a Tuesday. However it was enjoyable, and had a number of great clues such as 5d for example. I was particularly pleased when I finished it.
Please let us know what you think via a comment.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26070
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Regular solvers will recognise the style of today’s setter, and he has produced another puzzle to make you think and make you smile.
For those who want to see the answers, they are hidden inside the curly brackets under each clue – just highlight the white space inside the brackets to reveal them.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26069
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
You know just what to expect from the Monday Maestro, and once again he delivers. Rufus is universally recommended by all in Crosswordland as the best setter for those new to cryptic puzzles. This is a relatively easy one but a pleasure to solve.
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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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2506
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Much easier than last week for me, but there’s plenty to see. First, a bit of symmetry – half-turn rotational symmetry still applies when you’ve drawn in little bars to mark word breaks in multi-word answers.
Legend: (act)* indicates an anagram of act
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Toughie No 239 by Shamus
Hints and tips by Anax
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
A four-star difficulty rating? Well, I struggled, so I can only give a personal assessment – seasoned Toughie solvers may have different tales to tell. Oddly, the solve itself didn’t take very long, but I was left with a clutch of clues whose wordplay I couldn’t fathom, and for that reason alone I’ve notched the enjoyment level down from what could easily have been 4 or 5. Apart from those difficulties this puzzle offered some tough, imaginative clueing and a handful of real corkers. Kudos to the setter, too, for not being put off by awkward Js and Qs. There’s just one quibble at 23Dn.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26067
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
I look forward to the Friday puzzle, but I must admit to feeling a bit disappointed with this one. There’s one amusing clue at 7d, but otherwise I thought that it was fairly mundane stuff, compared to the usual Friday fare. Do you agree or do you think I’m being excessively curmudgeonly? – let me know via a comment.
As usual, if you want to see an answer you’ll find it hidden between the curly brackets – just highlight the white space to reveal it.
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