Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26032
A full analysis by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment: ***
My first bite at the Saturday Puzzle, and until this week it has tended to be the last of the weekend puzzles that I solve, simply because the others usually have themes or gimmicks that I love to solve. In most papers the Saturday puzzle is usually the most difficult of the week, but I don’t think this applies to the DT. However, it will now be the top of the list each week. I hope my reviews are as helpful as Peter’s were and if not, I’m sure you’ll let me know.
This was an interesting puzzle and is a curious mix of clues with some fine ones, plus one or two duds. The Telegraph is spoilt for cryptic definition clue writers, as Monday’s Maestro is probably one of the finest exponents of this genre around, and I sometimes think that even he overeggs the pudding occasionally. As a result, other attempts at cryptic definitions often hit the target, but not the bull, to use an expression from archery.
Anyway, let’s have a look at last Saturday’s challenge. One of the first things I notice is the brevity of clue writing in most cases. On first inspection that suggests to me a preponderance of cryptic definitions. Let’s see if I’m right.
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Toughie No 218 by Giovanni
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Tilsit has had to go to the clinic, so I have produced this review at short notice.
A tough but, as you might expect from Giovanni, extremely fair puzzle that surprised me by including my local town among the answers.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26036
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A peculiar crossword today, with a mixture of clues, some good, some average. some bad, and one that would be better off in a quick crossword, even if it looks like a deliberate double bluff. If you have anything further to add, please leave a comment.
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Toughie No 217 by MynoT
O-Level Examination
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Having completely failed to notice (until it was pointed out) that only one vowel was used in all the answers in each of MynoT’s last three Toughies, I was on the lookout for this one! However, even when you’ve grasped what’s going on, it’s far from easy, with some pretty obscure words. You get a real sense of satisfaction from finishing a puzzle like this, and I really enjoyed it.
As usual we’d love to get your views via a comment.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26035
A Grumpy Old Man writes……
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Greetings from the Calder Valley where I have been largely incarcerated in my flat , as the old illness has been playing up. One of the joys of my imprisonment, apart from the chance to get my blood nice and angry watching the Jeremy Kyle Show and other daytime delights, has been that I have been solving (and compiling) quite a few crosswords from all of the national newspapers.
This has left me in a bit of a dilemma about today’s cryptic. While I am sure that a few of you will feel happy about it because you have been able to solve it, I actually feel cheated of a challenge with it. I just felt it was not worthy of its place in a national newspaper. Some of the clues were utterly dreadful and downright unfair. If you are asked to name a little boy, would you think of the answer NAT? An answer worthy of the new BBC2 daytime quiz show Pointless, where the object is to get answers no-one thinks of.
I am not sure who the setter was today but it was almost my fastest Telegraph solve of all time.
Time for you to feel the love.
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Toughie No 216 by Busman
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
This may not have been the most difficult Toughie, but it was very enjoyable. A well written crossword with a number of amusing clues and answers…
Comments appreciated.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26034
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
We have another interesting Tuesday puzzle from the setter who likes single-word answers. There’s something of a bird theme in today’s down clues, including one that I’d never heard of.
As usual, the answers, if you want to see them, are hidden inside the curly brackets – just highlight the white space between the brackets to reveal them.
Your comments, as always, are very welcome.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26033
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
The usuall gentle start to the week, ideal for those who are cryptic novices but still enjoyable for the more experienced solvers.
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 2500
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
As expected, this puzzle was a bit out of the ordinary. At least in the online version, it was accompanied by a warning message attached to the first across and down clues: “WARNING: Two answers in this special 2500th puzzle require numbers as well as letters. The figure zero must be entered as a capital O.” This spoiled any possible surprise but I guess it was necessary for clarity when completing entries online.
Our Sunday setter specialises in thematic puzzles when writing as Virgilius or Brendan, so it’s no surprise that the thematic element here is handled elegantly – each of the Across rows in the grid has one word in the theme, which is clarified by the clue for 28A.
The thematic stuff led to some strange words elsewhere but solvers seem to have found even the one that’s not a proper English word – or so some of us thought – see below.
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Toughie No 215 by Firefly
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
I struggled more than I usually do with a Firefly puzzle despite getting the 4d/16a/18a combination, that is the key to several other clues, very early on. Very enjoyable stuff, with only a few “easy” clues.
Feel free to add your comments.
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