Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26100
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
I’ll be very interested to hear your views on this puzzle. While I was solving it I had the impression that it was quite difficult, but later, writing the review, I can’t really see why I thought that.
All comments are welcome, especially from those readers who have yet to introduce themselves.
The answers are hidden between the curly brackets, to prevent your seeing them unless you want to. To reveal them just highlight the white space between the brackets.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26099
Hints and tips by Rishi
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A satisfying puzzle from our Monday Maestro. Just one clue, 29ac, may perhaps hold you up if you haven’t come across the ploy before.
To see the answers hidden within the curly brackets, select the white space.
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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2511
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Quite tricky for me, this one – possibly the hardest Sunday puzzle for me since I started blogging them, though partly from one of those unfortunate groupings of answers that were hard for me – 16D, 17D, 20A, 27A. If one of these had been in each 20A, they would have caused far less trouble! Another source of difficulty might be the simple fact that every answer except 14D is a single word – this seems to make cheap guessed answers harder to come by. (As usual, I’m writing this before seeing what anyone said on the day, so look forward to finding “This was a doddle” comments when I do …)
Note after reading the Sunday hints messages – the newspaper material in 27A’s wordplay is repeated elsewhere, for a “Nina” that completely passed me by – you can find the Sun in 6D, Independent in 3D, Mail in 14D, and Guardian in 12D. If you want to really push it, the Melbourne Age (9A) and and New London [Connecticut] Day (21A) are also there, along with stories (23A) and just the one lie (15A). I found these while failing to notice the Mail.
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Toughie No 259 by Elgar
All the fun of the pair
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
There’s usually a sense of dread on seeing a clue-set littered with “See x” and numerical references, and a pre-solve reading of these made me fear the worst; I think there were just two answers spotted. As it turned out, this was a fairly relaxing solve, not too difficult and – very strangely – quite muted in terms of Elgar’s usual LOL clues.
As I start the write-up there are a number of clues whose wordplay I only tried to work out after solving, not always with success. Part of Elgar’s unique brilliance is his libertarian playfulness, and he gets away with stuff that other setters probably wouldn’t.
My favourite clues are shown in blue text.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26097
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
The Friday Cryptic is often the highlight of the week and, once again, Giovanni does not disappoint. It’s full of entertaining clues, but I did find it quite tricky – let us know whether you agree or not!
As usual the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets so that you cannot see them accidentally – just highlight the white space inside the brackets and say “abracadabra” to reveal one.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26092
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *
Only the Telegraph, among quality dailies, would have a prize puzzle that is this easy.
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Toughie No 258 by MynoT
A Night at the Opera
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
I bet you were all wondering where Mynot would go next, having completed a series of vowel-inspired puzzles, well now we know he has invited us all to a Night at the Opera, but without the Marx Brothers.
I must admit that when I saw the convoluted clueing on this puzzle I felt like tossing it in the cyber-bin. I persevered with it, and ended up quite enjoying the result. It is very important to latch on to the theme quickly, and an inspired guess at the 1a / 28a coupling, based on just three checking letters was the key for me, even though my first guess of “clue” for 19a proved to be incorrect.
I have just had an email from Tilsit. The last I heard was that he had lost his dongle – sounds like the title of a Charlie Drake song – so he must have now found it!!
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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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26096
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Another “exactly what it says on the tin” crossword from J. Unlike last week, I can’t find anything in this to grumble about.
The answers are hidden between the curly brackets, and if you wish to leave a comment, please feel free to do so.
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Toughie No 257 by Kcit
Under False Colours
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
So you’ve raced through today’s Cryptic in record time and you’re looking for something a bit more challenging, but you’re wary of trying the Toughie because you think it will be beyond you? Think again, today’s puzzle is a pussycat, certainly no more difficult than an average Telegraph Cryptic, and easier, in my opinion, than yesterday’s Cryptic. If you’ve never tried a Toughie this is the one to start with.
It’s a perfectly good puzzle with some well-constructed and entertaining clues, but I do feel that the Telegraph is verging on a contravention of the Trades Description Act in describing it as the toughest puzzle on Fleet Street and “our most devious cryptic puzzle ever”. Certainly some Toughies fall into that category, but this one? – no.
Whether you agree or disagree, please feel free to leave a comment.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26095
Let’s all play Charades!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Tilsit would rather go back to see the lovely nurses in the Calderdale Royal Hospital than do today’s puzzle, and I don’t blame him. It was very easy and the newer solvers should enjoy finishing it. For the rest of us it offered very little.
You can add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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