Toughie No 288 by Myops
A Bad Case of Anagrammitis
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
Having solved the puzzle I was somewhat surprised to find that it was by Myops, bearing in mind that his last Toughie, in the week before Christmas, was given 5 stars for difficulty by Anax who said “I’m giving this five stars for a difficulty that comes partly from very clever and oblique wordplay and partly from some devilish obscurities that should have even experienced solvers ransacking their dictionaries”.
I can’t say that I enjoyed this one a great deal. Nearly half the clues involve an anagram, and some of the surface readings make little sense, but 1d is very clever.
As always, your comments are very welcome.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26142
Personal Demons
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
A reasonably enjoyable stroll from our Wednesday Wizard today with nothing terribly taxing to cause grief or stress. However a few of my personal bête noires appear in today’s grid, which causes me a little irritation. I’m not keen on clues using “artificial or contrived names” and there are a couple here today, but otherwise it’s a pleasant solve. Likewise I think the clue at 17 across has the definition and indications being too close.
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Toughie No 287 by Citrus
Sweet enough!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
This was an excellent puzzle from Citrus (aka Mr Lemon). A lot of his Toughies have been a bit too easy – this one was just right.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26141
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
We have a Ray T puzzle today with some entertaining clues and one good belly laugh. As usual with Ray’s puzzles, the difficulties are not so much with the wordplay as in working out the relationship between the definition and the answer, and in a couple of clues today I thought that the elastic between the two was stretched a bit far. Do you agree or not? – in either case we’d love to get your comments.
For new readers, the answer to each clue is hidden between the curly brackets – just drag your cursor through the white space between the brackets to reveal it.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26140
Hints and tips by Rishi
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
A gentle start to the week. With 1a, one plunges into the crossword.
At one stage I had these to go: 15a, 18a, 19a; 4d, 7d, 15d, 20d, 23d.
The very last were 4d, 7d, 23d.
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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2518
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
A very straightforward puzzle for me, but I won’t grumble this week – there’s plenty of room for puzzles with well-written clues that aren’t fiendishly difficult.
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Toughie No 286 by Messinae
No complaints. Well… Just one.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I’ll put my hands up and admit it – I have occasionally joined in with comments about the Toughie not being the hardest crossword to emanate from Wapping. This was definitely on the easy side, but I was grateful. Having just watched my daughter in panto and returned to catch up on the snooker, accompanied by a bottle of Italian red, it was a late night and I doubt my brain would have been up to a much stiffer challenge.
This one has good, sound clueing throughout, albeit with no fireworks, marred very slightly by what appears to be an error at 5d.
As ever my favourites are shown in blue but, apart from 5d, everything warranted a generous nod to the setter – the clues are concise, accurate and, almost without exception, very smooth.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26138
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
I hope that you enjoyed today’s treat from Giovanni as much as I did. Do, please, give us a comment with your brickbats, bouquets, gripes or queries.
For new readers (and, based on the viewing figures we must be getting some every day) the answer to each clue is hidden inside the curly brackets under it. Drag your cursor through the white space between the brackets if you want to reveal it.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26133
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
This was harder than the usual Saturday puzzle, but after a break last week we have another pangram (see below).
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Toughie No 285 by Busman
Can you tell your Arias from your Elbows?
(thanks to Prolixic for the subheading)
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
This puzzle was only slightly spoiled by the serious error at 13 across – checking letters and the wordplay mean that the Verdi red herring shouldn’t hold you up for long. Busman’s previous Toughies have tended towards the easy side, this one is more difficult without being impenetrable.
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