Toughie No 256 by Citrus
A View From the Bridge
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Another Tuesday Toughie that’s worth having a go at. There are several anagrams, and some easy cryptic definitions and other clues to get you going. Then you can take a bit more time with some of the more difficult clues. All in all it should prove to be an enjoyable adventure. Especially if you tried to tackle last Friday’s Toughie equivalent of Everest.
If you want to leave comments, please do. You can the answers directly by highlighting the letters inside the curly brackets.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26094
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
I thought that this was a bit harder than the usual Ray T puzzle when I did it in the early hours (but that may have been due to a moderate intake of Shiraz!), so I’ve given it 4 stars for difficulty. I expect that you’ll all tell me now that it was the easiest puzzle all year!!
It has all the Ray T trademarks – single word answers and definitions where you keep having to ask yourself “in what sense does x mean y?”.
Let’s see if we can get a bumper crop of comments today. We particularly want to hear from those readers who have yet to introduce themselves – we’re a friendly bunch and we won’t bite – it really doesn’t matter whether you’ve been solving crosswords for sixty years or have only just started!
As always the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets to prevent your seeing them accidentally. Just drag your cursor through the white space inside the brackets to reveal.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26093
Hints and tips by Rishi
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
I enjoyed solving this crossword from our Monday Maestro. The grid is cyclically symmetrical, that is, the pattern is the same whichever way you turn.
Clues 1a and 31a, in symmetrical positions in the grid, belong to a type known as &lit, which I think is short for ‘and literally so’ [we also use the term all-in-one for these – BD] – for definition of the word required, we have to reread the clue in its entirety. Both these clues lead to words from the world of professions – one teaching lines to children and the other making locomotives run on lines.
For me the Clue of the Crossword is 3d – all components in this charade are from roads and “by-pass” is a noun in the surface reading but a verb as definition for word required.
The last to go in was 13a – for non-UK solvers it’s always place names that are the bugbears.
As usual the solutions are whitened; please highlight the space within the curly brackets and they will show themselves.
Please do leave a Comment to record your experience with this crossword.
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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2510
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Another dose of quality, this week with a govt/military flavour in quite a few of the long answers – Magna Carta, Victoria Cross, esprit de corps, and secret service. Overall difficulty matched an easy but not very easy Times puzzle.
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Toughie No 255 by Osmosis
At full stretch
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ***
This was a bit of a monster, not helped by the E/E* grid and a preponderance of very common cross-checking letters; 8a was a case in point, a ten minute slog with only -A-E- available. The clues were a mix of some truly stunning bits of inventiveness and the occasional grumble, typified by the past participle “welcomed” in 9d.
*E/E means even/even – in which the answers appear in the even-numbered rows and columns.
Please add your comments and questions; and don’t forget the curly brackets contain the answers – left-click and drag the cursor over them if you get really desperate.
Clues in blue are the ones I enjoyed most of all.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26091
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
We have another entertaining puzzle from our usual Friday setter. With most puzzles you find at least one or two surface readings which are a bit “iffy”, but Giovanni always produces beautifully smooth clues. I think that today he has a given us a puzzle which treads a fine line by being within the reach of novice solvers whilst posing enough of a challenge for the more experienced.
We always appreciate getting feedback from you, so if you’ve never left us a comment before, now is the time to introduce yourself!
As usual the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets – if you want to reveal one, just select the white space inside.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26086
Undoing the Good Work
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
After the previous week’s encouraging puzzle it was normal service resumed with this week’s Saturday offering. So much so, that I dashed it off and it was quickly forgotten.
It’s sad to me that puzzles like this should be in when the Friday and Sunday setters produce so much better work. Most other papers treat the Saturday puzzle as the crowning glory of the week and you get a puzzle with a bit of a challenge. I am sad that this is not the case with the DT. I wouldn’t mind one of these once a month with the others perhaps rotating.
This is a hotchpotch of a few decent clues drowned by some that one wouldn’t expect to find in an on-the-shelf puzzle magazine.
I know I may be a lone voice in this, but I just feel that those who wish to improve their solving can do so on a Friday and Sunday with beautiful constructions and ideas that challenge and stretch where on a Saturday some of that is sacrificed for the sake of surface reading of a clever clue. Perhaps in the setter’s defence, it may be a brief to which he has been asked to work, but if so, it needs to be revisited, in my opinion.
At least the grid had no double unches!
As usual, I would welcome you telling me I am a lone voice, or agreeing with me and you can do so. Feel free to rate the puzzle by the star system. As the deadline has passed Saturday answers are not hidden away in the brackets.
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Toughie No 254 by Warbler
Grounded!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I feel a little disappointed today. I normally find Warbler’s puzzles to be entertaining and witty, but this seemed a bit flat and pedestrian. Can’t put my finger on it, and although Warbler’s puzzles are generally at the easier end of the Toughie scale, they are normally still decent.
The Grid was also a bit of a let down with only one way of getting into each corner, which is a bit unfair, in my opinion.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26090
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Another normal Thursday offering from J. Except this time I have a couple of quibbles over the quality of a a few of the clues. 11a, 21a and 5d for example. What did you think?
If you can’t work out the answers from the hint, then you can reveal them by highlighting the space between the curly brackets.
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Toughie No 253 by Cephas
It’s All Greek to Me
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
I thought that this puzzle was a bit of a mixed bag – some really enjoyable clues but a few cryptic definitions which are just not very cryptic. We also have a few cricket references which are guaranteed to annoy some solvers. How did you find it? – let us know via a comment.
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